Ange Postecoglou has said that Tottenham Hotspur must 'silence' the home crowd at AZ Stadion early on Thursday night, as a make-or-break UEFA Europa League knockout gets underway in the Netherlands on Thursday (17:45 GMT).
"Yeah, it will be a tough challenge. They did really well [last time]. We obviously played Galatasaray away and they’re a very good side, especially in European football, but the key for that tie was how they [AZ] played at home. They set it up and with us tomorrow night, we’ve got to make sure whatever happens at the end of the game we’ve still got an opportunity to go back to Tottenham and win the tie."
In the knockout round, which The Lilywhites avoided thanks to finishing in the top eight of the League phase, AZ Alkmaar overcame Galatasaray, a side who Spurs were defeated by in November, and to be frank, the 3-2 scoreline which that game ended in flattered Postecoglou's men.
They struggled hugely in that tie, failing to cope with the raucous atmosphere of RAMS Park and had it not been for some tremendous goalkeeping heroics from Fraser Forster, it could have proved to be a rather ugly scoreline in Turkey that evening,
Their Head Coach, however, has sensibly not underestimated the impact which the crowd can have at Alkmaar.
"We understand with the home support, I’ve been here with Celtic in a Europa game so I know the experience of it and they’re a good side, but we’ve got to make sure we play our football and dictate the tempo of the game to make sure we take a result back to Tottenham."
They will be looking to become the third English side to win at this venue in the previous three seasons, with West Ham (1-0) and Aston Villa (4-1) tasting victory here in the UEFA Conference League recently. As the former Celtic boss mentioned, he has been here previously, managing to stay in the game and win the tie on home soil at Celtic Park, despite losing the first leg away.
Squad 'hungry' to turn fortunes around
After a poor first half of the campaign, Tottenham have finally started to pick up some form ahead of the business stage of the season, winning three of their last four in the Premier League, and after disappointment in the domestic cups, as they were knocked out at Anfield and Villa Park, the players are hungry to taste success come the end of May.
"Yeah, I think it is fair to say the boys really understand there is a great opportunity for us. I think they’ve appreciated the fact that the guys who have been playing through are now able to recover and train and prepare themselves better for games. That’s coincided with seeing their team-mates come back and certainly the guys that have been out injured, we’ve already seen with guys like Vic, Brennan, Madders to a lesser extent (due to time out) but Wilson, Destiny, they’ve come back with a real hunger and desire to help the team because I think they’ve all been frustrated to sit on the sidelines and see how difficult it has for the group of players who have been playing.
"They’ve just wanted to help and now they get that opportunity. Again, I think you sense that in the group that they appreciate they have some support and some help. There is a platform there for us to hopefully get back to playing our football and seeing how far we can progress."
Hoping for more Europa League success
Silverware in the Europa League would end a 17-year trophy drought for Tottenham, and could arguably give Postecoglou legend status at the club, whilst it would also be their third time winning the competition, moving them up to joint-second for most UEL titles won.
Although respecting the status of Thursday's opponents, there is an understanding from the Australian that this is a huge two-legged affair for Spurs, with a win seeing them set up a last-eight tie with either Ajax or Eintracht Frankfurt.
"I'm not sure what there for me is, but it's a competition we obviously want to do well in. We've got ourselves in a good position, we're in the round of 16. We've got two tough games against AZ and that's the first thing to overcome.
"You're right, the club hasn't in recent years done well in this competition, but it's a major European competition, we're in the last 16 and for us there's an opportunity there and we'll see how far we can go in it."