Ange Postecoglou's 'tricky pitch' complaint in Tottenham loss to AZ Alkmaar dismissed by Les Ferdinand

Published 06/03/2025 at 21:50 GMT

Tottenham have plenty of work to do in north London next week after losing 1-0 to AZ Alkmaar in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League last-16 tie. Head coach Ange Postecoglou admitted their performance was not good enough, but also suggested a tricky pitch made it hard work for his team. TNT Sports pundit Les Ferdinand was not impressed with the Spurs boss' comments.

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Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou insisted a "tricky pitch" was partly to blame for his team's "disappointing performance" at AZ Alkmaar - an excuse instantly dismissed by TNT Sports pundit Les Ferdinand.

Spurs were disappointing in the Netherlands on Thursday, as a first-half own goal from Lucas Bergvall saw them lose 1-0 in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League last-16 tie.

Postecoglou admitted his team's performance was well below where it needed to be, but also said the surface at the AFAS Stadion did his side no favours.

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"Not a great night for us, it was a really disappointing performance," he told TNT Sports.

"We just never got to grips with the game. We didn't really get control at any stage. We were always kind of struggling, both on the ball and without the ball.

"It was a tricky pitch and we really didn't handle it well. Aside from that, we just weren't aggressive enough, we were way too passive in terms of the way we wanted to press.

"Even with the ball, too many times we just circulated the ball without any real intent to hurt them.

"We certainly felt like we were well prepared for the game, but that didn't transpire. Collectively we were nowhere near the level we needed to be and that's the thing we need to address.

"It's halfway, we're still in the tie. At home, we're capable of scoring goals and putting pressure on the opponent, and we'll perform better than what we did tonight."

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Ferdinand picked up on the comments from the Spurs boss in the TNT Sports studio, and the former Tottenham, Newcastle and QPR striker was not impressed.

"I wish he hadn't said that," Ferdinand said. "We're not there, so I don't know what the pitch is like. They [AZ] seemed to play alright on it, they seemed ok on it.

"He said before the game, we want to be aggressive, we want to be in their faces, and we saw none of that. He alluded to it, he said we weren't good enough.

"I'm not sure I would blame the pitch for the problems that Spurs had."

Tottenham captain Son Heung-min did not mention the pitch when he spoke after the game, and said there were no excuses.

"That was nowhere near where we should perform," Son said. "It's very disappointing that we performed like this, including me.

"It's a big wake-up call as next week is the biggest game of the season. It was sloppiness and not performing the way we should. Everybody is disappointed with their individual performance and team performance.

"No excuses, it was not good enough. We have to be much, much better next week."

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