After over an hour of watching Tottenham prod and probe before having shot after shot blocked by some very Russian defending, Mauricio Pochettino had to do something to upgrade a 0-0 draw that would have left them bottom of their Champions League group. Vincent Janssen and his generously proportioned backside were doing a half-decent job of backing in and holding up the ball, but Tottenham needed more; Tottenham needed an injection of pace.

With an injury list featuring Moussa Sissoko, Mousa Dembele, Harry Kane, Eric Dier and Danny Rose, the slim nature of Pochettino’s squad was never more apparent as he looked around at a bench featuring two centre-halves, a right-back, two unripened midfielders and Georges-Kevin N’Koudou. At was at this point that Pochettino could have thought wistfully about Nacer Chadli, but instead he threw on N’Koudou – who had played a single minute of Premier League football – and promptly changed the game.

Bringing on his one attacking substitute when chasing a goal after 67 minutes that had featured one Tottenham shot on target may not sound inspired, but taking off his one fit striker was pretty ballsy. On came N’Koudou, off came Janssen and Erik Lamela (who had been sidelined in recent weeks) moved into the centre. It was a move that directly brought Tottenham’s winner as Lamela was in the right place to find the gloriously in-form Son Heung-min; CSKA’s willing but limited defence had finally been breached with the kind of movement not offered by Janssen.

“We tried to find more mobility in our offensive position,” said Pochettino. “It is for that reason we changed Vincent for N’Koudou, to have more pace down the sides. First touch we find the link and it was fantastic the goal. Sometimes when you change, it goes well and sometimes no.”

It really did work. N’Koudou himself was wonderful. In his 24 minutes on the pitch, he touched the ball more often than the man he replaced. His first act was to take on two players and win a corner, and he followed that with some diligent defensive work. He was direct, lively and intelligent in his decision-making.

The impact of N'Koudou tonight can't be under-estimated – he genuinely changed the game with his pace and trickery and he seems cool to boot — Harry Sherlock (@Harry_Sherlock) September 27, 2016

On a night when Pochettino needed a victory against stubborn opposition, the Argentine needed to find a solution that was not straight out of the Harry Redknapp book of “just f*cking run around a bit”. There are questions for another day about whether Janssen is dynamic enough for this Tottenham side, but for now they – and particularly Pochettino – carry on winning one way or another.

Sarah Winterburn