Ange Postecoglou has declared that only “small teams” want to win some games more than others and insisted that will never be his approach at Tottenham Hotspur.
Ahead of the north London derby against bitter rivals Arsenal on Sunday, the Tottenham head coach explained that he disliked the notion that the fixture held greater importance.
“Teams that win things win all the time, they don’t pick and choose,” Postecoglou said. “You can’t pick and choose. Small teams do because that’s where the only true victory lies because they think they can’t win the competition but can get a couple of big scalps.
“I was with Australia [as head coach of the national team] for a long time and that was the mentality: ‘Let’s knock off a big gun because we can’t win a World Cup.’ I don’t subscribe to that. Winners go, ‘right, who’s in front of us? Let’s win’ and that’s the way I am and the way I think. I don’t think one win is bigger or more significant than any other.”
Postecoglou expressed his frustration last May when some Spurs fans appeared to celebrate the 2-0 defeat by Manchester City which may have ended their slender hopes of qualifying for the Champions League but also severely damaged Arsenal’s Premier League title hopes.
Afterwards Postecoglou talked about how the build-up to the game and the strange atmosphere during had shown that “the foundations are fairly fragile” at Spurs. “I probably misread the situation as to what I think is important in your endeavour to become a winning team,” he added that night.
Asked whether what he said made it even more vital to beat Arsenal – having drawn with them away and lost to them at home last season and with Spurs losing both games the previous campaign – Postecoglou insisted: “I hate to think, I really would hate to think there are players in the dressing room who want to win this game more than any others or prepare differently or try harder in this game than any other. Because that’s not the way forward. Irrespective.
“We understand the significance of it because if we do win our supporters will be over the moon. I understand that. If we don’t win they are going to be devastated. If we prepare for this game differently than any other then I’m disappointed because I want to win every time. That’s the only way you can be successful. I make no apologies for that… if you beat your rivals in a big derby game then everyone gets excited and everyone feels great. But I want more than that. It’s not what I am after.”
Spurs fans, of course, will concur but maybe will also place greater emphasis on the need to beat Arsenal.
‘I’m as optimistic and bullish as I’ve ever been’
“I have said a million times – fans can feel the way they want to. It’s their club. They can be as happy or as disenchanted or as optimistic or as pessimistic as they want,” Postecoglou said.
“My role is to try and give them a team that gives them hope, belief and joy. That’s it. But I am not going to tell them how to feel. If they want to win this game more than any other game then good on them. But it’s not me; it’s not who I am.”
After a draw, a win and a defeat in Spurs’s opening three league games they could do with claiming all three points to maintain their Champions League ambitions – especially as the last “big” team they beat was, arguably, Aston Villa in March. Since then Spurs have lost to Newcastle United (twice), Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and City.
Despite Postecoglou’s belief, does he, therefore, require a “big” win to help restore faith in his attacking methods? “If people have lost faith in what we’re doing I cannot let that be my guide to what we’re doing,” he said.
“My guide is what I see on a daily basis, the way we play our football, the way the team is growing and I’m as optimistic and as bullish as I’ve ever been. Is it important to win big games? Absolutely yes, I want to win big games. But we won big games early last season [against Manchester United and Liverpool]. It doesn’t mean it’s going to get you to where you want to get to. There’s got to be a consistency in approach.
“There’s nothing I’ve seen that made me waver in my belief about what we’re doing. Whether that externally is reflected by people’s faith or belief again there’s only one way to change that if people have lost faith in what we’re doing here and that is to perform and win.”