Son Heung-min: Tottenham Hotspur captain hopes for ‘wake-up’ call before ‘biggest game’
Tottenham Hotspur must accept their 1-0 Europa League defeated by AZ Alkmaar Captain’s son Heung-Min said as a “wake call” to enter their “biggest game of the season.”
The Spurs lost the Netherlands’ last 16-leg tie through Lucas Bergvall’s own goal – with a bland performance, their only chance now in the air.
Angel Postecoglou’s side had little definite chance and was lucky to have only one goal deficit to overturn in the second leg at Tottenham Stadium next Thursday.
“We should be performing far less than we should be performing,” the son told TNT Sports. “Our performance was very disappointing, including me. It was a big wake-up call because next week is the biggest game of the season.
“We didn’t create anything in the first half, we were discomfort, we didn’t perform the way we should be.
“Everyone is very disappointed with the individual performance and the team performance.
“No excuses, we’re not good enough. It’s just 1-0, not finished yet, we have to be much better next week.”
Former Celtics boss Postecoglou pointed out in September that he always won trophys in his second season on his second team.
All his work has been like this for two full years.
But the winning streak is not won next Thursday, and the winning streak will end. The Spurs are ranked 13th in the Premier League, two in the domestic Cup.
“It’s far from what you need to be,” Postecoglou said of his performance at Alkmaar.
“Tonight wasn’t great for us, almost all aspects of the game. We didn’t really master any part of the game. We worked hard to get any motivation for the ball, and we weren’t as aggressive as we needed to have no ball.
“I don’t think it’s a matter of effort or attitude. I don’t think it’s going to go out rather than try, but, like I said, we don’t really grasp it and have the right way of thinking to solve a away game in Europe.
“When you go out and play and get through the storm and grab it with it, you’re going to have some pressure, but we never really did that, which is disappointing.”
Forward Dominic Solanke, the son’s 72nd minute replacement, was late for his injury when he returned to the action seven weeks after knee problems.
Postecoglou added: “It looks like a knock on the door, but I haven’t really seen it yet – hope nothing is bad.”
