Son Heung-min gives honest verdict on Tottenham’s 1-0 defeat to AZ Alkmaar in the first leg of Europa League last-16 tie
Tottenham Hotspur suffered a bad day at the office as they fell to a 1-0 defeat to AZ Alkmaar in their Europa League last-16 first leg in the Netherlands on Thursday evening.
Lucas Bergvall’s unfortunate own goal ended up being the difference between the two clubs, with the Lilywhites mustering only two shots inside the AZ Alkmaar box all night. The Swedish midfielder shinned an attempted clearance from Troy Parrott’s cross into his own net.
Guglielmo Vicario produced three big saves on the night to keep Ange Postecoglou’s side firmly in the time—including to deny former academy starlet Troy Parrott. Truly, Spurs were lucky to escape the AFAS Stadion with just a 1-0 defeat.
Tottenham captain Son Heung-min did not hold back in his assessment of the performance after the game, calling the team to wake up for next week’s “biggest game of the season”.
“It’s nowhere near where we should perform,” Son Heung-min told TNT Sports (h/t BBC Sport).
“It was very disappointing that we performed like this, including me. It’s a big wake-up call because next week is the biggest game of the season.
“We didn’t create anything in the first half, sloppiness, not performing the way we should.
“Everyone is very disappointed about the individual performance and the team performance.
“There are no excuses, we were not good enough. It’s just 1-0, it’s still not finished, and next week we have to be much better.”
Ange Postecoglou pointed out in September that he always wins a trophy in his second season at a club. Having been eliminated from both the domestic cup competitions, the Europa League is the only shot for silverware and chance for the Greek-Australian tactician to live up to his words.
After eight days of rest and three key players returning from injury, fans had huge expectations from the team. Instead, Big Ange’s side were completely outplayed and outwitted by AZ, who would be livid to not finish off the tie with the chances they got. Tottenham were second-best in all departments throughout and did not deserve anything from the game.
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Luckily, they have the second leg next week with the North Londoners having just 90 minutes to come from a goal down and salvage their season. Big Ange desperately needs his side to turn the tie around at White Hart Lane, especially for his own pride.
