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Ange Postecoglou responded to criticism over Tottenham's inconsistent performances by declaring: 'If you want to grow a beautiful garden, you have to handle some fertiliser!'
Tottenham will welcome Aston Villa on Sunday on the back of two defeats in their last three Premier League games.
Spurs produced one of their worst performances of the season against Crystal Palace in last weekend's 1-0 defeat, only to knock Manchester City out of the League Cup three days later.
Those recent results have seen the age-old criticisms of Tottenham's character and consistency rear their head despite Spurs winning eight of their last 10 matches in all competitions, reaching the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup and sitting second in the Europa League.
'Until we have success, that is always going to be the first thing people come at us about as a club and you have got to accept that,' said Postecoglou. 'It is part of our journey and part of us becoming stronger.
'Whether it is deserved or not, criticism and scrutiny is healthy because it allows you to reflect on your beliefs and your convictions.
'If you flinch at the first time people are critical or want you to change your path then it probably means you are not definite about what you are doing.
'It is up to us how we behave. Even if we went on another fantastic run, at the first sign of us faltering the same questions would come because it is kind of where we are at as a club at the moment.
'I said to the players, if you want to grow a beautiful garden you have to handle some fertiliser. That is the only way it will happen.'
Tottenham's victory over City set up a Carabao Cup quarter-final clash with Manchester United and left Postecoglou just three wins from his first trophy with the club.
Would Postecoglou take a trophy instead of a place in the top four? 'I want it all, mate,' he said.
'I want everything. And it sets me up for people to maybe ridicule me at the end of the year because I said I want it all and I fall short of that, but I'll take the biggest bite I can and see what comes out of it. We'll go for everything.'
Postecoglou also confirmed that Micky van de Ven will be out until after the international break after he suffered a hamstring injury against City.
James Maddison and Mikey Moore were forced to walk to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Wednesday after getting stuck in traffic.
Spurs entered their EFL Cup clash with Manchester City in need of a response after falling to a disappointing defeat to Crystal Palace just days earlier.
However, Ange Postecoglou was nearly without two of his stars for the game as Maddison hilariously revealed on his Instagram story.
In a series of posts on Friday the England international detailed how he and Moore were forced to complete the journey to the ground on foot but were able to arrive undetected amongst hordes of supporters.
He wrote: 'Traffic was that bad, me and @mikeymoore_10 had to walk the last mile as we got stuck in standstill traffic and weren't moving.'
Maddison added that the experience of being around the stadium on matchday reminded him of travelling to watch his boyhood club Coventry as a youth.
'Actually loved walking past the pubs and on the streets to the ground with fans.' He continued.
'Reminded me of going to watch Coventry with my dad as a boy. No one had a clue did they @mikeymoore_10.'
Despite their unconventional arrival, the pair had a night to remember as Spurs defeated Pep Guardiola's side.
Timo Werner fired the hosts into the lead after just five minutes before Pape Matar Sarr doubled their advantage.
The Citizens fired back on the brink of the interval through Mateus Nunes and Spurs faced a nervy second-half as City chased an equaliser.
As City continued to press, the 17-year-old Moore was handed his first appearance in the competition as a second-half substitute, coming on to replace Brennan Johnson with 20 minutes remaining as his side held on to win.
The appearance off the bench comes after Moore was handed his first Premier League start in the defeat at Selhurst Park on Sunday.
Spurs will now face Manchester United in the EFL Cup quarter-finals next month as they look to move one step closer to ending their 16-year trophy drought.
Bale spent six years at Spurs before making £85m move to Real Madrid in 2013
The Welshman scored 26 - largely exceptional - goals in his final season
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A Premier League legend has revealed he once tested out Gareth Bale's unusual diet in a bid to reach the performance levels of his Tottenham Hotspur teammate, only to realise the Welshman's methods 'didn't quite work' for him.
The prolific striker scored 199 goals in a stellar career, acting as an imposing figurehead for a number of successful Premier League attacks over the years.
The Englishman was a popular character on and off the pitch, thrilling fans with his famous celebrations and entertaining post-match interviews.
The star joined Spurs from Portsmouth in 2009 and played with Bale at White Hart Lane for two years until his £10million move to Stoke City.
Impressed by the Welshman's performances on the pitch and on the training field, the lofty centre-forward decided to copy his pre-match eating habits, to limited effect, and has now detailed the experience on his podcast.
He told That Peter Crouch Podcast: 'You know, what changed for me was watching Gareth Bale.
'I've talked about this before, watching Gareth be the most intense runs, the most distance covered, it was ridiculous.
'He was one of the most fittest players I've ever seen.
'He'd just literally have baked beans on toast every time. And I thought, "what is in those beans?"
So I started doing it. I started doing baked beans on toast.
'I thought it must be the difference. It didn't quite work for me!
'But you know when you see other people doing different things and, certainly later on in your career, you see definitely the chefs and stuff at the training ground has changed.'
Crouch also told co-presenter Steve Sidwell that his typical pre-match dish consisted of chicken, pasta and boiled potatoes.
But his habits were not completely normal either. The striker used to sometimes tuck into this bulky snack at 9am if his side were playing in the early kick-off.
Bale followed Crouch in leaving White Hart Lane in 2013 but, thanks to a 2012-13 season where he scored 26 - largely exceptional - goals, he commanded a much higher transfer fee of £85m.
He went on to score 106 and assist 67 more in 258 matches at the Bernabeu before returning to Spurs for one season in 2020 and eventually retiring at Los Angeles FC in 2023, aged 33.
An absolute refusal to send for Erling Haaland told the story. The last remaining unbeaten run in the whole of England and Europe’s biggest leagues is finally over, at the end of October, but of more importance to Manchester City was no more injuries.
It is eight stricken first-team stars and counting after a costly night when, for all the inexperience out there, Tottenham preyed on the older heads to set up a quarter final meeting with Manchester United.
A crestfallen Savinho looks like he’s done his ankle and Manuel Akanji complained of meniscus pain in the warm up, adding to the absence of Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish, the new Ballon d’Or winner and a few more.
Pep Guardiola needs that international break quickly but has three games to navigate before then. Three long trips, too – Bournemouth and Brighton sandwiching Sporting in the Champions League.
‘We’re in trouble,’ Guardiola said. ‘I’ve never had this situation in nine years. We don’t have alternatives. I went to the massage table but it was too busy. Tomorrow we have two keepers and Erling to train. It's been getting more difficult game by game but maybe one day we will be altogether.’
And yet, with a team half made up of kids at the end, they almost forced penalties.
Teenager Jacob Wright twice went close, another teenager Nico O’Reilly was thwarted on the goal line by Yves Bissouma. City were actually better for the additions of youth but couldn’t quite complete a comeback against a club whose manager Ange Postecoglou has heaped pressure on himself to lift something this year. ‘I’m really optimistic and bullish about this group, they’ve got a high ceiling,’ the Australian said. ‘We’re growing, developing. I’ve seen progress but we’re going to have stumbles along the way.’
Their opening goal, after only five minutes, will make 18 other teams in the Premier League smile. Spurs manoeuvred a half-baked City press, four passes from goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario to Timo Werner sweeping past Stefan Ortega. Rival managers will have noticed Nathan Ake not pushing on to Archie Gray in the build-up and certainly jot down how Dejan Kulusevski left Ilkay Gundogan for dust. Still, it required a perfectly zipped cross by the Swede – cutting out Rico Lewis – to find Werner.
Gundogan gifted Werner another chance, misplacing a pass straight at him, but the effort was weak. Yet Spurs had a second midway through the first half. Again, a nicely planned move. Again, suspect defending.
No away player fancied racing out to meet Pape Sarr, 25 yards from Ortega, after Spurs had worked a short corner. With room to breathe, Sarr wonderfully bent round a jogging Matheus Nunes into the near post. The only real issue for Postecoglou up until that point was the worrying hamstring injury that reduced Micky van de Ven to tears as he trudged off. Werner later hobbled out too.
City reduced the deficit seconds before the break. Nunes has stepped up a level in recent weeks and looked City’s main threat even before marching onto a super Savinho ball towards the back stick.
Brennan Johnson and Werner should have added a third between them in what became a mini-classic. End-to-end, suiting Spurs, and Kulusevski ought to have made the game safe.
City rallied, debutant centre half Jahmai Simpson-Pusey peerless off the bench, yet the lack of real appetite to embarrass Spurs – because given the circumstances, that is what a result would have amounted to – was obvious as their hulking No 9 sat on the bench. He didn’t even go for a jog down the touchline.
Former Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho has admitted that he wishes to work in England again before he retires.
The 61-year-old is currently in charge of Fenerbahce in Turkey and his team played out a 1-1 draw with former club United in the UEFA Europa League last week.
Mourinho was sent to the stands in the second half of that match after being shown a red card for his reaction to Fenerbahce unsuccessfully appealing for a penalty kick.
Speaking in a post-game press conference, Mourinho reacted to his dismissal by suggesting that he might like his next job to be with an English club that does not play in a UEFA competition - so that he can swerve UEFA officials.
However, in an interview with Sky Sports on Tuesday, Mourinho clarified: 'I made a joke. I'm never going to a team fighting relegation. I will never go.'
Explaining why he had said that he would like to manage an English team 'from the bottom of the table', Mourinho added: 'I get upset, and I'm not in the period of my career to get upset. I'm in the period of my career to be happy all the time and at this moment playing in European competitions, I am getting upset all the time.
'But I'm not going to fight relegation. It's too hard! Honestly, I believe that has to be the hardest thing. It's more difficult than playing for titles. It has to be very hard emotionally, because it's something that changes lives. I think it's brave guys that do it.'
Mourinho then cracked another joke as he told Sky Sports reporter Gary Cotterill: 'Millwall. Millwall. I just cross the bridge from my house. Millwall!'
Millwall's New Den stadium may be geographically close to Mourinho's London home, but the Lions are far below his usual level in terms of stature - having never competed in the Premier League.
But while a move to Millwall is not seriously on the cards, Mourinho made it clear that he would love to return to England before his managerial career is over.
He concluded: 'I had three clubs in England, so four different periods I've coached in England, and I love it. And by the social point of view, I've been lucky enough to live in so many cities, but my family lives in London.
'London is home, so one day I have to be back, unless no one wants me. But one day I would like to go back.
'But don't get me wrong, and let's make it very very clear, for the next two years, this season and next, no one will take me from Fenerbahce.'
Follow Mail Sport's live blog for the latest scores, team news and updates form Wednesday's Carabao Cup action including Manchester City vs Tottenham, Brighton vs Liverpool, Preston vs Arsenal, Newcastle vs Chelsea and Aston Villa vs Crystal Palace.
Ange Postecoglou has questioned whether Erik ten Hag would have been sacked if he was at Tottenham rather than Manchester United.
Ten Hag was sent packing on Monday after nearly two-and-a-half years at the club, and is set to be replaced by Ruben Amorim with United willing to play the Portuguese's release clause.
He will have the task of turning around the Red Devils' fortunes when he takes over, with the club 14th in the Premier League and having not won in Europe for over a year.
Postecoglou, meanwhile, speaking before his side's Carabao Cup game against Manchester City this week, compared the Dutchman's efforts at United to his own at Tottenham.
He gave his verdict on his dismissal, pointing to the fact that he managed to win two trophies in two years.
'Nah, not really shocked,' Postecoglou, whose Spurs side beat United less than a month ago, said. 'Disappointing as it was, it was almost inevitable with the scrutiny he had.
'If you look at Erik, he was there for two and a bit years. He won a trophy in each year, they finished third in his first year. If he was here with that record would he have lost his job? I don't know.
'Would he be under the same scrutiny? I don't know, because everyone tells me all I have to do is win a trophy, but I have got a feeling it would be the same because, just the nature of the world today.'
Tottenham haven't won a trophy since 2008 when they lifted the League Cup, with supporters desperate for silverware again.
Ten Hag, meanwhile, won the League Cup in 2023 and FA Cup in 2024.
Postecoglou is determined to deliver that, but is keen not to underestimate the importance of finding the balance between silverware and long-term success.
He also wished the best for Ten Hag, who is now out of work having left his role at Old Trafford.
'As a manager you have to hit a sweet spot where you get success, you play football everyone likes, you get every signing right,' he continued. 'In that moment you seem to get some sort of validation.
'Anything other than that, it seems to be for some clubs they want trophies not football, others want football. It is a difficult task.
'But what you have seen in the past, I'm sure Erik will bounce back from that because he is a good manager. You have seen it with other managers. I'm sure his career will continue to go on strongly.'
George Weah played 15 games for Chelsea in the 1999-2000 season, before featuring nine times for Manchester City in the following campaign.
But the legendary Liberian explained on Monday night that he actually supports a different Premier League team.
Weah - who also represented Monaco, PSG, AC Milan and Marseille during his playing career - revealed at the Ballon d'Or awards ceremony in Paris that he had followed Tottenham Hotspur since he was a child.
The 58-year-old, who won the 1995 edition of the Ballon d'Or was a special guest at Monday's ceremony in Paris.
While on stage Weah was asked which players he most liked to watch.
He replied by pointing at former Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane and saying: 'Yeah, that's one of my players that I love.
'I'm a fan of Mr Kane. When you were playing for my team, I'm a fan. I'm a very good fan because I believe that he's a very strong and very clever striker.
'I support the team... Tottenham, since I was a kid. I love him.'
Many fans watching the awards ceremony on television were quick to express their surprise at Weah's revelation.
One took to X (formerly Twitter) to write: 'Weah has been a Spurs fan this whole time and WE NEVER KNEW?'
A fellow Tottenham supporter added: 'No way George Weah is a Spurs fan, big up.'
Meanwhile, a Chelsea fan tweeted: 'George Weah supports Tottenham?!?!?! Wonder how he felt scoring the winner against them for us.'
Kane - who responded to Weah's praise with a wide grin - left Tottenham to join Bayern Munich in August last year.
But Kane is still Tottenham's all-time leading scorer with 280 goals in 435 games.
Kane came 10th in the overall vote for this year's Ballon d'Or.
The 31-year-old England captain also shared the Gerd Muller Trophy with Kylian Mbappe after they both scored 44 club goals last season.
Kane's 44 Bayern goals came in just 45 appearances, while Mbappe featured in 48 matches for PSG last season - before leaving to join Real Madrid during the summer.
Despite his incredible tally of goals, Kane failed to help Bayern win a team trophy in his first season in Germany.
However, Bayern currently sit top of the Bundesliga after eight rounds of fixtures this season.
Jean Philippe-Mateta's second-half goal condemned Spurs to a 1-0 defeat
Guglielmo Vicario claimed that Crystal Palace showed more willingness to fight
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Guglielmo Vicario accused his teammates of lacking the desire to fight after Tottenham became the first team to be defeated by Crystal Palace in the Premier League this season.
'They fight and I think we lacked that today,' said Vicario. 'We are disappointed because we have to fight. We play good football but maybe sometimes we lack the desire to fight. They (Crystal Palace) showed a real desire to fight for something.
The Spurs keeper went over to a half-empty away end at the end of the game to apologise and admitted that Ange Postecoglou's side must do better.
'We lacked a bit of energy and to be better than them. We have to take this personally and it has to hurt us a lot. Football gives us an opportunity again and we have to be ready for the cup (against Manchester City on Wednesday),' said Vicario.
Spurs were without Son Heung-min due to injury but Vicario stressed that they must learn to deal without their captain.
'We have to be able to win games without Son. We lacked in something - not in football, but attitude and fight,' the 28-year-old added.
Meanwhile, Postecoglou admitted that his side failed to deal with the nature of the game.
'It was a game which turned into, and it didn't surprise me, a bit of a battle. Lots of stop, starting and standing around. We didn't deal with that really well at all,' said Postecoglou.
'We didn't get to grips with the nature of what was transpiring out there. They dealt with it better than we did.'
Under Postecoglou, Spurs have gone behind at some point in 14 of their 24 away Premier League games and this was their ninth defeat in those 24 games.
The Spurs boss insisted that the goal they conceded 'had nothing to do' with playing out from the back after Micky van de Ven lost possession deep in his own half and Jean Philippe-Mateta scored.
'It was a poor goal to concede, it had nothing to do with playing out from the back. That can happen,' said Postecoglou, who called on his team to be more clearheaded.
'It was a game we needed to stay composed in and not fall into the trap of trying to play the game that ultimately Palace wanted to play,' Postecoglou added.
'We need to be a lot more clear-headed about how we deal with that rather than falling into the trap of doing what we did today. It was a big game for Palace.
'They were always going to be desperate to get a win and that happens. I just thought there was a lot of standing around today which I hate and I've said that before. But I guess it's just the nature of the way the game went.'
Palace boss Oliver Glasner admitted that victory eased the pressure but the Austrian insisted he was never concerned about his job, with victory lifting his side away from the relegation zone.
'We are a very good team and it's very difficult to beat us,' said Glasner. 'The biggest difference today was the bravery with which we played.
'We have to show it again in three days against Aston Villa. Regarding the intensity and the mindset, this is the benchmark.'