JUST IN – Ange Postecoglou sends message to Son Heung-Min after a crucial late winner goal to hand Tottenham the 3-point against Luton Town [Full story link in comment]
Ange Postecoglou admitted his Tottenham side made hard work of their 2-1 win over visitors Luton on Saturday afternoon.
The Hatters required just three minutes to take the lead. Former Lilywhite Andros Townsend danced past Yves Bissouma before picking out Ross Barkley who laid the ball on for Tahith Chong to find the bottom corner.
The hosts responded well though, laying siege on Luton’s back line. In a frenetic sequence of events Son Heung-min saw a shot cannon off both posts before Timo Werner and Pape Matar Sarr both had follow-up efforts blocked.
But it was second-half substitute Brennan Johnson, fresh from shoot-out heartbreak with Wales, who led the Spurs recovery. A neat give-and-go with Pedro Porro preceded a cross so deadly Issa Kabore hsad no option but to turn into his own net.
Quite how Johnson’s later effort failed to cross the goal-line is unfathomable with the ball effectively rolling over the white marking. Hawkeye images illustrated just how narrow the margin had been.
It was Tottenham’s captain who secured the three points with only four minutes of regulation time remaining. Werner’s flashed cross was set back into the path of Son by Johnson, and the Korean fired past Thomas Kaminski with the help of a Daiki Hashioka deflection.
On the performance:
By all metrics Spurs were the superior side: their 3.26 xG dwarfed Luton’s 0.46. But at this late stage of the season wins, of any description, are worth their weight in gold.
Postecoglou said: “I thought the performance was good. We made the game pretty difficult for ourselves, we certainly had enough chances and we controlled the game pretty much from start to finish.
“But it was a disappointing goal we conceded, the only really disappointing thing of the day – I thought it was preventable.
“But aside from that I thought the lads handled it really well in the second half. There was obviously a bit of anxiety around the place every game now, not just for us, for every club there’s extra significance.”
Spurs are engaged in a three-horse race for the final Champions League spot, with Aston Villa and – to a lesser extent – Manchester United also vying for a top-four finish.
Victory on Saturday afternoon saw Spurs leapfrog Villa and while Postecoglou has previously poured scorn on suggestions that this is Spurs’ be-all and end-all, qualification to Europe’s premier cup competition would surely be the perfect marker of Spurs’ progression under his management.
To do that Spurs must stick to their new-found identity, just as they did until the last against Luton.
“A lot of our football becomes a war of attrition,” Postecoglou explained. “We need to put pressure on the opposition. I thought we made Luton work really hard in the first half and I thought you saw in the last 10-15 minutes they kind of played a price for that.”
On Brennan Johnson and Spurs’ wingers
Both of Spurs’ goals were assisted by Johnson, who has enjoyed an upturn in form since the turn of the new year. The winger has added six goals and assists in his last eight league appearances.
When asked of his cameo off the bench, Postecoglou said: “He was good. In the first half we felt Deki [Dejan Kulusevksi] was coming inside a little bit too much. Timo was certainly getting some opportunities on the left-hand side and if we had Brennan on the right-hand side we thought he could be equally a threat.
“I thought both wingers in the second half were outstanding.”
On Kulusevski, Postecoglou elaborated saying the Swede had become “too involved” in the first 45 minutes in an attempt to get on the ball. Introducing Johnson allowed Spurs to establish a “different structure”.
“With Brennan’s pace, he’s got a really good quality delivery, he gets in the box. We thought the game was going to be good for him when he came on.”
Postecoglou believes the strength of Spurs’ wing-play is a part of his tactical vision but conceded that his side are yet to “fully nail” that facet of their game. Instead he said he had observed “green sprouts of growth” through goals scored from crosses this season.
On Son Heung-min becoming Spurs’ fifth all-time top scorer
While Son’s 86th-minute winner helped Tottenham to three crucial points, it also saw the South Korean ascend to the club’s fifth all-time top goalscorer.
His 160th Spurs goal could have been added to had it not been for both posts and the reflexes of Luton’s highly-rated ‘keeper Kaminski.
“Outstanding,” Postecoglou purred when asked about his skipper’s latest milestone. “The thing about Sonny is that irrespective of what position you play him or whatever game it is, he just has this really high level of expectation on himself to be the best he can be all the time.
“It’s very hard to be like that. So often it’s a lot easier to try and be comfortable with your state of being whether that’s as a player or as a person.
“He’s been a brilliant player for this football club for a long time and [hopefully] for many years to come.”
