LONDON — If you were making a blueprint for Tottenham to fulfill their manager’s lofty pronouncements about always winning trophies in year two, a key component would have to be Heung-min Son playing at something approximating the level of his prime years. That player might just be the best in the Europa League, the sort who can swing a tie in Spurs’ favor.
That is the Son Tottenham got Thursday night. They had to wait a while but after his block earned the hosts a high regain from which Wilson Odobert brought Spurs level, you could see flashes of the best Son. Couple that with an incisive James Maddison and there was enough in this team to shake off the nerves that came when Peer Koopmeiners punished sloppiness from Odobert and Lucas Bergvall to draw AZ Alkmaar level in the tie on the hour.
Son’s fingerprints were all over Odobert’s second, as they had been for Maddison’s goal between the two. With an incisive left flank — Djed Spence was a real danger on the overlap in the second half — the hosts had too much for AZ. Ange Postecoglou lives to fight another day, a quarterfinal against Eintracht Frankfurt looking altogether more negotiable if they have tonight’s Son.
It is not as if that version of the Tottenham captain has been entirely absent this season. Few forwards across the Premier League would sniff at 11 assists and nine goals in 39 games across all competitions. Similarly, 0.47 non-penalty expected goals plus expected assists (npxG+xA) per 90 minutes is at or around the level of an eminently useful forward. Then again for the best part of a decade Son has been far better than useful. In his 20s that npxG+xA figure might be up at 0.7 and as one of the most two-footed forwards on the planet he could outperform that expected number by a decent margin without any real sign of an imminent cold streak.
At 32, it is only natural that he is not quite that player anymore. Premier League fullbacks are more athletic than they’ve ever been and the preponderance of teams leaving three or four defenders back means less space for him to attack on the counter to such devastating effect. When the goals and assists have come for Son they have often been against the lesser lights of the league: braces of assists against Southampton and Ipswich, two goals against Everton.
AZ might fit into that grouping. The difference this time is that Son’s big game really mattered. Fail to overturn the 1-0 deficit from their insipid display in the first leg and Tottenham’s injury-riddled season was finished in March. Postecoglou’s employment might have been too. Instead, there is cause to believe that their head coach might win something in year two. For the first time since December 8 Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero started a game together, the former getting through an hour in which he showed an impressive burst to deny Ernest Poku.
Bergvall limping out was a blow but post international break the treatment room might be a lonely place for Kevin Danso and Radu Dragusin. There will be something to play for when spring arrives, big games for the likes of Son to build towards.
It had been a slow start for Spurs’ talisman and indeed for those around him. A skipping run through midfield by Odobert seemed to have AZ on the back foot, a heavy first touch by Son and the visitors were able to scrabble back in sufficient numbers. Tottenham were playing the game where they wanted to but every attack seemed to require just one pass too many.
Still pushing the game into the AZ half would soon be rewarded. A loose pass back left Wouter Goes with all sorts of unappealing options. He chose the worst of them, booting the ball into Son. Dominic Solanke was the grateful recipient of the charge down, squaring the ball for Odobert to drive home his first goal in Tottenham colors.
For Son, in particular, this was a lightbulb moment. He had unearthed the player of old within himself and in an instant, he was dropping into midfield, spinning and charging at goal. Soon after he hit the afterburners, charging away from two red shirts as he took the ball from his own half to the penalty area in a flash. The only thing that was not true Son fashion were the undercooked finishes.
No matter, he would simply outsource that part of the game. Cutting in on his right, everything seemed to be opening up for Son to hit one. Instead, he rolled the ball to his right and Maddison, a precise finish into the bottom corner that really ought to have killed off the tie. This had been Son at his best. It would not last for the rest of the match but would crop up time and again. At least it is still there.
A moment of youthful indiscretion — Bergvall kicking the ball against the otherwise outstanding Odobert to inadvertently assist Koopmeiners — had Tottenham wobbling but their big players stepped up in time. Maddison’s smart feint killed the AZ press and got Spurs advancing down the left, where Son held on long enough for Spence to stretch beyond him. A cutback, a Solanke flick and Odobert was converting at the back post with 20 minutes to go.
A cup winner might have killed it off from there rather than giving Mexx Meerdink a prime chance to equalize late on. Tottenham don’t look like prohibitive favorites yet, partly because they aren’t yet getting 90 minutes of Son at his very best. Still, if the latter does happen, then there won’t be a more dangerous force in the Europa League.
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