Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou praised the mentality of Dominic Solanke after the striker scored a penalty in the 3-1 win over Bodo/Glimt in the semi-final first leg of the Europa League on Thursday.
Solanke's Penalty posted Spurs 3-0 ahead in the game before he later sustained with an injury and a late goal from the visitors gave them hope for the second stage in Norway next week.
“He has a really strong mentality. He is a quiet guy, but has a real clear focus,” said Postecoglou when he talks about Solanke with TNT.
“The way he takes his penalty is an indication of the person he is. He works so hard for the team. I live that he gets the goal, a reward for the hard work he does. If you think of the goal we have admitted, it becomes even more important to us.
“Hopefully [the injury] It is nothing too serious. That is just the way our season goes, nothing is easy. We wanted to take them [Solanke and Maddison] Out, hopefully with them, hopefully nothing speaks too seriously. “
One touch on the Copybook of Spurs was the goal of Ulrik Saltnes in the 83rd minute, which reduced the shortage to two goals for the second stage.
“Disappointing because they hadn't created much,” said Postecoglou.
“I am still thinking away from the performance. I thought against Frankfurt that we were three or four goals here, but we didn't take that there. The boys will think the same thing tonight. If we play there tonight, we get the result we need.”
1 – Tottenham Hotspur scored in the opening minute of a match in a major European competition for only the second time, after December 1971 in the UEFA Cup against Rapid Bucharest. Dream. pic.twitter.com/sfouiqsxru
– Optajoe (@Optajoe) May 1, 2025
Solanke himself repeated his manager's thoughts about the implementation, while he acknowledged how happy he was with his goal.
“Happy with the implementation. We know that they are a good team at home. We know it is a difficult place to go, so it's nice to have a lead,” he said TNT Sports.
“It is always fun to score, especially in these big games. It's so more special.
“It was not ideal that it was admitted so late. We wanted to keep the clean leaf and take the 3-0 lead there. We eventually missed a bit of concentration and had that goal achieved.
“It doesn't change many things. We know that we have to go there and do performance and do the job.”