Son Heung-min has praised the work ethic of 16-year-old Tottenham starlet Mikey Moore while Cristian Romero has made it clear that Ange Postecoglou has changed the direction of the club.
Spurs ended their first campaign under the Australian with a fifth-place finish despite an injury crisis midway through the season and a disappointing end to the term. With Postecoglou at the helm, the north London club finished three places higher than the previous season with more points, more goals scored and fewer conceded.
In his first season as captain Son praised the efforts of the squad and youngsters like teenager Moore, who got a special mention from the skipper.
“Collectively, from the more regular starters to those coming on, everyone has been so supportive and has wanted to improve. I’m so appreciative of that because it has helped bring everyone together,” said the South Korean star in a club interview. “Sometimes, when we’ve been in a tough moment, this group has shown that everybody is ready to play for this team and I’m really pleased to see that as captain.
“I really appreciate everyone that’s come into the squad, even young players like Mikey Moore who has been training with the group and working really hard, it’s great to see these kinds of things. Generally, across the whole season, it’s been very positive, and we’ve been making steps forward. Obviously, there is still room for improvement, but the overall positive energy suggests it’s been a great season.”
His vice-captain Romero had no doubt that Postecoglou has been the driving force in the improvements on and off the pitch at Tottenham after a difficult campaign the previous time around.
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“Ange has a winning mentality and has totally changed the direction of the club. When he arrived, he brought everyone together and we all have the same mental attitude and approach, we all share the same ambition to be successful and win things at this club and that is the key,” said the Argentine World Cup winner.
“We play in an entertaining style and we’re all very happy with the way the manager sets us up and plays. Of course, we’ve had ups and downs this season, a lot has happened. Let’s not forget, we have a young squad with players playing their first season in the Premier League – it’s not easy playing in this league.
“You don’t just settle in over two or three months, it’s tough, but it’s been a decent first season with this top manager, some inconsistencies, but overall good. I know we couldn’t quite keep the pace up to be battling for the league title, but now we need to try to keep growing and improve in order to be travelling in the proper direction. We must come back stronger next season. The young players will benefit from this first season of experience, and we’ll perform better. Next season is going to be a big one for us.”
Spurs’ other vice-captain James Maddison added: “I would say it’s been a positive season, yes. New manager, a bit of an overhaul, losing the club’s best-ever player on the eve of the first game… a lot of pundits had their say on what our season would look like, and we’ve stayed in and around the top four, top five, and we finished eighth last year, so, it’s improvement – not where we want to be – but looking back, on reflection once the season’s done, we’ll be able to take positives from it and build for next year.”
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