- Ange Postecoglou admitted that his side need reinforcements in January
- Tottenham have won just two of their last eight games in all competitions
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Are Tottenham managers treated differently to other managers?
Ange Postecoglou admitted concerns over his future at Tottenham though refused to change his ways after Liverpool thrashed Spurs to go four points clear at the top of the Premier League.
Asked whether he felt any pressure, Postecoglou initially said: ‘I’m not sure what you mean by pressure. I’m not happy about where we are in the table.’
Pressed on whether he felt any discomfort, having said before their win against Man City last month that he would be under scrutiny if Spurs were still 10th at Christmas, Postecoglou added: ‘If you’re saying that 10th means I’m not doing a good job and I maybe somehow should be uncomfortable, well that’s for others to judge.’
Since that win at the Etihad, Spurs have won just one of their five league games and lost three, with yesterday’s hammering against Arne Slot’s side leaving them 11th in the table. They visit Nottingham Forest, who are 4th, on Boxing day.
And despite conceding 13 goals in their last three home games, the Australian insisted that his all-or-nothing approach would not change. Liverpool had 24 attempts on goal with Mohamed Salah and Luis Diaz scoring twice, alongside goals for Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szobozlai.
‘I think I have been really patient the last 18 months answering the same questions over and over again. If people want me to change my approach, it’s not going to change, Postecglou stressed.
‘We are doing it for a reason – we are doing it because we think it will help us be successful. If people don’t understand the circumstances we are in at the moment, the challenges we have from a squad perspective which are as obvious as you want to make them. I get the idea that people think that I should just flip a switch and change and somehow that will miraculously make us a better team but it is what it is. I’m going to continue, stay focused on trying to build this team to be the team we want. In the interim we are going to accept there are going to be challenges along the way.’
Spurs had seven first-team players missing including their two first-choice centre backs in Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero and their injury-hit side were outclassed by Slot’s Liverpool, who capitalised on Chelsea dropping points at Everton.
‘It was a difficult day for us and a painful result,’ Postecoglou admitted. ‘Credit to Liverpool, they are a very good side and are in a great moment. They are very settled, in great form and with great belief. It was just a bridge too far for us. You could tell we were lacking a little bit of energy and the ability to really compete with them at the same level.’
And Postecoglou confirmed that Spurs will look to spend money in the January transfer window.
‘Yeah, absolutely (need reinforcements). I guess if the right players are there. Again it’s about making sure it’s something that’s going to help us continue to build on what we’re doing,’ he said.
‘Some of them will be internal. We’re at different stages of getting players back from injury. We’ve got a couple of long term ones in (Guglielmo) Vicario and Wilson (Odobert), but the rest hopefully at some point in January they’ll come back. That will help us in terms of getting numbers back and dealing with the schedule, because the schedule is not going to change. We’re still in all the competitions, so it’s not going to get any easier.’
