The match saw Villa take an early lead with Morgan Rogers netting from close range following a corner. However, Tottenham equalised early in the second half when Son delivered a superb low cross that Brennan Johnson finished on the run. Dominic Solanke then put Tottenham in the lead with a clever chipped finish after a well-executed move beginning with a crucial Ben Davies block and a precise reverse pass by Dejan Kulusevski. Solanke’s second goal extended the lead to 3-1, followed by a high-quality curling free-kick from James Maddison that secured a 4-1 victory.
Ange Postecoglou said “Well, I guess just about all of it. You’re playing a top team and you know with Villa that they’re always going to have a real strong performance because they’re very, very consistent. They rarely have off days and you’ve got to be ready for that. I thought we had to match it with them in the first half. We had to sort of draw on their energy and make them work really hard. Obviously we concede a goal, but I still felt like we made them work really hard in that first half. And, you know, the thing with us is we’ve got another gear in us, two or three gears and we keep going and we felt like we could really break them open in the second half if we just really stayed focused on making sure the football was up tempo and there was intensity in the game and credit to the players after a massive effort on Wednesday night, at least they know that physically they did it again.”
Regarding Son’s substitution,
Ange Postecoglou said “What was the thinking behind taking off Sonny? He was never going to play more than that today because, obviously, he had an injury, came back and last time it was around the 60-minute mark where he kind of got fatigued last time. So he was never going to play more than sort of 55/60 minutes irrespective of how the game was going. The great thing was that he made a pretty important contribution, before that, the great ball in for our first goal and we got our equaliser. So, you know, again, we got more battles ahead and we’re going to need him. So he was never going to play more than that. No, no, no, I didn’t see any difference in Sonny. But no, no, I didn’t need to discuss it with him.”
On Dominic Solanke’s performance,
Ange Postecoglou said “Dominic Solanke, you said before the game… Two shots on target. Yeah, does this underline your faith in him? No, it had nothing to do with that. As I said during the week, I just think the enormous effort he put in on Wednesday night to help us win a game of football, not just physically but mentally and his capacity to help the team in every way he can. To back that up today with such a massive effort again against a pretty difficult team to play against in that sense, it’s just unbelievable. Yeah, the goals are great and, of course, as a striker I am sure he loves the fact he can score a couple of goals, but even if he didn’t, again I can’t speak highly enough of what he is contributing to our team at the moment.”
Commenting on the physical and mental efforts of the players,
Ange Postecoglou said “How impressed were you with the physical and mental effort of the players after this week? Yeah, obviously we made two or three changes but when you consider it was a big physical toll on Wednesday night and we’re obviously a goal down at halftime, it can easily play on your mind, but I never sensed that at the break. The players were really determined to go out there again. They couldn’t wait to get back out on the pitch and start playing again and raising the tempo, raising the intensity, and credit to them. It’s not easy.”
Discussing the prospects of securing a Champions League spot,
Ange Postecoglou said “Is it a more open field for Champions League spots this year than just Spurs and Villa? Yeah potentially, I don’t spend too much time thinking about it. But it looks like there’s a lot more congestion in terms of the field itself. Some of that I think is just the attrition rate of players at the moment, which is making it hard for teams to get into smooth water, so to speak. We’re all having to deal with it, I guess, so that’s part of it.”
On preparation for Villa set pieces,
Ange Postecoglou said “Did you take extra time to prepare for Villa set pieces as it’s a strength of theirs? No because I think then you fall into the trap of preparing differently. And I’ve always said that we prepare the same for every game. There’s obviously the strengths and areas where they could hurt us. Yeah, look, we conceded from a set piece. I know I’m on my own on this, I don’t like them. To me, I think I mentioned in the TV interview, it looks like a scrum. I just don’t think that’s what football’s about.”
