Tottenham Hotspur claimed three points in the Premier League for the first time since their 4-1 win over Ipswich Town in February, however, Ange Postecoglou was not entirely impressed with his side's performance.
"I was really happy with the first half. First half I thought we were really disciplined, well organised and sort of limited them to one chance. Every time we went forward we looked dangerous and as threatening as we've looked for quite a while, really fluent, obviously scored two goals, one disallowed and Aaron [Ramsdale] has pulled off some good saves. Really pleased.
"Second half not so much as I thought we became way too passive without the ball. We allowed Southampton to get a little bit of rhythm, we were really sloppy with ball and the substitutions we made didn’t really make the impact I wanted. As you said, that allows them to get a goal at the end which was disappointing and something we need to improve on. Overall the important thing is we got the win, scored three goals and everyone got through unscathed and ready for a big night on Thursday."
Spurs coasted into a two-goal lead in the first half thanks to a brace from Brennan Johnson and could have had a third had VAR not disallowed what would've been Lucas Bergvall's first Premier League goal after a five-minute review, but Southampton caused some unease as Mateus Fernandes pulled one back in the 90th minute.
There was a first league goal in England for substitute Mathys Tel, as he wrapped things up with a sweetly dispatched 96th-minute penalty, but the Australian voiced his displeasure with a lacklustre second half.
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Bergvall back to his best
One standout from Sunday's win was 19-year-old Swedish sensation Lucas Bergvall. The former Djurgårdens IF midfielder was taken off at Stamford Bridge on Thursday night with "physicality" stated as the reason, but The Lilywhites' Head Coach was much more pleased with the Swede on Sunday.
"Yeah, look he looked a bit leggy on Thursday night but I thought it was important for him to get it out of his system because he hadn’t played, because he didn’t play the internationals, for two-and-a-half weeks and he hardly played.
"With Thursday in mind, I thought giving him 60 minutes on Thursday (against Chelsea) and another good block, he looked a lot better today, physically stronger and in the first half I felt the midfield three of Rodri, Madders and Lucas were really, really good defensively but also when we had the ball, they were really strong and it worked well."
Bergvall ran the midfield and came inches away from opening his Premier League account in the 33rd minute, but an offside in the build-up to his finish denied him that debut goal.
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Johnson firing again
Brennan Johnson bagged a first-half brace during the win over Southampton, much to the delight of his manager, with his goals being the first he has scored since Spurs won 4-1 at Portman Road, where he also scored twice.
"It’s tough but I think whenever Brennan plays that he's always a goal threat. He has been really good for us in terms of goals and, even though I don't rate them highly, even his assists have been important to us as today he won the penalty. He's really important for us in the way we play and I don't think he has been inconsistent this year.
The disruptions we've had in the team and the ability to get some real cohesion in the group has disrupted everyone this season. Great for him today, I was really pleased for him, not just goals but his general play was really good. He's important for us as a wide player there aren't many around that are a constant goal threat like he is. I'm really pleased for him today."
The Welshman is the club's top goalscorer in both the league and all competitions this season, having hit the back of the net on sixteen occasions.
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VAR the centre of attention again
Bergvall's 33rd-minute strike would have given Tottenham a two-goal cushion, but it was ruled out after a four-minute and fifty-second review from VAR Graham Scott, with Cristian Romero being ruled just millimetres offside in the build-up.
The controversy comes just days after a six-minute VAR check disallowed Pape Sarr's strike from range against Chelsea - a game Spurs went on to lose 1-0.
An unimpressed Ange Postecoglou was seen to flip a pretend coin and then performed an imaginary game of 'rock, paper, scissors' whilst today's check was ongoing, citing that a VAR decision may just be pot-luck.
"They draw those lines, is anyone convinced by those? This is not a slight on anyone as I don't think it favours us or not favours us but the fact we're waiting five minutes I really don’t think that’s what technology was brought in for. I think it's gone too far down the road for anyone to claw it back. We used to allow the assistants to make those decisions and we all accepted it.
"There was one in midweek with Chelsea and if they had gave it I wouldn't have complained and said it was a toenail offside because I've had that my whole career. Offside was never meant to be microscopically adjudged but if they ever get to a place when that is done instantaneously then I accept it because offside is offside.
"I just can't believe that this is what we brought it in for to stand around for five minutes for something that in the end is still, in my view anyway, is inconclusive. Like I said, the semi-automated will come in, says it's going to hopefully improve and speed up the process but I didn't think there was a crying need for the game of football to be disrupted like this but it has been and, as I keep saying, the overwhelming majority of voices are in favour of it and that kind of means it is very hard to stem that tide."
