Ferencvarosi vs. Tottenham Preview: All gas
Today at 07:00 AM
Spurs continue their Europa League campaign with a trip to Hungary.
For the first time in almost 365 days exactly, Tottenham Hotspur has won four straight matches across all competitions. Not only have back-to-back excellent performances against Brentford and Manchester United rekindled some hope domestically, but a masterful 10-man victory over Qarabag last week solidified European intrigue as well.
Spurs are betting favorites to win the Europa League, with only United within shouting range odds-wise (which says a lot). There is still a long way to go, but Ange Postecoglou must recognize his squad has a prime opportunity here. Matchweek 2 takes Tottenham to face Hungarian side Ferencvarosi for a good shot at two in two to open up the League Phase.
Ferencvarosi (t-24th, 0pts) vs. Tottenham Hotspur (t-1st, 3pts)
Date: Thursday, October 3
Time: 12:45 pm ET, 5:45 pm UK
Location: Groupama Arena, Budapest, Hungary
TV: Paramount+ (USA), TNT Sports 1 (UK)
Ferencvarosi represents one of Spurs' Pot 2 opponents and one of two longer road trips, a fortunate draw in both regards — Opta rates this team's quality similar to that of Qarabag, so relatively favorable. The past decade has seen Ferencvarosi participate in Europe in one way or another, with the last two seasons featuring both a Europa League Round of 16 and Conference League Round of 32 appearance.
Tottenham has not faced Ferencvarosi — or any Hungarian opponent — in continental competition. This is a chance to get back on track away from home in Europe; Spurs went 0-1-2 on the road in their 2021/22 Conference League group and 1-1-1 in the 2020/21 Europa League. To advance in the knockout round, there needs to be some road wins, especially against lower-tier competition.
Sprinkled in
Conceptually, these sort of fixtures provide a great avenue for getting some younger players significant minutes, and bank on Postecoglou going that route again. Last week saw both Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall get the start, but while the former held his own on the (somewhat) big stage, Bergvall barely broke a sweat before being sacrificed following the Radu Dragusin red card.
These two represent the future of Tottenham Hotspur. The burden does not fall on them alone, but the club spent non-insignificant funds to bring them to London, and the Europa League is where they can paint a vision of what is to come. There will be plenty of veteran regulars in the side as well, but all eyes will be on the youngsters on Thursday.
Winning championships
Much of the focus was on Spurs' lack of finishing during the frustrating start to the season, so naturally the gripes have turned to praise for the offense in this four-match winning streak. However, accolades must be shared with the defense as well; Tottenham has conceded just twice during this stretch and even kept a clean sheet against Qarabag despite losing a starting centerback so early.
Ferencvarosi lost its first League Phase match 1-2 at Anderlecht last week, generating just 0.8 xG off three shots. The lone score kind of seemed like an own goal to me, but regardless, only came after the home side went down to 10 men. Point being, this is not exactly an electric attacking side — the visitors could very well log another shutout, even with some rotation across the back four.
