Ange Postecoglou dismisses concerns over Tottenham's first-half struggles after latest comeback win

Spurs have not scored a goal before half-time on home soil in 2024
Ange Postecoglou’s side battled to victory over Luton
REUTERS
Dan Kilpatrick @Dan_KP30 March 2024

Ange Postecoglou played down Tottenham's trouble scoring in the first half of matches after Saturday's comeback win over Luton and dismissed the suggestion the match was part a pattern of similar results.

Heung-min Son bagged the winner four minutes from time as Spurs came from a goal down to beat the Hatters 2-1 in north London, taking them above Aston Villa into fourth place.

Tahith Chong fired Luton ahead in the third-minute but a Issa Kabore own goal shortly after the restart levelled the game before Son struck.

Spurs' last 12 goals have all been in the second half, while they have also launched comebacks from a goal down in Premier League home games against Brentford, Brighton and Crystal Palace since January 31.

But asked if he saw a trend in performances, Postecoglou said: "No, no I don't mate. A trend for me goes beyond what's happening right now.

Heung-min Son rescued Tottenham late on against Luton
REUTERS

"I can understand people look for threads but I'm just looking at the overall picture and you put aside the result or the manner in which we're winning games and just look at our performances.

"If you're talking about those three games, they've all been a little bit different in the context of the opposition we're facing and how they played. I thought today the one disappointing thing was the goal we conceded.

"Apart from that the game went pretty much the way I hoped it would. Obviously if we got an early goal it would have opened them up and made the game easier for us but winning the way we did isn't a bad thing either.

"I thought the performance was good. I think we made the game pretty difficult for ourselves. We certainly had enough chances and we controlled the game pretty much from start to finish, but obviously when the scoreline is as it is, disappointing goal we conceded."

Asked if he wanted to change Spurs first-half performances, Postecoglou said: "I don't know, no, not really.

"The disappointing thing about the first half is the goal we conceded. Our football was good. We created good chances, one-vs-ones, we hit the post, they blocked quite a few shots and they defended desperately. I think overall there was nothing wrong with our football. The goal we conceded, yeah that was poor and that's something we need to address.

Spurs once again had to come from behind in north London
Getty Images

"With a lot of our football it becomes a war of attrition. We need to put pressure on the opposition because we know we're going to run our games really strongly and I thought we made Luton work really hard in the first half and I thought you saw in the last 10 to 15 minutes that they paid the price for that."

Son's winner took him to 160 Spurs goals as the South Korean leapfrogged Cliff Jones as the club's fifth top-scorer of all-time.

"The thing about Sonny is that irrespective of opposition or whatever game it is, he has this really high level of expectation on himself to be the best he can be all the time," Postecoglou said.

"It's very hard to be like that. It's a lot easier to try and get comfortable in the state of being as a person or as a player because he's done so much already. But he wants to maintain the highest possible standards whenever he plays.

"And when you see that with his football, his efforts, his leadership now so it's all encompassing. Look, he's been a brilliant footballer for this club for a long time and hopefully for many years to come, and again I thought he was really unlucky with a couple of chances and some good saves. But when we needed him he was there and got the job done."

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