Spurs 4-1 Villa | Ange’s verdict: “Once the second half started, I thought there was only one team going to win"

Ange Postecoglou said he felt ‘the energy in the room’ at half-time before the team swept Villa away with a superb second half display at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday.

Trailing 1-0 at the interval, the first half of this Premier League encounter proved a test, a stop-start affair as Villa, happy to sit deep, stopped us finding any rhythm. That all changed four minutes into the second half when Heung-Min Son delivered a cross from the left that had ‘tuck me away’ written all over it, and Brennan Johnson duly obliged for the equaliser.

It took another 25 minutes before the purple patch that won us the game. Pape Matar Sarr was involved in both goals, with superb assists from Dejan Kulusevski and Richarlison as Dominic Solanke dinked home for 2-1 and then slotted Richy’s cross for 3-1. James Maddison put the icing on the cake with a textbook free-kick into the top corner from 20 yards in added time.

Here’s what Ange had to say on our Review Show…

After what happened at Palace last weekend, how pleased were you with how the players dealt with stop-start nature of the game?

Ange: “It’s an important part of our growth. I said last week, it’s a disappointing day, but we knew when we came back to Hotspur Way on Monday that we couldn’t feel sorry for ourselves, it’s about the learnings with take from that, because we had two really big games this week, important game for us and the football club. As I said, not feeling sorry for ourselves and looking for excuses. We have to deal with those situations better and we did that today. They are a good side, very consistent and we had to work hard in the first half to make them work hard. We’ve always got another gear in us and once the second half started, I thought there was only one team going to win it.”

How pleasing is it to have level of squad depth where you can bring in players - like Ben Davies and Richy - who can make an impact?

Ange: “We have to. We saw last year we kind of coped with it, but really suffered through it. This is the second game in a row we’ve had to reshuffle the back line – Radu’s played left centre-back, right centre-back, Ben’s come in, Destiny came in during the week. That’s why these guys work hard, and where Europe’s helped us this year, because Ben comes in with game form, Radu comes in and he has game form, that’s where it helps us and we’re going to need it, it looks like we’ve picked up another couple of injuries today, and we’ll need the players because the schedule is not going to ease up.”

What was said at half-time?

Ange: “I wasn’t happy that we were 1-0 down, but I was happy with the way we went about things, because I could see that Villa were working really, really hard. What we know is that we can work really, really hard for 100 minutes, not a problem, we’ve got other gears in us. It’s then about testing the opposition. So, the key for us was to come out second half, go up a notch and really take the game to them and see if they could cope. I wasn’t really worried at half-time that we were falling into the same traps as last week, I felt the energy in the room and the players couldn’t wait to get back onto the pitch for the second half, and the performance reflected that.”

Is a result like this reward for the sheer hard work of the players?

Ange: “It’s a big part of our game, a big part of who we are, then you allow the quality we have in the team to bear fruit, because if you want to play the way we want to, where we’re constantly at the opposition, aggressive, attacking, for want of a better word, then you need a big, physical capacity to do that. That’s why we work hard in training every day. Having that fitness base is one thing, but having the mental capacity to use it, because you could leave it in the tank. You saw that on Wednesday night, today, they emptied their tanks, everything they had they gave, and they got the rewards.”

Could you give us the latest on Richarlison and Cuti Romero (both went off injured)?

“I don’t know too much at the moment. Richy in that action setting up the goal felt something in his hamstring, which is disappointing for him. Cuti, in the challenge, he’s a tough cookie so for him to come off, he’s very sore, but we’ll have to wait and see. Look, it’s part of what every team is going through, and we just have to deal with it.”

People often talk about consistency, but that’s nine wins in 11 in all competitions...

Ange: “Last week, you can’t dismiss that. I wasn’t a great day for us. You accept that losses are part of the process at times, but we didn’t play the way we want to, so that’s disappointing. That didn’t mean we fell off a cliff. I made a point of saying to the players in the week that our eyes are firmly ahead on what we want to become and who we want to become and it’s just as important today as it was last week… we don’t get carried away with last week or today, we look forward, we have a massive game in the Europa League this week, a tough game, exciting, so, recover and go again. I’m sure the players will enjoy it,it will feel like a big European game. I wanted to mention... Today is Ugo Ehiogu’s birthday, and Wellsy (Matt Wells, Senior Assistant Coach) spoke really strongly about him during the week, the affect he had on him as a person, that was a bit of an inspiration for the team today, knowing it’s his birthday. A tough day for his wife and son, hopefully that would be a bit of cheer. Wellsy did him proud, the way he spoke about him, and that had a real effect on the players.”