Tottenham face delicate question in bid to avoid freezing up in Arctic Circle

Yahoo

08-05-2025

On the six-year anniversary of Tottenham's comeback at Ajax in their last European semi-final, the conditions for their Europa League decider against Bodo/Glimt here in the northernmost reaches of Norway on Thursday will be very different.
On a balmy evening in 2019, Spurs recovered from being 3-0 down on aggregate at half-time in Amsterdam but they have travelled to the Arctic Circle with a 3-1 lead from last week's game in London and facing a side with far less pedigree than Ajax.
And yet the match still feels fraught with potential danger for Ange Postecoglou's side.
Spurs should be able to cope with the chill, with the temperature set to be around 5C at kick-off, but a tight stadium and Glimt's artificial pitch will pose an enormous challenge.
Spurs have not trained on their artificial pitch at Hotspur Way in preparation for tonight
"The ball goes really fast when you play passes and it's more difficult for defenders reaching attackers and getting contact with us," Glimt centre-back Odin Bjortuft, who remains sidelined for the decider, said last week.
"Of course, it's a big difference between artificial and grass in many ways but the main key is that the ball goes so fast. It may be harder to turn and everything for players that are not used to it.
"It's a smaller stadium than they are used to. It's really compact. And it's a city that stays together...I think we have a good backing from the town and they are really positive, even if it goes south. It's a good feeling for us to have them on our back."
Postecoglou has played down the significance of the pitch and revealed Spurs have not trained on their artificial surface at Hotspur Way in preparation.
The closest comparable experience for his players, however, was their visit to non-league Tamworth in the FA Cup third round in January, when they were held to a 0-0 draw after 90 minutes in a disjointed display.
Unlike Tamworth, Glimt are not semi-professionals; they are a highly experienced European outfit, who saw off Postecoglou's Celtic at Aspmyra in 2022 and could have put more than two goals past Lazio in the first leg of their quarter-final.
The return of three Glimt players from suspension, including influential captain Patrick Berg, also means Spurs will be facing a better side, who will be buoyed by their late goal in London which threatens to change the feel of the second leg.
There is also the delicate question of how to approach the match with a two-goal lead.
Few Spurs fans will forget their collapse in the Europa League against Dinamo Zagreb in March 2021, when Jose Mourinho's Spurs won the round-of-16 first leg 2-0 but froze in Croatia, eventually losing the decider 3-2 after extra time.
"I think it's just approaching it in the same way we have in the rest of our campaign, really," said Postecoglou. "You've got to be really disciplined and organised whenever you're playing away in Europe and irrespective of the scoreline."
Postecoglou and his squad can take confidence from their last two second-leg ties in Europe, the free-flowing win over AZ Alkmaar in the last-16 and, particularly, a gritty, backs-to-the-wall display at Eintracht Frankfurt.
Spurs and their head coach demonstrated a newfound pragmatism in Germany, which was also evident in moments against Glimt last week, which suggests they are capable of putting their miserable league season to one side and raising their game in Europe again.
"Just the nature of the competition, knock-out competitions demand different things from you as a team," Postecoglou said. "Particularly in knock-out scenarios, just in my experience. It naturally means that you have to be a little bit more focused, because every moment is important, every aspect of the game is important.
"The boys have handled it really well so far in the knockout stages, particularly in the second legs of every game, of understanding what needs to be done."
The absence of James Maddison and Lucas Bergvall, both of whom will sit out the rest of the campaign with ligament damage, as well as captain Heung-min Son, who is still nursing a foot injury, leaves Spurs without three of their most creative players.
Postecoglou now needs to restructure a team which has only just appeared to settle down following the mid-winter injury crisis, with huge onus on Dejan Kulusevski and Yves Bissouma, who are likely to fill in, to step up.
Again, Postecoglou can take heart from the first leg when Bissouma put in his best display in months, although Kulusevski has been off the boil since returning from injury.
In 2019, it was Lucas Moura, a perennial substitute under Mauricio Pochettino, who delivered in Amsterdam and Postecoglou may need his own fringe players to be heroes if Spurs are to go all the way.
Postecoglou has spent the last few weeks railing against perceived outside influences, whom he believes are determined to take a negative view of Spurs. He will be focused on the positives and a huge opportunity for the club to reach a first European final in six years, as well as a chance to end their 17-year wait for a trophy. But it is unlikely to be straightforward.