Ange Postecoglou promised on Friday that Tottenham will shake their ‘Spursy’ tag if they trust his tried-and-tested process despite letting 1-0 leads slip in their last five Premier League games.
Thursday’s 2-1 loss to West Ham set a new record for consecutive collapses, prompting jibes from rivals who say they are still showing their soft side. Tottenham hope to end their winless run when Newcastle – another club in the midst of an injury crisis – visit on Sunday.
‘That’s schoolyard stuff,’ Postecoglou said of the ‘Spursy’ accusations. ‘All I need to know is that this club hasn’t won anything for 15 years (since the 2008 League Cup). Why that is, and why other may think that is, and whatever tag, that’s the reality.
‘There’s no getting away from that. There’s no point in me trying to disguise that. If you want to be successful, then like most organisations, you’ve got to learn from the mistakes of the past.
‘You’ve got to come up with a plan. You’ve got 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.
Ange Postecoglou called the ‘Spursy’ tag ‘schoolyard stuff’ as he urged his players to trust him
Tottenham lost 2-1 to West Ham at home on Thursday squandering their fifth 1-0 lead in a row
‘It (the ‘Spursy’ tag) shouldn’t weigh the new players down because they have no history. Whether it weighs the ones that have been here, that’s something that is hard for me to gauge.
‘All you can do is chart your way forward. If you want to change perceptions, there is only one way to do it. People are not going change what they think about you because you want them to. You’ve got to give them a reason to. We’re just at the beginning.’
Postecoglou is confident he knows where their current pathway will take them, having been there, done that, won the trophies.
Son Heung-min said his team-mates were ‘soft’ and called the result ‘unacceptable’ at full-time
‘I have the benefit of experience,’ the Spurs boss continued. ‘I’ve been through this many times. So I know, unequivocally, what we need to do. But for a lot of these guys, it’s the first time.
‘I’m always mindful of that wherever I’ve been. Always in 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”. If anything it can make us stronger going forward.
‘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.’
Son Heung-min described his team-mates as ‘soft’ after the defeat by West Ham and Tottenham hope the striker will be fit to face Newcastle after picking up a knock on Thursday.
