Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min delivered a scathing evaluate of his aspect’s efficiency in a 1-0 defeat to AZ Alkmaar on Thursday evening.
Lucas Bergvall’s first-half personal purpose was the distinction in a painfully one-sided Europa League last-16 tie. Spurs scarcely got here near discovering the again of AZ’s internet, registering only one shot on track all through 90 minutes on the house of a aspect sitting sixth within the Dutch prime flight.
Son was on the coronary heart of a first-half sequence which captured Tottenham’s ineptitude. Introduced with a uncommon sight of purpose, James Maddison performed a free-kick on the sting of the field quick to Son who clearly wasn’t anticipating the go, quickly making a gift of possession to a refrain of jeers from a buoyant house crowd.
“It is nowhere close to the place we should always carry out,” Son instructed TNT Sports activities. “It was very disappointing that we carried out like this, together with me. It is a massive wake-up name as a result of subsequent week is the largest sport of the season.
“We did not create something within the first half, sloppiness, not performing the best way we should always. Everybody may be very disenchanted in regards to the particular person efficiency and the crew efficiency.
“There aren’t any excuses, we weren’t ok. It is simply 1-0, it is nonetheless not completed, and subsequent week we’ve got to be significantly better.”
Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou echoed the sentiment of his skipper, insisting that his aspect’s efficiency “was nowhere close to the extent it wanted to be”. Relatively than a query of “effort or perspective”, the Australian head coach accused his aspect of not having “the suitable mindset to sort out an away fixture in Europe”.
“You will face some strain while you play away from house in Europe and climate the storm and become familiar with it,” Postecoglou defined, “however we by no means actually did in order that was a disappointment.”
Tottenham had loved the uncommon luxurious of an eight-day break earlier than the journey to Alkmaar. Regardless of additionally recording a 1-0 reverse of their earlier outing at house to Manchester Metropolis, the temper in N17 had been lifted by consecutive victories over Manchester United and Ipswich City final month.
Nonetheless, this week’s dismal defeat has underscored the significance of the Europa League to a Tottenham crew already out of each home cup competitions and mired within the backside half of the Premier League desk. As Son was fast to emphasize, the tie will not be over, however Spurs will must be much-improved if they’re to overturn the one-goal deficit after they host AZ in north London subsequent Thursday.
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