Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou lamented his squad’s mindset and lack of aggression in the first leg of their Europa League round of 16 clash against AZ on Thursday.
A Lucas Bergvall own goal saw Tottenham fall to a 1-0 defeat as they struggled to break down their Dutch opposition and failed to create many chances. Substitute Wilson Odobert produced Spurs’ only shot on target and it did not come until the 88th minute.
Postecoglou said after the game that his team did not have the “right mindset” coming into the game.
“I don’t think it’s a matter of effort or attitude,” he said. “I don’t think it is going out there and not trying, but like I said we didn’t really come to grips and have the right mindset to tackle an away fixture in Europe.
“It is always tough and we obviously conceded the goal, which was a disappointing set of events. But even after that we didn’t really settle down into the game at all. You are going to face some pressure when you play away from home in Europe and weather the storm and get to grips with it, but we never really did so that was a disappointment.
“We were just lacking a bit of aggression in everything we did. We were a little bit hesitant with the ball, hesitant in our pressing and we can’t be that way.
“It’s only 1-0 so I guess that’s a positive in that we didn’t let the game get away from us.”
The Europa League is Tottenham’s only remaining chance of a trophy this season, after crashing out of the Carabao Cup and FA Cup in the same week in February, following defeats to Liverpool and Aston Villa respectively.
Spurs are 13th in the Premier League and have already suffered more losses this campaign (14) than they did in the whole of last season (12).
Postecoglou was handed another blow against AZ when striker Dominic Solanke was forced off only 20 minutes after making his return from a knee injury.
The 27-year-old came on as a substitute and went down holding his left hip after a collision with AZ defender Wouter Goes and goalkeeper Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro while leaping for the ball. He was replaced by Dane Scarlett.
Postecoglou was unsure of Solanke’s status after the game but hoped the injury is not serious.
“I am not even sure,” he said when asked about Solanke. “It looks like a knock but I haven’t really seen it. Hopefully nothing too bad.”
Tottenham return to action on Sunday when they host Bournemouth in the league.
GO DEEPER
The Briefing: AZ 1 Tottenham 0 – Lack of quality without Kulusevski, Solanke limps off
(Jeroen van den Berg/Soccrates/Getty Images)
