Ange Postecoglou accepted lacklustre Tottenham were “nowhere near” the level required after they lost 1-0 at AZ Alkmaar in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie.
A comical own goal by Lucas Bergvall in the 18th minute proved enough for AZ to register a first victory over an English club in 12 attempts.
Bergvall tried to clear Troy Parrott’s shot but only contrived to slice the ball up and over Djed Spence on the goal line.
Despite eight days to prepare for this crucial fixture, Spurs failed to produce an adequate response and did not register a shot on target until the 88th minute.
It was a thoroughly disappointing performance, especially given this competition remains the club’s last hope of silverware this term, and they have work to do to turn the tie around in the second leg in north London.
“We’ll analyse it and have a look at the areas where we struggled with, but it’s fair to say it was nowhere near the level it needed to be,” Postecoglou said.
“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.
“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.”
Wilson Odobert’s cross-shot with two minutes left proved Tottenham’s only effort on target, with Bergvall and captain Son Heung-min sending second-half attempts off target.
Yet Postecoglou, who has faced pressure following a difficult winter in which Spurs battled a huge injury crisis and slipped to 13th in the Premier League table, believes they can turn things around at home.
He added: “I don’t have any doubt about our ability to break them down, but obviously we have to play a little bit differently to how we did tonight, not just with the ball, but without the ball too.
“We’ve got to be a lot more aggressive than we were. 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.
Dominic Solanke was taken off injured after making his first appearance since mid-January 😔
More problems for Tottenham. pic.twitter.com/JB7nUzDroS
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 6, 2025
“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.”
A further blow for Spurs came in stoppage time when substitute Dominic Solanke, only back from a knee injury, received a whack to his back from Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro and limped off.
“It looks like a knock, but I haven’t really seen it. Hopefully nothing too bad,” Postecoglou said.
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