Richarlison’s second-half penalty gave Tottenham a 1-0 home win over AZ Alkmaar to maintain their 100 per cent record in the Europa League.
The Brazilian scored his first goal of the season to make it three wins from three in the competition for Ange Postecoglou’s side, who sit second in the 36-team league table behind leaders Lazio on goal difference.
There was a brief argument between James Maddison and Richarlison over the taking of the penalty with Spurs’ stand-in captain eventually handing the ball to the striker, who converted down the middle in the 53rd minute.
Postecoglou admitted in his post-match press conference that he “wasn’t bothered” by the deliberation and praised Maddison’s “great decision” to allow Richarlison to take the penalty.
Richarlison puts Tottenham ahead from the penalty spot
But while Richarlison got off the mark on his first start of the season, the frustration continues for fellow attacker Timo Werner who wasted two chances in the first half and was substituted for Brennan Johnson at half-time.
The German has not scored in his last 16 Spurs appearances and the player who took up his position on the left in the second half, Mikey Moore, was electric.
The 17-year-old academy graduate inspired an improved second half which saw Spurs win a penalty when Lucas Bergvall was brought down by Maxim Dekker with the spot-kick scored by Richarlison.
Fraser Forster made a good save late on to deny Mayckel Lahdo, but any hope of a comeback for the Dutch side was extinguished in the 85th minute when David Moller Wolfe was sent off for a second booking.
There was to be no goal on Troy Parrott’s Spurs return after he joined AZ in the summer as Spurs made it back-to-back wins following Saturday’s Premier League victory over West Ham.
Moore compared to Neymar by Maddison as Ange praises teenager
Mikey Moore caught the eye in the win over AZ
Teenager Moore was sensational in the victory as his switch to the left side in the second half caused plenty of problems for AZ, while in the first half he nearly scored his first senior goal as he just headed wide from Werner’s cross.
Such was the England U19 international’s eye-catching display, team-mate James Maddison compared him to Neymar.
Maddison told TNT Sports: “From minute 45 to 65, I thought we had Neymar on the left wing! (Moore) was brilliant.
“Demanded the ball, fearless. That young fearless mentality, you never want to take that away from him.
“He’s a young kid, a brilliant lad. He’s a lovely boy, takes on information and he has got bags of ability. So, I will be there as an older player, hopefully with some wise words, to help him along the way. He has all the ability. It is about knuckling down and keep working hard which he does to be fair to him.”
Following Harry Kane’s exit in the summer of 2023, the home fans now have a new academy graduate to be excited by with Kane’s ‘One Of Our Own’ chant already bestowed upon Moore.
Postecoglou can no longer keep Moore a secret.
“Pretty hard for me to keep a lid on it now, isn’t it?,” the Australian said in his post-match press conference. “He was exciting. You can’t deny it.
“I love the way Mikey is just taking it all in his stride. He’s working hard every day. He’s wanting to develop. His understanding that this is a journey and it’s very easy for a young guy like him who’s just turned 17 to feel like he’s somehow made it but you never get that sense.
“It’s exciting when you’ve got such a young player who wants that responsibility to make an impact rather than being worried about making mistakes.
“We have to be really careful about how we use him and when we use him, that is the key for us, particularly in these early stages.
“I have no fear throwing him in. absolutely not. I know and I see it every day, he’s a great young player and definitely more to come.”
So what effect could Maddison’s Neymar comparison make on Moore. None says Postecoglou.
He said: “You’re worried about sort of putting too much pressure on young players, particularly in today’s world but the thing that gives me the most sort of confidence is just how he’s handling everything.
“I don’t think that even if he does hear what Madders has said about him, will affect him tomorrow.”
Ange: Werner lacks self-belief
Timo Werner was poor in front of goal against AZ
But while Moore’s rise continues, Werner’s confidence crisis deepens – and Postecoglou admits the 28-year-old is lacking “self-belief”.
“He’s definitely down in confidence,” he said. “You can see that. It’s a difficult thing to get out of sometimes. You feel like the weight of the world’s on your shoulders. All we can do is try and support him and keep trying to get him to a place where he feels a little bit more confident with certain things.
“He’s played a great ball in for Mikey to score early and if that goes in then maybe it’s an assist for him and it gives him a lift.
“But at the same time, he needs to find a way out of it. Because for us, in those positions, we need players to make an impact and I thought in a couple of moments, he really kind of lacked some self-belief that we need to try and instil in him somehow.”
Maddison explains Richarlison penalty decision
Tottenham midfielder James Maddison speaking to TNT Sports:
“Initially we both wanted to take it. I’m a senior player, I was the captain today and I was going to take it.
“I had a little thought in my head and just thought Richy’s come back from an injury, it can be difficult coming back, especially as a striker – I knew that last year, it took me a while to get my first goal.
“That really gives confidence. It was a split-second to let him take it and it’ll do him the world of good.
“It’s about leadership, I wore the armband tonight but even if I wasn’t [wearing it], I’d still like to think I’d make decisions which were best for the team.
“Richy’s a good penalty-taker and hopefully it gives him a big boost.”