A penny for the thoughts of Tottenham Hotspur supporters. Beat Manchester City, and what a way that would be to sign off at home during Ange Postecoglou’s debut season in charge.
But, beat Manchester City at home, and Tottenham may hand the Premier League title over to bitter rivals Arsenal. A chorus of mocking ‘thank yous’ from their Gunners-mad mates at work on Wednesday morning is certainly a thought fearsome enough to give you insomnia.a
And, make no mistake, Ange Postecoglou is not going to be fielding a team of reserves, gift-wrapping three shiny points and handing them over to Pep Guardiola at full-time. Speaking at his pre-match press conference in his usual blunt style, Postecoglou made it clear that Tottenham’s focus is not on Arsenal but themselves, and ensuring they can end the season on a positive note after those four successive defeats.
Tottenham host Manchester City on Tuesday
“A proportion of our fans (don’t want us to win)? What does that mean? What proportion? Really? 50 per cent? 20 per cent? One per cent? You don’t know, OK,” a prickly Postecoglou tells Football London.
“So let’s answer a question we don’t know the answer to. Yeah, that’s fine. People are allowed to feel the way they do.
:I think I have been really consistent and I think really strong in my beliefs that it is important for this football club to get to where to want to, to not look for some silver bullet that is going to get us to where we want.
“It is hard work, it is perseverance, it is resilience, it is quality that will get us where we want. Not to fall for any sort of false dawns or short-term result reactions. Stick to the course.
“(We) know what real success looks like. Real success looks like trophies. Anything else in between, bragging rights, whatever it is, it is absolutely meaningless to me, to anyone involved with me. We have a game tomorrow we want to win.”
Pep Guardiola would have expected nothing less from a man he has grown to adore since Postecoglou’s spell in charge of Yokohama F Marinos, the Japanese outfit co-owned by the City Football Group.
Tottenham delivered one of their most thrilling performances of the Postecoglou era away to Man City in December, Dejan Kulusevski securing a hard-earned point with a 90th minute equaliser in that 3-3 draw. Five months on, Spurs have seldom hit those same heights from an attacking perspective, needing a second-half Micky van de Ven goal to consign Burnley to relegation on Sunday.
But you will not find Postecoglou taking this Spurs team lightly. Not with the pace they possess on the counter-attack, and the ‘incredible progress’ they have undoubtedly made since the misery of the Antonio Conte era.
Pep Guardiola hails Ange Postecoglou impact
“The difficulty is there. I have huge respect for Ange and his team,” Guardiola says, via Beanyman Sports.
“They make incredible progress (under Postecoglou). In transitions, they are so quick. They attack the channels, unbelievable. They are so intense with the high-pressing, they press the keeper, they are so, so incredibly aggressive.
“For 90, 95 minutes, you have to be ready at the right moment.”
Tottenham will be without one of their two players who have reached double figures in the Premier League this season, however. Postecoglou confirms that Richarlison’s season has come to an end due to a calf injury which has already seen him ruled out of the Brazil squad for this summer’s Copa America.
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