Ange Postecoglou pleased with Spurs players' intent in 10-man triumph

Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou praised the intent of his team after they started their Europa League campaign withan impressive 3-0 home win over Qarabag despite being forced to play with ten men for 83 minutes.

After kick-off was delayed due to the late arrival of Qarabag's team bus, Radu Dragusin’s night lasted only seven minutes when he received a red card for a cynical pull on Juninho as Spurs’ last-man.

It failed to significantly knock Tottenham off their stride though, with Brennan Johnson able to score for a third successive match five minutes later before Pape Sarr doubled the hosts’ advantage in the 52nd minute.

Qarabag did regularly threaten and Tural Bayramov fired a spot-kick over after Sarr’s strike, which all but ended the visitors’ hopes before Dominic Solanke made it back-to-back goals with 22 minutes left to ensure Tottenham earned a third win in a row before Sunday’s trip to Manchester United.

Postecoglou said: "We want to be a team that tackles whatever challenge we have in a certain way.

"When you go down to ten men, at times you can’t be as aggressive or keep the ball as much or play as fluently but for the most part the intent was there.

"The first goal comes from us pressing. We were pressing with ten men and we win the ball high up, which is what we wanted to do, and we ended up scoring a goal from it.

"I think for the most part the boys showed that intent. That’s the kind of team we want to be and whatever challenge we have before us, is to tackle it that way."

Spurs boss Postecoglou was left with some late concerns after Son limped off in the 71st-minute before Archie Gray appeared in pain late on.

Johnson was also withdrawn at half-time after he continued his rich vein of form, but the Australian