Who are you and what have you done with Ange Postecoglou? There was a messy goal from a set piece, another from a mishit cross, a plan with pragmatism at its core and a team able to find beauty in the kind of ugly performance that has so often left Postecoglou cold.
All the cool came from Tottenham Hotspur in the Arctic Circle. They were robust rather than flimsy on the infamous plastic pitch at the Aspmyra Stadium, serious rather than spectacular, and they did not mind turning this Europa League semi-final against punchy, determined Bodo/Glimt into a grind. Postecoglou, the manager with supposedly no clue how to kill a game, came up trumps. Spurs were dogged, streetwise and smart in unpleasant conditions in northern Norway and, after a season of such strife in the Premier League, their reward is an all-English final against Manchester United later this month.
Europe remains a sanctuary for Postecoglou’s team. They have been erratic and chaotic domestically but they have summoned resilience in this competition. Bodø/Glimt never had hope of a comeback. Kjetil Knutsen’s side were outmuscled by stronger, sharper opponents. Spurs rose to the challenge, goals from Dominic Solanke and Pedro Porro enough for them to win 2-0 on the night and 5-1 on aggregate. Adversity has brought out the best in them. Postecoglou has been ridiculed this season but vindication is within reach for the Spurs manager, even if there is rising speculation that the Australian will be sacked even if he secures Champions League qualification by beating United in Bilbao.
Maybe this will be a healing moment, though. There were joyous scenes at full time, the Spurs players surging across the pitch to celebrate with the 404 hardy souls in the away end, and there is a chance that the memories created by this run could repair Postecoglou’s relationship with the fanbase. Who knows how much winning a trophy could change this troubled club’s self-image? Plenty of people, after all, had tipped them to mess up this tie. Even the locals thought that Spurs had not built up a big enough lead in the first leg.
This remote, windswept Arctic outpost had never experienced anything quite this momentous before. The sprinklers were on long before kick-off, drenching a surface already designed to play quickly. The rain fell too, heightening the sense that this place is designed to trip up unsuspecting visitors. It was easy to see why Porto, Besiktaş, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Twente, Olympiakos and Lazio had already left this quirky little ground empty-handed this season.
Buoyed by the return of the influential duo of Patrick Berg and Håkon Evjen from suspension in midfield, Bodø/Glimt believed a 3-1 deficit would be wiped out. Reality soon intruded on the fairytale. Spurs were first to settle, with Richarlison causing problems for Fredrik Sjøvold on the left, and were closing to pulling clear when Porro almost curled a free-kick past Nikita Haikin in the ninth minute.
Knutsen admitted that Spurs were in charge from the start. Postecolgou was delighted with his side’s pressing. It was six years to the day since Spurs pulled off their miraculous comeback against Ajax in the semi-finals of the Champions League but this was more sedate. Richarlison continued to threaten, Solanke’s hold-up play was impressive and there was an escape for the hosts when Destiny Udogie failed to find anyone after sneaking through on the left.
Calm and professional, Spurs were using the ball well, even with injuries stripping their midfield of the poise offered by James Maddison and Lucas Bergvall. Dejan Kulusveski, Maddison’s replacement, disrupted Bodø/Glimt’s attempts to play out from the back. Yves Bissouma and Rodrigo Bentancur mopped up in front of the back four. The only misstep came when Brennan Johnson picked up a booking for a clumsy challenge.
Bodø/Glimt were too frantic. Ole Didrik Blomberg fired into the side-netting and Berg forced Guglielmo Vicario to tip a free-kick over but there was not much to worry Spurs before half-time.
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The curious thing is that Postecoglou has not hesitated to dispense with his idealistic approach in Europe. Spurs have sat back and been more direct against continental opposition, particularly on their travels. Ruggedness was a prominent feature of their quarter-final win over Eintracht Frankfurt and they did a similar job on Bodø/Glimt. It was not long before Maurizio Mariano, the Italian referee, was warning Vicario about timewasting before a goal-kick.
Spurs, 16th in the league, were unperturbed. Diligent and disciplined, they led in the 64th minute. Mathys Tel, who had just replaced Richarlison, delivered a corner, Cristian Romero won the first header and Solanke bundled the ball in from close range.
Bodø/Glimt, the first Norwegian side to go this far in Europe, knew it was a lost cause. The second goal soon arrived, Porro’s cross catching Haikin out of position. Postecoglou’s promise about always winning a trophy in his second season looks increasingly convincing.
