Ange Postecoglou lauds Son Heung-min’s influence as Spurs ease past Newcastle
Tottenham’s manager was full of praise for his team after they put four past fellow top four hopefuls Newcastle
Ange Postecoglou described Tottenham’s offensive play as “as good as it’s been for a while” following their 4-1 thumping of injury-riddled Newcastle United at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in Super Sunday’s prime time match-up.
The hosts contrived to end a five-game winless run and took the lead midway through the first half as Destiny Udogie grabbed his first goal since arriving in North London, turning in Son Heung-min’s fizzed delivery across the face of goal
For Spurs, taking leads hasn’t been an issue of late – maintaining them has – but there was to be no Newcastle riposte as Son picked up a second assist of the game seven minutes before the interval, this time setting up Richarlison. After wrong-footing former teammate Kieran Trippier on the byline, the Spurs skipper picked out the Brazilian just outside the six-yard box who swept home with his left
The Magpies boss Eddie Howe cut a frustrated figure for much of the afternoon and his mood would not have improved when Richarlison notched a second, tucking the ball past Martin Dubravka having brought down an exquisite raking cross-field ball from Pedro Porro. Skipper Son added a fourth late on, converting from the penalty spot after the South Korean himself was felled by the Newcastle goalkeeper
The traveling supporters were given something to cheer about in stoppage time as Joelinton finished smartly to grab a consolation goa
On the Spurs performan
Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Postecoglou hailed his charges’ efforts, highlighting their cutting edge at the top of the pitch. He said: “I can’t fault the lads tonight in terms of [the performance] and because of that they got their rewards, which I’m pleased about because they put in a massive effort.
“I thought we were a lot more bright in that front third and a lot more aware of the opportunities that were before
.” cel.. . . e before us.”
Although The Lilywhites dominated the vast majority of the encounter, they also absorbed significant pressure during their opponents’ ephemeral resurgence after the interval, keeping the scoreline at 2-0 before adding a third on the hour mark. Postecoglou hailed the return of Cristian Romero to his side’s back line.
“I thought both boxes were a lot better today, having Romero back helps with that,” he explained.
“That’s his second game now. All those kinds of things, when you get the personnel back, mend themselves gradually, but because Newcastle were still very much a threat in the final third I thought we handled it OK.”
On captain Son’s impact
The Tottenham boss was full of praise for his captain Son, not only for his two assists and goal, but for the influence he had on the side’s approach to the game.
“I thought Sonny [Son Heung-min] was excellent, particularly in the first half, really caused them problems just by being positive,” Postecoglou said.
“Those kinds of things feed off to other guys, they see his authority in that kind of area and they take a leaf from that.
“You do rely on your more experienced players, your leaders, like Sonny, to take that initiative in that moment. Like I said, I think the rest of the lads sort of fed off that. I thought our front third play today was as good as it’s been for a while, we probably could have got more goals.”
Having led the line in recent weeks, Son was moved out to the left, with Richarlison deployed through the middle. Brennan Johnson adopted the wide right berth while Dejan Kulusevski floated in the number 10 role.
When asked about his thinking behind the changes, Postecoglou said: “There’s not too much science behind it. We’re getting some players back, we’re very light, [even] having Pape [Sarr] and Richarlison back.”
“You can see they are running on fumes at the moment”, Postecoglou added.
Of Kulusevski’s showing, Postecoglou said: “Very good. He’s had to play a variety of roles because of what we’ve gone through in terms of injuries, but everywhere he’s played he’s always been effective. I thought he was really effective today.”
On challenges faced since defeat to Chelsea
Reporter Patrick Davidson asked Postecoglou to describe how things have been since Spurs’ match against Chelsea on November 6th during which both Romero and Udogie were given their marching orders and James Maddison picked up an ankle injury that will sideline him until the New Year.
“It doesn’t sound as, for want of a better word, sexy to put it as simply as that, but we lost a fair chunk of our most influential players in that game and we’ve had to battle our way through a lot,” he explained.
“We’re hopefully getting out the other side with the squad that we’ve got at the moment. Come January we’ll get some of those players back. That’s part of the challenge, I guess, in the Premier League because it’s unrelenting, you know, the other teams are going to feel sorry for you and they haven’t with us.”
The former Celtic manager added that there is “no guarantee” Sunday’s victory will signal a change in fortunes for his charges, describing next Friday’s trip to Nottingham Forest as “a tough game”.
He said: “When you go through these periods, it’s how you go through them, how you behave through them and how you react to them. To be honest, even though the results haven’t been there, I’ve probably been a little hard on the lads in that we’ve been in just about every game we’ve played.
“When you’re so stretched in terms of your squad, when everyone comes back it gives you strength.”
