Ange on Sonny’s match-winning assist: “A world-class player in a clutch moment”
Sun 11 February 2024, 10:00|
Tottenham Hotspur
Ange Postecoglou hailed the impact of our players off the bench after Heung-Min Son and Brennan Johnson combined for our dramatic late winner against Brighton on Saturday.
Sonny, Yves Bissouma - just back from international duty - and Brennan entered the fray moments after Pape Matar Sarr’s equaliser on the hour as Ange pushed for victory against an impressive Brighton side.
There were chances at both ends at 1-1 but we delivered the knockout blow right at the end of six minutes of added time. The move started in our box as Micky van de Ven played out to Ben Davies in the left-back position. He found Richarlison, Sonny played into James Maddison who then sent Richy away. He rolled into overlapping Sonny who delivered an inch-perfect cross for Brennan to convert at the far post.
That made it six wins and just one loss in our last nine in the Premier League with us starting a run of three Saturday 3pm home games on the spin – Brighton, Wolves next Saturday and then Palace on 2 March.
Speaking on The Review Show, Ange said on the winner: “The fact that we could bring on players like Brennan and Sonny in that moment, the quality they have... Sonny is world class, and he makes a difficult pass look pretty elementary and Brennan was there again, that’s the second time he’s been there at the far post (he also scored in our recent 3-2 win against Brentford) and it’s not an easy finish, particularly knowing what’s at stake. He held it really well.”
Asked about his substitutions in his post-match press conference, Ange said: “Brighton were doing really well, but they were working really hard to stay in the game. You know they're going to get tired, the fact that we could bring on two attacking players who are going to be a threat.
“It maybe looks simple, but that ball that Sonny plays, that's a world-class player in a clutch moment, finds the right pass, you can't do that if you can't bring him on, if it's somebody else.
“Even Brennan getting on the far post, we've helped him to do that. It's not about confidence, I feel like with the squad we have for today and hopefully moving forwards, we do have that ability irrespective of where the game's at, to finish games strong.”
