Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou has challenged his players to embrace the ‘Spursy’ tag and prove it is wrong.
Spurs threw away a 2-0 advantage to taste defeat at Brighton before the international break – the 10th time the club had taken a lead of two goals or more in the Premier League and subsequently lost.
London rivals West Ham visit on Saturday – a fixture that sparks ‘Spursy’ talk after Tottenham threw away a three-goal lead to draw 3-3 during the tenure of Jose Mourinho in 2020. But while Postecoglou described the criticism as “irrelevant”, he acknowledged the only way to change it is with success.
“You say it’s 10 times but it hasn’t been 10 times with me so give me a break. Let me get to 10 and then start putting tags on, but you have to accept that, right?” Postecoglou said.
“People will always find easy ways, if you’ve got a wound, to stick their finger in that wound and if you’re not prepared to accept that when things haven’t gone well, well make sure things go well!
“There is one way to change that. If we want to change the perception of ourselves, it will not come because of, ‘please don’t call us those names,’ it will come because we’re proving we’re a team that can be relentless in our approach and be successful.”
During an interview with Optus Sport this week, Postecoglou said, tongue-in-cheek, that he was ready to “explode” when Spurs’ internationals returned and they could debrief about Brighton.
He added: “The second half was more around we just didn’t look anything like ourselves. We were really passive with and without the ball. We lacked real conviction and courage in everything we did.
“It was almost like we felt like we had done enough. I hadn’t seen that before in us and it’s a good lesson for the whole group that you need to make sure, irrespective of how a game is going, you stick to the core principles of your football.”
Captain Son Heung-min, fit-again after a hamstring injury, and James Maddison were among those still at Hotspur Way during the past fortnight.
Spurs’ first-team coach Ryan Mason was also present after he held talks with Anderlecht over their managerial role but it was mutually agreed between both parties not to take up the position.
“I have always worked on the premise that part of my role is also developing coaches and it is something I take great pride in,” Postecoglou said.
“Ryan is obviously someone who sees himself as one day taking that opportunity. It’s a really important decision for the guys. It’s not like we want them to leave and certainly with Ryan, he is doing a great job for us here.
“To be fair to Ryan, he was pretty straightforward with it. I said to him I didn’t want it drawn out, taking any time, and he didn’t. He is really happy where he is now and committed to us.”