Ange Postecoglou: I’m not going to change my approach at Tottenham

“I get the idea that people think I should just flip a switch and change and somehow that will miraculously make us a better team. I’m just going to continue, stay focused on trying to build this team to be the team we want.”

Postecoglou also has admitted Tottenham will need new signings in January even when players return from injury. Spurs have only won twice in the eight games that have followed their 4-0 win over Manchester City.

Injuries have particularly hurt, with Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Guglielmo Vicario all absent for the heavy defeat by Liverpool, a game in which the 18-year-old Archie Gray started at centre back for the third time in a week.

“Absolutely,” the head coach said when asked if reinforcements would be required next month. “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 Vicario and Wilson [Odobert], but the rest hopefully at some point in January they’ll come back.

“That will help us in terms of numbers and dealing with the schedule, because the schedule is not going to change. We’re in the Carabao Cup semi-final, we’re still in Europe and the FA Cup starts. We’re still in all the competitions, so it’s not going to get any easier. We’re going to need some of those players hopefully to come back and contribute.”

Asked whether Tottenham will be able to recruit players in the transfer window, he added: “Yeah, 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.”

Tottenham are eight points off the top four and they will spend Christmas day 11th in the table. Postecoglou said he was unhappy about the team’s position when asked about whether he felt pressure about their standing. “People aren’t throwing platitudes at me so that’s fair enough,” he said. “Again from my perspective, all I can do is navigate us through a difficult period and try and make sure we do get to a position where hopefully we have a healthier squad.

“If you’re saying that [position in the table] means I’m not doing a good job and I maybe somehow should be uncomfortable, well that’s for others to judge.”

Meanwhile, Arne Slot, the Liverpool head coach, said he felt the victory rivalled his side’s best away performance, their 3-0 win over Manchester United in September. While the Dutchman was pleased to top the table at Christmas — Liverpool have opened up a four-point gap over Chelsea with a game in hand — he was unhappy to have conceded three goals.

“Until 60 to 65 minutes, I really, really, really enjoyed what I saw,” he said. “If we would have gone into the dressing room with a 2-1 lead [at half-time], that would not have done justice to all the chances we had.

“That was why I was quite happy with the fact we scored 3-1, 4-1, 5-1, an incredible display.

“But then you also saw that no matter how much quality players have, they think they don’t have to run anymore. In this league, especially against Tottenham because they are so good with the ball as well, they immediately start to create and they scored two goals.

“I was happy when the sixth one went in, to be fair.”