Ambling in Alkmaar
The Europa League Round of 16 away leg was not the easy walk through the tulips we thought it would be; if anything, the squad needed to take more of a running approach. There was a noticeable lack of energy and focus in the performance. But at least it wasn't a total collapse and there is still decent hope of progressing if the home leg goes to plan.
In this issue: AZ Alkmaar recap | Previewing Bournemouth | News from around the Lane
Before we can make things right in the second fixture, it's back to Premier League purgatory. We'll see how Ange Postecoglou approaches the match against Bournemouth considering that the team could dearly use the morale boost of a win, if not necessarily the points in the table (the eggs are truly all in the Europa League basket at this point, whether we like it or not).
Europa League Round of 16 Away Leg | AZ Alkmaar 1 - 0 Tottenham
Bergvall (OG) 18'
This is going to be a true speed run of a recap, mostly because I'm exasperated with the larger fanbase discourse around this fixture. Sure, it wasn't great, but I don't feel like every result needs to be treated as the most serious in club history or cause for proclaiming a verdict on the manager—certainly not the first leg of a two-leg tie. It's just an exercise in solipsism if you ask me, and frankly, a bit dismissive of the opponent, who were in fact trying to win their all-important home leg. Respect where it's due.
So, after a quick rundown of the lineup decisions, I'll keep the analysis simple with a pros and cons list.
Starting XI:
This was a pretty standard lineup for the current state of the squad; in other words, there were no surprise starts fresh off the injury list. Although we had three new additions to the bench (Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, and Dominic Solanke) and Mikey Moore was back involved after missing out on the previous matchday squad, only Solanke would come on a substitute. In hindsight, it would have been better if he hadn't, because he took the brunt of AZ Alkmaar's physicality—he was sandwiched between the keeper and a defender after attempting a header and got kneed in the back—and could miss out on more games now.
So all things considered, and not wanting to rush the returning players, this felt close to the most reasonable starting XI that Postecoglou could pick. It's a pity they didn't execute the plan better.
The good and the bad (but really, it was all ugly):
Pros
- The only goal we gave up was a flukey own goal; the opponents weren't terribly threatening otherwise and Guglielmo Vicario only had to make three saves.
- We therefore kept the damage to the aggregate scoreline minimal.
- The away goals rule is long gone, so we didn't miss out on a valuable advantage by not scoring ourselves.
- We've now made it through two games against AZ Alkmaar this season without a Troy Parrott revenge goal (he did technically force the own goal with his "cross" but it had just as much control as Bergvall's attempted clearance—which is to say, not much at all).
Cons
- We didn't register a shot on target until the 87th minute.
- Bentancur is suspended for the home leg due to picking up a second yellow card (to be fair, this could arguably go in the pros list as well, depending on which version of Bentancur was going to show up for the home leg).
- Whatever the hell that free-kick routine was (I'm so glad it wasn't on the extended highlights, I did not want to relive it).
- The away fan controversy with Vicario after the match. Seriously, if some of these folks regret spending money to go watch the team in Europe, they probably need to get some perspective about what sports actually entail (i.e. occasionally losing competitive matches!). If they can't accept that reality and don't want to actually support the players, maybe they shouldn't be there. Vicario had a very classy response to the situation, but personally, I would have just told them to grow up.
SAtP Player of the Match: abstain
Notable & quotable:
• It's definitely more of an excuse than a reason for the loss, but Postecoglou cited the state of the pitch as a concern from training. There is a reason it's considered difficult to secure an away win in Europe.
It wasn’t great from us tonight, pretty much in all facets of the game. We didn’t really get to grips with any part of the game. We struggled to gain any momentum with the ball, we weren’t as aggressive as we needed to be without the ball. It was a tricky surface, but having said that, we knew that from (training). We just didn’t tackle the challenges we had out there in a positive way. That allowed AZ to get into a rhythm, which when you’re playing away from home, it is difficult to stem the tide.
He also assessed the task ahead in the home leg:
We have to play a little bit differently to how we did tonight, not just with ball, but without the ball too. We've got to be a lot more aggressive than we were tonight. 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. If we address those things I'm sure we'll be in a position to at least cause them more problems that we did tonight. It's only 1-0 so I guess that’s a positive in that we didn’t let the game get away from us.
Previewing PL Matchday 28 — Bournemouth
After this match, we'll officially be in the Premier League home stretch with ten games remaining. It all feels like a bit of a moot point by now with so many dropped points, but there's always some hope that we can finish strong and at least salvage our pride. If the team needs some easy targets to focus on, here's an idea: the three teams immediately above us in the table are all London rivals. Let's at least make it a goal to finish ahead of Brentford, Crystal Palace, and Fulham. We're currently ahead of West Ham but only on goal difference.
Anyway, we need to deal with Bournemouth first. We will likely have to do so without the benefit of Dominic Solanke's insider knowledge; although Ange Postecoglou described Solanke's injury as merely a "knock," I can't imagine he'll want to risk him to start against his former team. Ben Davies has been back in training and could be in contention to play, but is by no means a lock to be involved, while Richarlison is ruled out. Elsewhere in the injury return department, Postecoglou revealed that he made a last-minute decision not to play either Micky van de Ven or Cristian Romero at AZ Alkmaar due to the conditions of the playing surface, but they're likely to come back against Bournemouth.
For the Cherries, Ryan Christie is a doubt with a vaguely described "something chronic." Sounds familiar! Enes Ünal, Marcos Senesi, Adam Smith, and Julián Araujo are all sidelined.
Postecoglou reflected on the opportunity this game presents to bounce back from the loss to AZ Alkmaar:
The best way to put [that] disappointment to one side is to perform well at the weekend and our league form hasn't been too bad over the recent period and we want to continue that. The Europa League is a massive emphasis for us, but I still want us and have a real desire to move up the table, and we get that opportunity on Sunday.
News from around the Lane
• Spurs Men had a trio of nominees for the February Premier League monthly awards:
- Dejan Kulusevski was nominated for Goal of the Month for his strike against Ipswich Town.
- Djed Spence was nominated for Player of the Month as much for his clean sheet assistance as his first PL goal.
- Ange Postecoglou was nominated for Manager of the Month for leading the team to a strong stretch in the league in the midst of cup disappointments.
• On this International Women's Day, the Women of the Lane supporters' association celebrated its one-year anniversary.
Now for a couple of bonus bookmarks:
• Ella Morris gave an short but interesting interview on the Girls on the Ball podcast Extra Time:
- Morris praised Spurs' medical staff for helping her make an accelerated return to play from her MCL injury
- She also named Ash Neville as a mentor who has followed a similar lower-league path to the WSL.
• Elias Burke of The Athletic wrote a feature on Jamie Donley during his loan spell at Leyton Orient.
Elias Burke
- Donley's passing vision was noted by the club's vice-captain, Omar Beckles, also praising the young player for his "humble" character.
At this level, there’s nothing like his weight of pass. He doesn’t just pass on his safe side; he’s threading balls between lines and between centre-backs and full-backs with the weight of pass.
Don't forget to set your clocks forward tonight if you're in the US so you don't miss kickoff!
And a reminder that Spurs Women are off this weekend.
Everyone send some positive vibes to my beloved San Antonio FC for their home opener tonight!
COYS
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