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Anxiety, brilliance, confusion. Perhaps not quite the classic A to Z of Tottenham under Ange Postecoglou but they made it through the alphabet as far as V is for victory thanks to Wilson Odobert’s emergence as a goal hero.
Odobert has spent most of his first season injured since his £25million move from Burnley last summer but conjured his first goals for the club as Spurs overcame a first leg deficit to see off the challenge of AZ Alkmaar.
He levelled the tie in the first half, had a hand in the second scored by James Maddison and even played a part of the defensive mix-up which helped the Dutch back into it, via a goal by Peer Koopmeiners.
But Odobert’s final act was the decisive one of the night as he tapped in the winning goal in the 73rd minute, after an overlapping charge down the left and cross by Djed Spence and a flick by Dominic Solanke at the near post.
This being Spurs, it was not without a nervous finish. Guglielmo Vicario made late saves and Yves Bissouma produced a terrific sliding clearance to deny AZ substitute Mees de Wit and protect Tottenham’s slender lead and book a Europa League quarter final with Eintracht Frankfurt next month.
Tottenham supporters responded to the rallying cry from Postecoglou to create a positive atmosphere and generate energy, and his players opened at a decent tempo, looking to go forward with purpose.
But AZ, unlike Spurs who fought back from two down to draw with Bournemouth on Sunday, had not played since the first leg. They were refreshed after a request to postpone Eredivisie fixture was granted by the Dutch FA to enable them to focus purely on the second leg.
They came with the first-leg advantage, courtesy of Lucas Bergvall’s own goal in Alkmaar, and a sensible plan to yield possession, defending in numbers to frustrate and seeking to do their damage on the turnover of possession, whether that was pressing and smothering Spurs as they played out of defence or looking to strike on the counter attack from deep, with speedy attackers such as left winger Ernest Poku.
It held together reasonably well until a mistake by young centre-half Wouter Goes in the 26th minute. Goes was forced back to retrieve a ball from a right back position and he took a little too much time.
Heung-min Son saw his chance to close down and made a vital blocked as Goes turned to clear. The ricochet spilled infield, kindly for Solanke who had the composure to roll a pass square to Odobert who arrived to lash a left-footer past Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro for his first goal since scoring for Burnley on the opening day of the Championship season.
Back on level terms in the tie, the mood lifted again. Tottenham passed the ball with extra zip and Son threatened, coming inside from the left. Bergvall curled an ambitious effort over from long range.
The visitors took more risks, ventured out more and tested Postecoglou’s defensive unit, which had first choice central defenders Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, starting together in the back four for the first time since both were injured against Chelsea in early December.
Vicario, whose saves in the first leg kept his team in the tie, came out smartly at the feet of Poku and Zico Buurmeester was presented with a chance, albeit a tricky one which spun his way just before the interval.
Buurmeester did not catch it as clean on the volley as his Brazilian namesake might have done, and Spurs escaped, as they did at the start of the second half when Vicario over indulged on the ball, trying to beat pressure from Peer Koopmeiners by dragging the ball away with the sole of his boot.
He was fortunate and within seconds Tottenham were at the other end celebrating their second, stylishly converted by Maddison from about 10 yards after a brisk exchange of passes with Son after Odobert carried the ball forward at pace.
From here Postecoglou’s team attacked with confidence and might have scored more but there was a reminder from AZ when Jordy Clasie flashed a shot wide from the edge of the penalty area.
Then Spurs helped back into the contest with a defensive mix-up between Odobert and Bergvall just three minutes after Van de Ven, still not ready for 90 minutes after months of hamstring problems, had been replaced by Archie Gray.
Odobert restored Tottenham’s lead and they survived the late scares to move into the last eight and keep Postecoglou’s quest for a trophy alive.
