Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou says his side will get the job done in Norway after they took a big step towards a place in the Europa League final with a 3-1 first leg win over Bodo/Glimt.
Brennan Johnson took just 38 seconds to open the scoring at home on Thursday night before James Maddison made it 2-0 in the 34th minute.
A third after 61 minutes from a Dominic Solanke spot-kick had home supporters singing about this month’s final in Bilbao, but Bodo reduced the deficit with seven minutes left through Ulrik Saltnes to set up an intriguing second-leg tie next Thursday.
Bodo boast an impressive home record at Aspmyra Stadion, where they play on an artificial surface, and yet Postecoglou knows what to expect after he experienced the ground with Celtic in 2022.
Postecoglou said: “I think it puts us in a good position. I thought the players were outstanding today.
Tottenham lead already!
Brennan Johnson heads home just 40 seconds into the game 🤯
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“I thought our performance was everything it needed to be, really well organized and disciplined defensively and really calm going forward and we created good opportunities for ourselves and maintained pressure.
“Obviously they scored the goal late, which doesn’t I think reflect our dominance in the game, but if we repeat that performance next week, it’ll be enough for us to get through.
“I get that Bodo away is a difficult fixture, but so was (Eintracht) Frankfurt away and we went there knowing we had to win to get through and I thought the lads handled it really well.
“I think in Europe this year we’ve been really good at managing whatever situation we’re in. We’ve had some games where AZ (Alkmaar) we lost away from home, but had to come back and showed real calm and composure to win to get through here.
“I think all those experiences give me the belief we can go there and get the job done.”
England duo Maddison and Solanke limped off with knee and quad injuries respectively in the second half to put something of a dampener on the night.
Spurs play West Ham on Sunday.
Postecoglou added: “Madders felt a tweak in his knee, but it doesn’t sound like it’s anything serious.
“Dom something similar in his quad. Both of them didn’t feel it was anything too significant, but thought it was wise just to take them off at that point.”
Bodo boss Kjetil Knutsen believes the late goal his side scored could yet prove crucial.
“I think the goal is really important,” Knutsen reflected.
“First of all if you see when Tottenham conceded a goal, they were really disappointed, they lose energy and I think Bodo/Glimt gets a lot of energy because of the goal.
“I think we can take the energy from this game into the next game and then it’s total different for us to play at home.
“I think still we have an opportunity here. We are not the favourites but we will really go for it and fight for it.”
