Heung-min Son gives honest verdict on Tottenham’s Europa League display – “It’s nowhere near where we should perform”.
After eight days of rest, Tottenham Hotspur travelled to the Netherlands for the first leg of their Europa League round of 16 clash against AZ Alkmaar.
It was a tie between two sides that had already met once in the league phase of the competition, with Richarlison’s strike proving decisive on that occasion.
With Spurs receiving a significant boost on the injury front, the expectation was that they would at least come away with a positive result, by avoiding a defeat.
Heung-min Son says Tottenham weren’t cautious, just bad
However, the opposite was the case. Tottenham looked the more fatigued of the two sides, completely outmuscled and outplayed, fortunate to escape with just a 1-0 defeat.
Spurs captain Heung-min Son, speaking to TNT Sports (20:11), did not hold back in his assessment of the performance.
He said: “It’s nowhere near where we should perform. It was very disappointing that we performed like this, including me. It is a big wake-up call because next week is the biggest game of the season.
“I really do not think there was too much caution. It is always tough to play away in the Europa League. We did not 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. We have to look at ourselves. There are no excuses, we were not good enough. It is just 1-0, it is still not finished, and next week we have to be much better.”
Spurs must step up at home to keep Europa League hopes alive
European nights are never straightforward, and Ange Postecoglou’s men found that out the hard way.
Only on rare occasions do teams get away with a slow start, and this was not one of those nights. Spurs were second-best throughout and did not deserve anything from the game.
However, it is not over. The silver lining for Son and co is that the return leg will be played at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. With home advantage, Spurs still have the opportunity to make Alkmaar pay for failing to take their chances.