Jose Mourinho has an illustrious record when it comes to the Europa League, winning the competition twice and he signalled his intentions to complete a hat-trick as his Tottenham Hotspur side tasted victory in their Group J opener.
The north London outfit thrashed Austrian minnows LASK Linz 3-0 at home on Thursday evening.
Lucas Moura and substitute Heung-min Son bagged either side of an own goal as Spurs were fully in control on the night.
There were many encouraging performances across the pitch, ranging from Carlos Vinicius’ debut upfront to Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg putting in a warrior-like display that had his manager comparing him to Zinedine Zidane.
Although one Spurs star failed to inspire despite Mourinho putting faith in him to start the game.
The 24-year-old was dropped for their game against Manchester United and only featured off the bench for the 3-3 draw with West Ham, so he should have taken this opportunity with both hands.
Winks, who is valued at €40m (£36m) by CIES Football Observatory, was rather lightweight in the heart of midfield as he was truly outshone by the man next to him, the Danish summer arrival.
He won just six of his 13 duels, committed three fouls, lost possession 11 times and failed to record a single key pass, shot or interception, as per SofaScore.
The Evening Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick graded the England maestro a 5/10, the lowest of any Spurs player, and said: “If there was a weak link for Spurs, it was Harry Winks, who endured a difficult evening in the midfield three. The England international set the tone for his performance with a desperate foul in the first minute and he looked a little off the pace throughout.”
With Giovani Lo Celso to come back into the fold and Tanguy Ndombele finding his feet at long last, Mourinho will have to make the cut-throat call to drop Winks indefinitely.
There’s no way he should be starting above either of those when fully fit, nor is he going to get a place over the industrious Hojbjerg, who has been everything Spurs have lacked for the best part of 18 months.
Even Moussa Sissoko looks a better option in the middle right now. He may be one of their own, but the young N17 graduate should have no place amongst the starting XI for the foreseeable future.
AND in other news, Dynamo who had 104 touches outshone Hojbjerg vs LASK…