Postecoglou sends warning to Tottenham stars and reveals what he told them after West Ham defeat

Ange Postecoglou has made it clear to his Tottenham Hotspur gamers that issues will ‘by no means be easy’ whereas he is on the membership and revealed what he told them within the dressing room after their defeat to West Ham.

Spurs started the season with a 10-match unbeaten run within the Premier League which swept them to the highest of the desk. However, they’ve now gone 5 matches with out a victory, shedding 4 of these video games within the course of and culminating in a 2-1 derby loss to West Ham at house which left Postecoglou fuming.

The one profit for the Australian and Tottenham is that the 58-year-old has been right here earlier than, with there having at all times being some form of adjustment interval at his golf equipment earlier than the gamers higher perceive his strategies and very completely different philosophy. He warned his Spurs squad although that they are going to by no means be allowed to really settle beneath him.

“I have been there and I have the benefit of experience. I’ve been through this many times. So I know, unequivocally, what we need to do,” mentioned Postecoglou forward of Spurs’ match in opposition to Newcastle United. “But for lots of those guys, it is the primary time and I’m at all times conscious of that wherever I’ve been. That’s why I do know that invariably, typically it is occurred in the beginning of my tenure, typically it occurred within the center, typically on the finish of the primary season, however at all times within the first season there are challenges.

“Players need to go through that and come out the other side and see that ‘okay, we’ve survived that. It hasn’t killed us, we’re still going, we’re still alive, we’re still up for it’, right? Then if anything it can make us stronger going forward, but obviously, I have the benefit of that experience. The players don’t and my role in this is to guide them through it. I know how we get through this, and I know what the road ahead looks like.”

He added: “But they’ve bought to undergo it themselves and discover out about it themselves. Do they need to be a part of this as a result of it is not gonna get any simpler. That’s the one factor I maintain telling them.

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“There’s by no means going to be a time the place it is going to be easy, not whereas I’m on the membership. Even when issues are going effectively. I’m going to be pushing for us to be higher. I’m going to be pushing for us to enhance and pushing for us to carry success to this soccer membership. So there’s by no means going to be a time the place they’ll really feel any kind of consolation that issues are going to run easily.

“So the more they embrace this side of it the better and it’s a great time for me to be somewhere, apart from the beginnings this is where I’m most alert, not just with the players with the staff, everyone at the football club. How is everyone reacting to this? It gives me a good indicator about what we need to do going forward.”

One tag that has adopted the north London membership over time is the phrase ‘Spursy’, used at any time when the crew lets one thing slip. It has emerged once more in latest days with the defeat to West Ham making Tottenham the primary facet in Premier League historical past to fail to win 5 consecutive matches regardless of going 1-0 up in every of them. It’s truthful to say Postecoglou isn’t a fan of the time period.

“That’s schoolyard stuff. All I need to know is that this club hasn’t won anything for 15 years. That’s all I need to know. Why that is, and why others may think that is, and whatever tag, that’s the reality. There’s no getting away from that,” he mentioned.

“There’s no level in me attempting to disguise that, or anyone else at this soccer membership attempting to disguise that. If you need to achieve success, then like most organisations, you’ve bought to be taught from the errors of the previous, you’ve bought to give you a plan, you’ve bought to stick to it.

“Whatever tags other people want to put on it, that can’t be your motivation, that can’t be what drives you. If you want to bring success, you’ve got to have a clear idea of how you’re going to go about it and stick to the process.”

He added: “[The Spursy tag] shouldn’t weigh the brand new gamers down as a result of they haven’t any historical past. Whether it weighs those which have been right here, that’s one thing that’s arduous for me to gauge, however it’s not one thing I replicate on or discuss from a historic perspective.

“All you are able to do is chart your method ahead. If you need to change perceptions, there is just one method to do it. People should not going change their minds and change what they consider you since you need them to. You’ve bought to give them a cause to. That’s the place we’re in. That’s why I’m right here as a result of the membership needed to change its course. That’s what I’m doing.

“I mentioned from day one, change means change, altering all the pieces. If it means altering mindset as a result of persons are carrying scars from the previous, let’s do away with them. You can’t simply want upon issues. Things have to occur. You have to change the course of what you’re doing. That’s what I’ve launched into.

“I’m at pains to say it, and it sounds repetitive, but we’re just at the beginning. For my mind, what we need to look like, we’ve got a long way to go, notwithstanding in the short term we’ve still got to provide reward for our supporters and make sure as a football club we’re in the position we need to be.”

When it comes to having a weight on their shoulders, Brennan Johnson is but to add to his one objective for Tottenham since his £47.5m transfer from Nottingham Forest in the summertime. The Wales worldwide has impressed in bursts throughout an injury-interrupted first few months on the north London membership however is but to actually hit his stride.

Postecoglou doesn’t imagine that the 22-year-old’s price ticket or his change to a crew anticipated to compete additional up the desk has weighed upon him.

“He’s joined a big football club. You can’t play for a big football club and hide away. It doesn’t happen,” mentioned the Australian. “You take a look at any participant who goes to an enormous soccer membership, that’s the place they need to be, they need the accountability, they need the limelight, they need to be the one that makes that distinction.

“That’s why Brennan got here right here. He may have very simply stayed at Nottingham Forest the place he was making an incredible profession for himself, however he needed to get out of his consolation zone as a result of he had been there for therefore lengthy and he selected to come to an enormous membership. Well, that’s a part of being at an enormous membership. I do know he is aware of that.

“But that’s not simply an in a single day factor. He’ll come to embrace that. We’ve seen parts of his sport that are very, very thrilling and we’ve bought to get him to do this extra and imagine in himself extra. I do know that can come. I’ve full religion that it’ll come. I’ve seen that in him.

“But like every other course of with younger gamers and younger folks, they’ve to get to that house. You attempt to assist them to get there as shortly as potential however typically it takes just a little bit longer.”

One participant who’s but to justify his £60m price ticket that Spurs shelled out to Everton 18 months in the past is Richarlison however the Spurs boss is hopeful that the Brazilian will give a greater account for himself following his groin surgical procedure as he will play with out restrictions.

“It’s not about wanting him to step up. That’s the chance. With all footballers, that’s all you may actually ask for. There’s nothing extra {that a} membership or a supervisor can present for you than present the fundamental framework of, ‘here’s a possibility for you, your alternative now exists to make your personal mark and make an influence’,” mentioned Postecoglou.

“It’s nice to have him again. Fair to say he seems to be lots freer and higher bodily than he did when he was struggling earlier within the yr. It looks like the medical intervention has been optimistic for him. He’s wanting some match health however it was good to get him on final evening for a bit extra time.

“We’re going to need him. We’re going to need all the guys. The group that we’ve got at the moment is what we’re going to have between now and the foreseeable future. They’re the ones that are going to have turn their fortunes around.”

Spurs may face a departure subsequent week with Postecoglou’s assistant head coach Chris Davies in demand to turn into the brand new Swansea boss and Tottenham have already turned down one strategy from the Welsh facet for the 38-year-old former Liverpool, Leicester and Celtic man.

Postecoglou wouldn’t rule out Davies’ departure and mentioned that in the end it could not be his name as to whether or not Swansea are in a position to carry the younger coach again into the fold there.

“It’s not my decision, it’s a club decision, but I believe it’s part of what I do. I develop staff, I develop players. A sign you’ve got good people in your building is they’re wanted by others,” he mentioned. “I’d be more concerned if no one was showing an interest in our people. In terms of the way forward that’s going to be a club decision and Chris will be involved in that. I have my views but I won’t have the final say.”

Spurs captain Son Heung-min referred to as the crew ‘gentle’ this week and Postecoglou has defined what he mentioned to the gamers on Thursday evening after their defeat to West Ham, which got here regardless of them having 75% of the possession with 717 passes to the guests’ 184 in addition to 23 pictures at objective.

The Tottenham boss has made it very clear to his gamers that the fashion of soccer he needs them to play is simply half of the battle, not all of it.

“With the players, I allow them to get to the space they want to. I give them a clarity about what I think and it’s about how they embrace that, how they execute that, what they think themselves,” he defined. “When I spoke to them last night, it wasn’t about our football. It was about understanding our football will get us to a certain point and if we want to get beyond that point, that’s where we’ve got to really be disciplined and have conviction about who we are and what we want to do. It’s only natural that at the beginning of the cycle there is going to be some gaps there. That’s where our gaps are.”

On whether or not having that conviction is extra of a technical or a psychological attribute, he added: “Bit of each. You need that accountability so when the ball falls for you, you embrace that. It’s a psychological factor, and then it’s the conviction in your approach to execute, to not rush, to not be able the place you might have to do one thing that’s method out from the norm of what you usually do.

“Goalscoring is the toughest factor in soccer. We know that. At the identical time there’s a technique and a mindset that whenever you get into these areas, when you comply with and you’re actually disciplined and you might have conviction in what you’re doing, you give your self a greater likelihood. When you take a look at the sport in opposition to West Ham we bought into some nice areas, had some nice alternatives and we didn’t actually take a look at the goalkeeper or the opposition.

“Wherever I’ve been it’s been the same expertise the place typically it creeps into the mindset of the gamers that the soccer alone offers you that. If we play a sure method we’re positively going to rating, positively going to win, and that’s not the case. There’s nonetheless an execution.

“There’s still what they bring as people to finish all that off. If you look at our football you would say ok we were very dominant particularly in the first half but that’s proven that that’s not enough. If you really want to finish that off you have to be able to execute. The football won’t do that, it has to be the individual and the team as a collective.”

So how do Tottenham discover a killer intuition that has been missing for therefore lengthy on the membership?

“By not shying away from it. You have to work at it. You can work at it by being disciplined, by being continually exposed to those kind of conditions in training, during games, and not shying away from it,” mentioned the Spurs head coach. “If you’re going to play at an enormous membership and an enormous membership the place they’ve success, that’s the accountability you might have.

“You can’t simply shrink back from that. That’s the truth of it. From my perspective that’s why I’m unwavering in what we’re doing. I’m not going to allow us to off the hook by saying we performed some good soccer final evening and that’s sufficient. It’s not. We’ve bought to accomplish that a part of it as effectively.

“That’s the sport we’re in. I don’t play this type of soccer to entertain. I play this type of soccer as a result of it wins. Now it occurs to additionally entertain, which I like. I don’t suppose they want to be mutually unique. Ultimately it’s as a result of it’s profitable. I wouldn’t be sitting right here if it wasn’t.

“If it was just something I was conjuring up that people were praising but wasn’t getting success, I wouldn’t be in the job I am. My whole career has been about winning things. That’s why I want us to play the way we are. That’s where you can sometimes fall down a trap and it’s happened at every club I’ve been at, where the players sometimes think playing that football is enough. It’s not.”