Spurs 3-1 Southampton | Ange’s verdict

Ange Postecoglou was pleased with our first-half performance but was left wanting more from the second in Sunday’s 3-1 win over Southampton.

Brennan Johnson’s brace put us in control while Lucas Bergvall saw his effort ruled out for offside and Saints goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale was forced into a number of saves as we dominated the game in the opening 45 minutes at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

We didn’t quite manage to hit the same levels after the restart, though, with Mateus Fernandes pulling a goal back for the visitors in the last minute of normal time to set up a nervy ending – although Mathys Tel’s subsequent first Premier League goal from the penalty spot made sure of the points, with the final outcome returning us to winning ways while relegating Southampton.

Reflecting on the game on our Review Show, Ange said the first-half display pleased him the most.

“It was a good win,” he said. “The first half I thought was excellent, we were really disciplined and well-organised, didn’t really allow them that much – they had one chance – and we always looked a threat going forward, we scored two goals, had another one disallowed and Ramsdale has pulled off some good saves, so I was really pleased, but in the second half, not so much. We became way too passive without the ball, were not aggressive enough and then with the ball we kind of got sloppy and didn’t keep possession as well as we should have, so some improvement (is needed) there but it’s a good win, three goals and important that everyone got through it okay.”

On two-goal Brennan, who was one of three players brought into the team from Thursday night’s defeat at Chelsea, Ange praised the Wales international for the discipline he shows on the pitch.

“Brennan was great – he’s always a goal threat and he’s really important to us when we play the kind of football that we did in the first half,” the Head Coach said. “He’s just so disciplined in always being in the right areas, always making sure he’s constantly in the areas we need him to be and sometimes I feel like we kind of let him down by not being disciplined with our football in the final third, because he’s always there and I’m really pleased for him – I thought he was great today.

“I didn’t want to make too many changes – I thought it was important to get some sort of cohesion moving into Thursday (Europa League quarter-final against Eintracht Frankfurt) but for guys like Destiny and Micky, it was important that they got a full recovery after a big game on Thursday night and the guys coming in did really well. We’re going to need the squad, we’ve got them back now which is great and we know European games are really demanding, so we’re going to need everyone ready to go.”

Thursday’s clash with Frankfurt is the first of two legs over the next two weeks, with the winners advancing to the Europa League semi-finals.

Watch | Ange reflects on victory over Southampton