Ange Postecoglou
Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has admitted his side were "anxious" during their "chaotic" draw with Bournemouth
Ange Postecoglou admitted Tottenham’s fightback from two goals down to salvage a point in a "chaotic" game saved them from mutiny.
Spurs go into their do-or-die Europa League second leg with AZ Alkmaar buoyed by a spirited recovery against swaggering Bournemouth.
And head coach Postecoglou, whose two-year reign will ultimately be judged on Thursday night’s response to a 1-0 deficit from a vapid fist leg in Holland, conceded: "It was important to come back - you can imagine the noise around if the players didn’t respond.
"I don’t preach from the altar, and people are allowed to feel the way they do, but Thursday night is obviously a massive game for us. We will need our crowd to create an atmosphere - and the reality is we have to respond irrespective of atmosphere.
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"At 2-0 we had a mountain to climb. It was a chaotic game today and the boys showed perseverance, a real mentality. It would have been really easy at 2-0, with the atmosphere in the stadium, to let it slip away from us but they fought hard and got themselves back in the game.
"We added to the chaos a little bit, especially in the first half, just with careless passing and we allowed the game to played on terms Bournemouth like. We looked nervous and anxious, but he lads showed a positive mindset that’s been missing in games we’ve lost when they’ve petered out, turning single-goal defeats into draw."
Spurs were repeatedly carved open, but Postecoglou insisted: "The openness just came from us giving ball away in key areas. It wasn’t like we were throwing men forward, we were simply giving ball away - and we need to be better at the way we execute that part of our game."
Postecoglou hailed Spurs for showing the mentality to bounce back from 2-0 down
Tottenham skipper Son Heung-min, whose soft penalty six minutes from time rescued a point, assured fans they would "come out of this tunnel" but admitted:"Things are a bit stressed. It is tough to say but Thursday (in Alkmaar) was an unacceptable performance from everyone and today in the first half as well being sloppy.
"I would not say it was a hangover but when your confidence is a little bit down you do things you would normally not do and make mistakes. We have to be strong because a massive game is coming."
Cherries head coach Andoni Iraola, whose side were short-changed by a point, said: "A draw is not the worst result here, but considering our performance the feeling is it’s two points dropped.
Bournemout boss Andoni Iraola said it was two points dropped for his team
"For the penalty, Son is very smart - Kepa (Arrizabalaga) gives him a chance to find the contact somehow and it has cost us. We are a young team, but if you want to achieve things you cannot use excuses. We need to increase our demands on ourselves.
"The players deserve to take something from this season but we need to find ways to take points and improve our game management, or whatever you call it. It’s a shame because the players are doing so many things so well and to not get the points I think we deserve is a shame."
Bournemouth winger Marcus Tavernier, who opened the scoring, said: "You can see how far we've come in a couple of seasons. We should have put some more chances away but going 2-0 up, we have to see the game out. Everyone is disappointed in there but we can't dwell on it too much."
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