Tottenham Hotspur ace Dejan Kulusevski claims that Ange Postecoglou never talks about winning trophies whilst speaking to the squad.
We are less than a year into the Ange Postecoglou experience and Tottenham fans probably feel pretty happy with how things are going.
Spurs are back in the mix for Champions League qualification and sit just two points outside of the top four after Sunday’s 4-0 thrashing of Aston Villa.
It’s not just the results though; Postecoglou has brought a real identity to Tottenham and his daring brand of football has really resonated with supporters.
Postecoglou has been a breath of fresh air after the reigns of Antonio Conte, Nuno Espirito Santo and Jose Mourinho, bringing some excitement and positivity back to North London.
Dejan Kulusevski on Ange Postecoglou
Postecoglou will of course be judged by results rather than just ‘vibes’, and Mauricio Pochettino can tell him that the reaction when Tottenham don’t win trophies can be a little tough.
The Australian has been a winner for a long time now, winning two league titles in Australia and Scotland as well as one league title in Japan.
Yes, the Premier League is a much sterner challenge, but it’s not like Postecoglou doesn’t have that taste for silverware.
Intriguingly though, it seems that Postecoglou isn’t really thinking about trophies right now.
Tottenham winger Dejan Kulusevski has now told The Players’ Tribune that Postecoglou ‘never’ speaks about winning trophies.
Postecoglou’s main message is that Tottenham players have to find themselves and become a unit, believing that the silverware will seemingly follow as a result.
Creating a culture and a level of performance is clearly so important to Postecoglou, more so than talking about winning trophies in his first season in charge.
Kulusevski hailed Postecoglou as ‘brave’ and believes that the Tottenham squad would listen to him for hours if they could, seemingly valuing his words very highly.
“Ange is brave, and he makes you brave. He doesn’t say a lot, but when he speaks, we can listen for hours. You can tell that he’s been through a lot, and he often talks about what he learned from his father. He is different from any other coach I’ve had. Everybody talks about tactics and winning, and that’s good, but with Ange it means a little bit more, because it’s about you as a person. It’s about you as a man and what you believe in. “
“Ange says, “I don’t care if we lose, because everyone loses in life. If we lose, we’re going to lose on our terms. Never go away from being you. And that’s how I want to live my life. O.K., we’re gonna face the best, but we’re gonna do it our way. We’re gonna play like we did all our lives.”
“Let me be clear: We want to win. We are fighting so hard to give you the trophies you deserve. We train for you, we eat for you, we sleep for you. We know that this club changes lives. It’s a huge deal to me when I see people wearing my shirt, because that means we connect on some level. And I still find it incredible that I can simply score a goal and send 60,000 people home happy.”
“But we are also a young team with many new players. We’re not gonna win every game. And actually, Ange never speaks about trophies. He says, “Yes, we’ll get there, but first of all we have to become us. We have to find ourselves,” he added.
Tottenham won’t be winning a trophy this season and the usual jokes will follow.
Postecogolou is hoping that his patient and deeper approach to player development will pay dividends and Kulusevski has seemingly brought right into his message.
Many Spurs players feel the same way and Kulusevski would love to provide a trophy for Tottenham fans in the future – even if it’s not what Postecoglou is focusing on right now.
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