Ange Postecoglou has insisted that Tottenham have the belief that they can overcome a tricky second leg in the Arctic Circle and reach the Europa League final despite conceding a late goal against Bodø/Glimt.
Ulrik Saltnes gave Kjetil Knutsen’s Norwegian champions hope of mounting a comeback next week after Spurs had raced into a 3-0 lead in the first leg thanks to goals from Brennan Johnson after just 38 seconds, James Maddison and a penalty from Dominic Solanke. Bodø have a formidable record at home, having won six of their seven matches in Europe so far including victories over Olympiakos and Lazio.
But Postecoglou is confident that his side can overcome the challenge of playing on an artificial surface and reach the final in Bilbao later this month where they could face Manchester United.
“Look it is on artificial grass but it’s still a game of football,” said Postecoglou. “I’ve been there, played there with Celtic, I know the experience and what is important for us is we need to replicate what we did today. Irrespective of the surface, if we’re as disciplined and as organised as we were today, with and without the ball, it won’t matter what the surface is, I think it will make it really difficult for us to be stopped.”
But Knutsen felt that the late goal could be crucial for his side’s chances. “If you see when Tottenham conceded a goal, they were really disappointed,” he said. “They lost energy and I think we got a lot of energy because of the goal. I think we can take the energy from this game into the next game. It’s totally different for us to play at home.”
Postecoglou is hopeful injuries that forced Maddison and Solanke off do not rule them out of the second leg, although he was less positive about Lucas Bergvall. The Sweden midfielder signed a new long-term contract this week but was pictured wearing a protective boot as he watched the game from the Spurs bench after picking up an ankle injury in training.
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“It’s too early to assess,” said Postecoglou. “You know, it’s just the way our season’s gone on unfortunately, it’s just hugely disappointing for Lucas, he was obviously really excited. He had a big week, re-signing with the club and he’s had such a great year for us. Like I said, it’s just the way our season’s gone, where in training something innocuous like that ends up with him hurting his ankle. We’ll just assess over the next few days, let it settle down and we’ll find the extent of it.”
Source: theguardian.com
