Dean Smith singled out Son Heung-min as “outstanding” following Aston Villa’s 2-1 defeat to Tottenham.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s first-half strike and Matt Targett’s own goal with 20 minutes to go were enough to give Spurs a much-needed victory, following three consecutive defeats in the Premier League. The own goal came only a few minutes after Ollie Watkins had raised Villa fans’ hopes with an equaliser.
Son assisted the opener and was instrumental in setting up the winner, picking out Lucas Moura at the far post although it was Targett to who got the final touch before the ball crossed the line.
“I thought it was a really untidy game if I’m honest,” Smith said afterwards. “I don’t think either team controlled it… we’d win [the ball] and give it them back, they’d win it and give it us back, it was that kind of a game.
“We were a little bit stretched midway through the first half and they got their goal in that period.
“In the second half, I thought we started really well. We’d talked about switching play a lot quicker and we got our just rewards with a well-worked goal.
“Sometimes games change on players and today they had the outstanding player on the pitch in Son, who, for me, won the game for them.”
Asked for his thoughts on Son’s performance, Spurs boss Nuno Espirito Santo was keen to stress that the win had been a collective effort.
“All the players are very important,” he said. “All the players, not only Sonny, had a good game.
“The team worked very, very well. Of course, Sonny, the way he took the team forwards and the way he balanced one-v-one situations were very important. But, overall, all through the team, there were a lot of good individual performances.”
Nuno also praised his side for their response to Watkins’ equaliser, describing their reaction to conceding as “much, much better” than in recent defeats.
“It’s something that we’ve improved from previous games,” he said. “The reaction was really, really good.”
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3ov7BJH
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