Spurs progressed into the fourth round of the Carabao Cup for the first time in three years. Two late goals courtesy of Djed Spence and Brennan Johnson saw the Lilywhites scrape through against Championship outfit Coventry City.
It was a Tottenham performance that resembled a group of players low on confidence as they were dominated by the Sky Blues who ran their opposition ragged.
After bombarding Fraser Forster’s net, Brandon Thomas-Asante finished a flowing counter-attack midway through the second period to give Coventry a deserved lead.
James Maddison, Heung-min Son and Dejan Kulusevski were introduced into the fold with their team in dire need of an injection of quality. The trio certainly provided that in an abundance.
Cute and clever interplay from Maddison and Kulusevski saw the latter slip through the advanced Spence, who crucially got to the ball first to poke in Spurs’ equaliser with less than sixty seconds of the ninety to go.
That goal knocked the wind out of Coventry's sails and their misery was compounded when Rodrigo Bentancur played through Johnson, who showed a tremendous amount of composure to delicately dink the ball over the onrushing Ben Wilson to complete a late comeback.
But there will be a lot to analyse for Ange Postecoglou after his side looked the inferior team for the large majority of the tie, here are four things we learnt.
A potential turning point for Brennan Johnson?
The Welshman’s relationship with the Tottenham fanbase reached an all-time low last weekend after social media abuse directed to the winger after his North London derby showing made him resort to deleting his Instagram account.
Johnson didn’t start the game but was a very early substitute for the injured Wilson Odobert and he came on with a point to prove.
The 23-year-old silenced a lot of doubters as he proved to be Tottenham’s saviour with a cool, calm and collected chip in the dying embers which prevented the Lilywhites from yet another untimely exit in a domestic competition.
Despite the fantastic finish, it was evident that Johnson’s affinity with the fans is fractured and it was a damning indictment that the former Nottingham Forest man not only didn’t celebrate in that jubilant moment, but showed little joy at full time and his applause to the travelling fans was brief.
That 93rd minute winner to save Spurs from a dreaded penalty shootout showed Johnson has resolve and the minerals to be a heroic player for the North Londoners, and everyone involved with the club will be hoping he can use that decisive goal as a platform to revive his confidence.
Djed Spence deserves more minutes
Spence was a surprise non-inclusion in the starting lineup but came on at the interval for Destiny Udogie and operated on his less natural left side.
The defender gave Spurs a lifeline in the last minute of allotted time when he burst into the box and showed desire to latch onto Kulusevski’s intricate pass before the onrushing Coventry goalkeeper Ben Wilson to restore parity.
The most stirring aspect of Spence’s goal was how he dictated the play leading up to the equaliser, as he commanded his captain Heung-min Son to make a run down the left flank to draw the defender away and create space before darting through and pointing to Kulusevski to show exactly where he wanted the ball.
You would have been forgiven for mistaking Spence as an established member of the squad, but that was only his second competitive appearance in almost two years for Tottenham.
Not only was Spence not included in the starting eleven, but he has also been omitted from Spurs’ 25-man squad for the Europa League group phase, a competition many were expecting him to get a chance to impress in.
The 24-year-old demonstrated he can be a valuable asset amongst the players Postecoglou has at his disposal, and it will certainly give the Australian food for thought over the coming weeks.
Was Dominic Solanke the right man for Tottenham?
The Lilywhites splashed roughly £65 million on securing Solanke’s services this summer, a fee which made the Englishman the most expensive acquisition in Spurs history.
However, the 27-year-old’s displays have been underwhelming thus far and the striker has really struggled to impose himself on any of the games.
Against Coventry he was kept very quiet by Mark Robins’ defence and did not prove to be an outlet for Postecoglou and was subsequently axed on the hour mark for the skipper Heung-Min Son.
In fairness to Solanke, the service by his teammates has been virtually non-existent and an ankle injury on his debut against Leicester City has understandably halted his progress and fitness.
This midweek game was an opportunity to announce himself to the Spurs faithful and build some belief that he is the man to build the team around.
But the sharpness and potency appear to be lacking at the moment and if the former Bournemouth man does not show any flashes of potential in the near future, the pressure could start to mount.
Ange needs to hold a more serious approach towards the domestic cups
Spurs’ lack of trophy success in the last two decades is one of the most well-documented narratives in English football and the domestic cups seem to be the most viable avenue of lifting some silverware.
Postecoglou made eight changes to the starting eleven and as much as squad rotation is necessary, Tottenham simply couldn’t afford to crash out of a domestic competition at an early stage again and they were very close to.
As soon as some more senior players entered the pitch, the momentum completely shifted and they did end up looking like a Premier League team against Championship opposition.
The performance from his players poses a lot more questions than it answers and the 59-year-old will have a lot to digest in a short space of time as the visit of Brentford to N17 is less than 72 hours after their Carabao Cup game.
It will be interesting to see how much the manager rotates for their first Europa League game at home to Qarabag next week after Wednesday's game being worryingly close to a debacle.
The Australian manager has stated that he always wins things in his second year, but for that statement to remain true, he may have to sort out his priorities.