Tottenham: Postecoglou hails ‘four leaders’ after AZ win

Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou praised his four leaders of his team as Spurs kept their season alive with a 3-2 aggregate win over AZ Alkmaar to reach the Europa League quarter-finals.

Vice-captain James Maddison, hoping to be included in Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad, struck at the start of the second half as leadership group Guglielmo Vicario, Cristian Romero, Maddison and captain Son Heung-min started together for the first time since October.

“I think all those four leaders felt like it’s their time now. It’s been really tough for them, it’s been really tough for all of us, the whole club but particularly the players,” Postecoglou said.

“It’s the first time – somebody said – since October we’ve had our four leaders on the park; Vicario, Romero, Maddison and Sonny. So much this year we’ve relied on one or two of those, but to have all four of them out there makes a difference for us.

“I thought they all led the team well. We did look more like ourselves, but we’ve still got levels to go, because I still think players like Romero, Micky (van de Ven) and Wilson Odobert and Dom (Solanke) and all these guys are still building their way up to match fitness and match sharpness.

“With the quarter-final being three-and-a-half weeks away, there’s an opportunity for us to get these guys up to speed for that game.”

“The fans kept pushing us. Hopefully they can do this for the rest of the season” 👏

Micky van de Ven talks his return to fitness, and the impact the Spurs fans made in pushing their team to the Europa League quarter-finals.

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Spurs are down in 13th in the Premier League and out of both domestic cup competitions.

So victory in Europe was crucial on Thursday night, and they could yet qualify for the Champions League by winning the competition. They now face Eintracht Frankfurt over two legs next month.

Postecoglou added: “I think the way we handled it tonight was important. As much as you try to block out the outside noise and it doesn’t bother me, I’m sure the players and the whole club was aware tonight was a big night for us.

“When you are already 1-0 down you can get really anxious about it, but I never felt that. Up until we sort of gave them the first goal, I thought the lads had handled it superbly.

“Yeah, on what was a big night, I couldn’t be happier with the way the players tackled it and it’s a credit to them.

“We haven’t achieved anything yet. We’re in the quarter-final, now we kick on” 🫡

James Maddison on Spurs stepping up when it mattered most.

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“I think I’ve said consistently that when we’re at our best we can compete with anyone.

“We get an opportunity now to build up some players and, hopefully, we’ve still got some significant talent out and they could be coming back. All of that will be helpful for us reaching the levels that we need.”