Ange Postecoglou list out detailed of his biggest Tottenham fight, made it clear he’s up for the task
Ange Postecoglou has revealed when he expects his greatest battle will take place at Tottenham Hotspur, and he has said that he will be ready for it.
The Australian has had a difficult week at the club, being taken aback by many fans’ desire for Spurs to lose their match against Manchester City in order to deny Arsenal an advantage in the Premier League title race, and then watching his team lose that game despite being the better side for much of it.
The Tottenham manager also had an altercation with a fan behind the dugout, spoke about the club’s fragile foundations inside and out, and told football.london on Friday that the entire affair was “probably the worst experience I’ve had as a football manager in a game” because he was concerned people would question his integrity if Spurs lost to the three-time champions.
So, after a week that appeared to knock the stuffing out of him, Postecoglou faced a basic question: is he still happy with the north London club?
“I’ve lost five out of six games; I’m not going to walk in here and be satisfied. Look, after a year with me, I hope you understand who I am. “I can’t hide who I am and what I believe,” he said. “If I’m unhappy with anything, I’ll express it. We have lost five out of six games. I’m devastated.
“I’m not going to stroll into a news conference and attempt to present a positive image. Especially after the prior 24 hours, which, as I already said, was the most unpleasant experience I’ve had on the touchline in my whole career. That is 26 years of football. I’m sitting on the sidelines, not enjoying the struggle against one of the finest. I could have brought in [my assistant] Chris Davies, pal, and everyone’s concerns would have been alleviated, and everything would have been OK. But at least everyone understands how I feel.
“But am I up for the fight? Absolutely, buddy. I adore it. This is why I came here, and this will undoubtedly not be my last struggle. To be honest, the most difficult battle I will have at this football club will come when we are on the verge of victory. “That will be the biggest one.”
On his recent performance, he said, “I just felt it would have been disingenuous for me to say we were in a good place when we had lost five of our last six games.” It wasn’t just the other night. We knew we had some huge tests coming, and we fell short in the last five out of six games, and I don’t believe we have the right to finish higher than we are now. So there was more than just the other night.
“I can certainly spin it differently and say, ‘Look, we finished seventh last year, we’re out of Europe this year, and we’ll be back in Europe next year. We recruited several fantastic players to the club, including some young, exciting potential. We’re obviously playing a different kind of football, closer to what they expected when they hired me, but that’s not a good place to start for improvement.
“A fair beginning point is to say, yes, we’ve made some progress, but we still have a long way to go, and we need to address these issues, and it wasn’t just the other night. This last year has shown me that if we want to compete with the greatest, the margins are modest, but they’re arguably the most difficult to get.”
Spurs head to Sheffield United on Sunday knowing that a point would seal fifth place and Europa League participation for next season. Postecoglou was asked whether getting into that tournament was more significant or different from maybe playing in the Europa Conference League.
“Do you want me to park the bus?!” he said, before adding, “Yeah, it does matter. I believe people misinterpreted my lack of interest in the Champions League. All I kept repeating was that, although I wanted to finish as high as possible, it wouldn’t take away from the job we needed to complete.
“It is the same throughout the weekend. I want us to win. We haven’t had the best results, and our performances have varied, so we need a solid performance and a victory. That will place us sixth, and we’ll know where we’ll end and what competition we’ll face next year. I believe this is significant.
“But, again, it doesn’t affect how I feel about the job we need to accomplish, but it’s critical that we win, especially given our previous performance. We played quite well the other night. If we play that well again this weekend, we have a decent chance of winning.”
Postecoglou stated that there were too many distractions around the midweek encounter against Pep Guardiola’s team, as well as Arsenal.
“I simply believe that when you’re trying to accomplish anything at this level, you must be completely focused on your goal. “You cannot be distracted by anything,” stated the 58-year-old. “The next time there is a problem, there will always be something that tries to pull you away.
“The discipline is to state that the most essential thing is to prepare ourselves for victory, and when everyone agrees on that, we have a higher chance of succeeding. But if you’re not, you’ve got to deal with this, that, and ‘what about this?’ and I simply don’t believe you can be genuinely effective at this level with the margins you need if you become distracted.”
When asked whether individuals in the club were distracted, he said, “I sat in here [on Monday] and all the inquiries I received were on that issue. I am distracted! We are human beings, buddy. Of course. Do you want me to suggest that there is one person who is to blame for everything? It does not happen, buddy; that is not how it works.
“All I’m saying, buddy, is that there will always be difficulties, and how you deal with them, as well as how we deal with them as a football club, will be essential as you go through these situations. OK, if you want to blame someone, it’s me since I didn’t take the situation seriously.
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“That’s what I believe occurred. I simply didn’t quite comprehend what was going on. I simply didn’t believe it was true [that Spurs supporters would want their team to lose]. If I could go back in time, I would do things differently, including how I dealt with the media the day before. I would definitely address individuals in the club since they turn to me for guidance. So, if you want a head on a stick, here is my ugly mug, friend. “There you are.”
Some Tottenham fans accused Postecoglou of failing to understand the level of rivalry between the two north London clubs, despite having spent the previous two years in the midst of one of the game’s fiercest rivalries, the Old Firm in Glasgow.
“I understand, and do you know? When I first arrived at Celtic, there was a similar conversation. Don’t forget, when I got over, Rangers had won it the year before, and Celtic had won nothing, which is extremely unusual for that football club,” he said. “For example, they went from trebles to no trophies, and when I initially arrived, there was a lot of chatter – some internal – about what Rangers were doing.
“And I was quite constant, and it was on public record, saying, ‘We’ve got to care about ourselves. Do not bother about anybody else. Simply be the best you can be. And I’ve remarked many times that if you run your own race, when you reach the finish line, glance around to see where you finished. Do not worry about what the person next to you is doing.
“I’ve always been consistent with it. And I was up there. I thought it was incredibly crucial up there because I felt like there was too much focus on what was going on with the Rangers at the time since they were winning.
“We’d never capture them if that’s what we were preoccupied with because you can’t control it. You cannot influence what another club does. Do you want to block another club from winning a trophy? You can win it! That is the solution. That is not to say you don’t want them to lose. “I completely understand.”
He continued, “I felt that living up there, as much as people were thrilled for us to win, they were equally glad for the other gang to lose. So I get, but the idea of not wanting to win for whatever reason? I don’t comprehend it. So I don’t believe it’s a good mindset to have.
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“If you want to be successful, you only need to worry about yourself.” The greatest just care about themselves. Be the best that I can be. If it is insufficient, I will get up the following time and do the extra mile. I despise my opponents and want them to lose, yet all I care about is me. But I haven’t heard anybody mention that last week. All I heard was that it’s acceptable to feel that way, and that it’s understood.
“So part of me feels like I’m on the outside looking in on the matter, and I did make a mistake, but I’m not going to change. As I already said, I have complete respect for you, but I am solidly on the other side of, you know, I believe you are concerned with yourself.”
While Postecoglou said that he would not talk with club personnel about preventing it from occurring again, he did clarify what he done at Celtic.
“What I’m hoping I can do is like I did at Celtic and provide a platform where the fans get what they want, and if I can give the fans what they really want – because as much as they may say ‘well, you know, they’re ecstatic if their greatest rival doesn’t win something’ – what they really want is success,” he stated. “That’s what it comes down to. So if I can help them succeed, I may be able to better communicate that message.”
Spurs will leave immediately after Sunday’s encounter at Bramall Lane for a friendly against Newcastle United in Postecoglou’s hometown of Melbourne. Kieran Tripper, a former Tottenham player and current Newcastle defender, said this week that the post-season vacation is “not ideal” and that “it’s not like it’s Benidorm, round the corner, it’s 25 hours away”.
While Postecoglou had never heard of Benidorm, which sparked a short discussion about the Spanish city, he recognised that Spurs’ situation differed from Newcastle.
“Our scenario is little different from Newcastle’s. They had a European season, Champions League, and it was a successful season. We have not. It’s no secret that we’re getting visibility as well as income from this,” he said. “I definitely would not have allowed that to happen if we were in Europe this year with a more extensive game schedule. I probably would have said no, and I doubt the club would have expected us to attend.
“If we go to Europe next year, I doubt you’ll see anything like this. I don’t think it’s ideal, but I believe every scenario is unique. It makes sense for us to play one more game two days after the conclusion of the season. We discussed it with the playing group very early on. They knew why we were doing it, and we all agreed to go, and that is what would happen.”
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