Tottenham dispatched Dutch opponents, AZ Alkmaar, to progress to the Europa League quarter finals 3-2 on aggregate with an aggressive and bright performance.
After a 1-0 away loss in the first leg, the home side wasted little time in levelling the tie with a superb finish from Wilson Odobert.
From there, it was one way traffic from the Lilywhites as they allowed AZ little chances and kept the bulk of possession to round off a promising first half.
James Maddison scored in the second half with a neat finesse finish, which sent Ange Postecolgou and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium into rapture as they led for the first time in the clash between the two teams.
However, their work was not done. A mistake at the back from Lucas Bergvall gave AZ a great opportunity to level things up and Peer Koopmeiners duly finished with a thundering effort.
Odobert scored his second goal of the night just ten minutes later to secure the win, finishing off a superb team move which started in their own half.
There was a late rally from the away side but a huge save from Guglielmo Vicario and excellent defensive work by Yves Bissouma ensured that Tottenham would progress into the next knockout round of the competition.
Tottenham will face Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter finals in a crucial fixture as the North London side look to the lift the trophy for the first time since 1984. Here is what we learnt:
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Wilson Odobert is the real deal
The French winger signed from Burnley over the summer for a fee of £25m but has never really been able to get going in a Tottenham shirt.
There were question marks over his signing, considering that Burnley had just been relegated from the Premier League after a season of underperformance and disappointing showings.
He has had a rough time this season, having suffered from two hamstring injuries, the latter which required surgery. Odobert has spent most of the season on the sidelines but eventually made his first appearance for over three months in a 1-0 win over Manchester United just under two months ago.
The Frenchman was right at the heart of everything that went well for Tottenham on the night and added his first two goals for the club.
A scintillating top corner finish and a simple tap in, following from an impressive Dominic Solanke flick-on, capped off an exciting performance for the winger.
With Tottenham having had inconsistent showings from their wingers all season, the return of Odobert will be something that Postecoglou should be extremely pleased with.
His livewire tendencies and ability to cause the opposition problems will be a welcome sight to all.
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Aggressive performance downs AZ
One thing that Tottenham have struggled with is having a dominant edge over teams.
Their 3-0 win over Tamworth springs to mind, in which they were fully played off the park against the gutsy National League side and had to rely on three goals in extra time to progress.
However, the return of Cristian Romero and the tenacity of Djed Spence shows that Tottenham can have an aggressive side to their performance.
Romero brutally cut down former Tottenham youngster Troy Parrott and then proceeded to scream in his face. The referee deemed the challenge to be legal and it was a sign that Spurs were not here to be bullied into submission.
The return of centre back pairing of Micky Van de Ven and Romero simply showed how important they are to Postecoglou’s style of play, with some barnstorming slide tackles, they were virtually impregnable.
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The quest to find consistency
Spurs have struggled to find consistency throughout the season. Currently, they are 13th in the Premier League and have been knocked out early in the FA Cup. A dire performance against Liverpool in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi final further showed how they must find their form to fully reach the heights which their squad is capable of.
Against AZ, they were back to their free-flowing, ‘Ange-ball’ ways, which resulted in Odobert’s second goal.
Heung-min Son and James Maddison were both exciting throughout the match and will be keen to push on from this.
Tottenham really need to bring this kind of performance back to the Premier League, if they are to have any hopes of trying to limit the damage of earlier defeats in their domestic campaign.
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Mistakes still cost the Lilywhites
AZ’s only goal came from a lazy mistake from Lucas Bergvall, who otherwise was putting in a great display.
The Swede tried to play a simple pass but directed the ball into an unassuming Odobert, which then find it’s way into the feet of Koopmeiners, who then blasted it past Vicario, amidst a late attempt from Romero to try and block the shot.
Despite Tottenham dominating proceedings, a silly error at the back almost cost them the chance to progress in the competition.
Perhaps Spurs should have dropped back and tried to slow the game down, but that is not the way of Postecoglou.
Tottenham continued to run at a frenzied pace to score another goal and they should have scored again late on in the match.
With a more controlled and less chaotic approach, perhaps AZ would not have scored. The Dutch side were afforded more chances, which they were not able to take.
This much is clear: Tottenham’s game management must be better as better opponents will be ready to punish them.
