Ange Postecoglou hails ‘unbelievable’ Dominic Solanke after Spurs thrash Villa
Solanke ended a run of six matches without a goal with a crucial late brace on Sunday.
Ange Postecoglou paid tribute to “unbelievable” Tottenham forward Dominic Solanke after his classy second-half brace inspired an emphatic 4-1 victory over Aston Villa.
Villa started the day with a five-point cushion over Spurs, having also beaten the north London club to a top-four spot last season, and went ahead in the 32nd minute when Morgan Rogers fired in from a corner.
It halted the momentum Postecoglou’s side had built in midweek with a fine Carabao Cup triumph over Manchester City, but they were transformed in the second half and blew away their midlands rivals.
Captain Son Heung-min set up Brennan Johnson for his seventh goal of the season in the 49th minute before Solanke hit a quick-fire double during the final quarter of an hour after a six-match run without a goal.
Postecoglou said: “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, 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, I can’t speak highly enough of what he is contributing to our team at the moment.
“And long may it continue because with him playing that way, it just makes us a better team.”
It was not all good news for Tottenham, who had to bring off Cristian Romero and Richarlison, having also lost Micky van de Ven to a hamstring injury in midweek.
“Richy obviously felt something in the action of setting the goal up in his hamstring, so we’ll see,” Postecoglou said.
“I don’t have any further information (on Romero) but he’s a pretty tough cookie and for him to come off, it must be sore.
“It’s not ideal but hopefully both are not serious.”
However, Postecoglou insisted it was always the plan after the forward had missed six of Spurs’ previous seven matches with a hamstring problem.
“He’s had an injury, he came back and last time it was around the 60-minute mark when he got fatigued so he was never going to play more than 45 to 60 irrespective of the way the game was going,” Postecoglou said.
“The great thing was he made a pretty important contribution before that with a great ball in for our first goal.”
“We compete and we were being consistent,” Emery said.
“Of course the first half was much better than the second half and the team were aware how we can be competitive, close to win, close to get more chances to be in top seven positions in Premier League.
“And we are accepting the result because in the second half when they score two goals and take advantage on the field, it is a team in transition, very good and we were making some mistakes.”
