The moment Wilson Odobert has been longing for in a Tottenham shirt finally arrived on Thursday evening. It also came at the perfect time for Ange Postecoglou and all connected with the north London club.
Heading into the second leg of their Europa League round of 16 tie against AZ Alkmaar trailing 1-0, Spurs had it all to do with a place in the quarter-finals up for grabs. In true Tottenham style it was a night full of twists and turns as they struck late on to set up a quarter-final encounter against Eintracht Frankfurt in April.
Odobert proved to be the hero on the night as he scored a double either side of James Maddison’s goal. It wasn’t just the Frenchman who stepped up to the plate, though, as players such as Maddison, Son Heung-min and Lucas Bergvall to name a few were instrumental across the 90 minutes.
Failing to really test AZ up until the midway point of the first half, Spurs took the lead courtesy of Odobert after some excellent pressing from Son to win the ball off Wouter Goes. Dominic Solanke, in turn, gained control and played the ball across the box for Odobert to sweep home his first Tottenham goal.
The attacker was to play his part in Spurs’ second goal of the night with a driving run towards the box before linking up with Maddison, who then teamed up with Son to calmly find the bottom corner of Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro’s goal. Peer Koopmeiners gave Tottenham a real scare just past the hour mark after restoring parity on aggregate, only for Odobert to have the final say on 74 minutes after finishing off a remarkable team goal.
A move that involved all but two of Tottenham players as Spurs worked the ball from their own box into AZ’s area, Odobert was in the right position at the back post to touch home Solanke’s flick from Djed Spence’s cross. It was no surprise to see the player mobbed after his heroics, with Pape Matar Sarr one of the players to run over and give him a couple of playful digs in the ribs for good measure after slapping him on the head a couple of times.
Odobert would take in even more acclaim from Tottenham’s subs warming up as he was greeted by Yves Bissouma, Mathys Tel and Brennan Johnson. Bissouma would make sure his Tottenham teammate was front and centre of the celebrations after the game and that he got the praise he quite rightly deserved.
Firstly going behind him and pulling his hood up as Sarr gave him a couple more slaps on the head, the midfielder pointed towards the big screen to make sure the winger noticed that the TV camera was fully focused on him. Seconds later Bissouma and Sarr then pushed him for a good few yards towards to the jubilant fans in the south stand so he received a huge cheer and round of applause for his heroics.
Tottenham’s absent players Dejan Kulusevski, Radu Dragusin, Antonin Kinsky, Richarlison and Kevin Danso were then all waiting on the sideline to congratulate the ex-Burnley man as he made his way off the pitch, with Postecoglou also there to give him a hug. Suffering such a frustrating start to his time at Tottenham with injury limiting him to only 11 appearances so far, it was a huge moment in his Spurs career and potentially a sign of things to come for him over the coming months and years.
It came as no surprise to see Postecoglou wax lyrical about his player when speaking in his post-match press conference. He said: “Super pleased for him because he’s worked awfully hard. I’d be surprised if I have to explain why I selected him, if you didn’t see that today…
“I was excited when we signed him. He’s one of these players who has the ability to take players on, find space, great technician and super pleased for him to get his goals. He’s worked hard silently and to get back in the team.
“Obviously he came to a new club, a big club and big move for him and it didn’t work out for him through no fault of his own, through the injury and it’s been frustrating for me not to be able to showcase him and know how much he can develop and that’s just the starting point for him. He’s still working his way to full fitness.
“When you look at the likes of him and Lucas and Archie and two or three others we’ve got, there’s some enormously exciting talent there.”
Decisive in the round of 16, now Odobert will be looking to take Tottenham all the way to Bilbao in May.
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- Source: NEWHD MEDIA
