Son Slams Team’s Performance, Says Defeat Against AZ a Wake-Up Call Before ‘Biggest Game’

Following Tottenham Hotspur’s 1-0 loss against AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League, the former’s captain Son Heung-min said that the team should take their defeat as a “wake-up call” going into their “biggest game of the season”.

Spurs lost their first leg of round of 16 in Netherlands as Lucas Bergvall conceded an own goal, coupled with poor performance from the team. As of now, the probability of silverware hangs by a thread. Next Thursday, Ange Postecoglou's men will face AZ Alkmaar in the second leg at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

“It's nowhere near where we should perform,” Son told TNT Sports. “It was very disappointing that we performed like this, including me. It's a big wake-up call because next week is the biggest game of the season.”

“We didn't 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.”

“There are no excuses, we were not good enough. It's just 1-0, it's still not finished, and next week we have to be much better.”

Spurs are currently 13th in the Premier League and are out of both domestic cups.

“It was nowhere near the level it needed to be,” Postecoglou said of his side's performance in Alkmaar.

“It wasn't great from us tonight, pretty much 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.”

“I don't think it's a matter of effort or attitude. 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.”

“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.”