Ange Postecoglou reiterated that he wants his Tottenham Hotspur side to be an attacking team, both offensively and defensively, undeterred by pundits saying he should change his ways following a near-scare during Thursday night's 4-3 victory against Manchester United.
Spurs raced into a three-goal lead just after the break, but two mistakes from stand-in goalkeeper Fraser Forster gifted the visitors a chance to get back into the tie, and although The Lilywhites scored a fourth through Heung-Min Son, Jonny Evans replied for United, creating a very nervy ending, when, in fact, the final stages should have been a breeze.
"Like I said after the game last night, it is the team we want to be and some of it is around the premise that we want to be an attacking team in everything we do - both in the way we attack and defend - we want to be an attacking team. Within that context, we still want to be successful. It’s not discounting that important aspect to it.
"For me, there is no real advantage to doing what everyone else or the majority is doing - I’ve got to do things a little bit differently. I think for us to be successful in the Premier League we’ve got to do things a little bit differently. It's not easy but I think it is the path we need to choose. We need to be guided by our own principles."
Liverpool manager Arne Slot defended the Australian's attacking approach in his pre-match press conference, despite Reds legend Jamie Carragher saying he has to change his ways.
When posed the question on Friday morning, Spurs' Head Coach admitted that he can accept the difference in opinions as long as "it is healthy if it’s coming from the right sort of place," whilst also adding that although others' thoughts are valid, he needs no "validation from anybody."
Postecoglou: "I love the fact people are talking about our games and analysing our games. I think that is important as well for this football club and I’d rather that than us be anonymous and no one talk about us, or we’re just grinding out an existence. I like the fact and as I’ve always said, you have to be prepared for scrutiny, you have to be prepared for criticism and it’s how you react to that, that is more important.
"I’ve said before, whether it is Jamie or anyone else scrutinising or criticising our approach, that’s healthy because to me how you react to that is much more important than that itself because if you’re going to jump every time, it tells me you don’t really have a lot of belief in this building about what we’re doing if we’re always going to worry about what he is saying, or we need someone to say a good thing, or someone already said a bad thing."
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The modelling of 'Ange Ball'
Ange Postecogkou's philosophy is attacking football. Keeping possession, pressing from the front, getting numbers forward, creating a hatful of chances and entertaining the fans. But what some fans may not know is that the principles of it come from watching his boyhood club.
Last season, the Australian expressed that he grew up supporting Liverpool, and when quizzed on this in his most recent press conference, here's what he had to say.
"Late 70s, early 80s. My first was probably around ’74 FA Cup, Liverpool. I loved the whole pass-and-move Liverpool style. They used to play a lot of five-a-sides at training. I used to read about it. Five-a-side was a modern rondo. Ahead of their time, kept the ball on the deck.
"I loved all that stuff, mainly because my Dad loved the way they played. That was borne a bit from that. Fair to say they went away from that after a while, but a lot of my early recollections and enjoyment of football came from that style of game."
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Praise for Spence continues
Djed Spence received a standing ovation from all four corners of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when he was replaced by Sergio Reguilon in the 91st minute against The Red Devils.
The ex-Nottingham Forest man added another assist to his tally, making that two in his first two starts for Tottenham, this time wrapping a beautiful pass over the top for Dominic Solanke and capping off an excellent individual display.
His manager was also extremely happy with his involvement.
"Like I said last week, he’s had to bide his time. Probably deserved to play a little bit more, but the situation at the beginning of the year, Archie [Gray] was playing more as a cover for left-back and right-back and he wasn’t registered for Europe so it limited his opportunities. But he kept working hard in training.
"It’s not like he’s come in and filled in for us, he’s actually making an impact. He played a great ball into Dom for his goal, but defensively he did an enormous job for us. Physically he’s outstanding. It’s not easy when you’re training and training and don’t get that opportunity. He loved the day he signed for Tottenham. It’s taken him a long time to get out there. To feel the love of the supporters last night, well deserved."
However, Ange Postecoglou, who has recently praised both Spence and the coaching staff who have worked with him individually to get where he is now, was wary of ensuring the full-back maintains consistency so that he can eventually earn himself a starting spot.
"It’s two games. Always put context into this. For him now, it’s about pushing on and challenging the guys that are there. At some point, we will have a squad and I will have some selection issues. Not at the moment. It’s great for us that, again, we’ve got a player that’s come in in a difficult time and made us a better team."
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Hopeful duo will return
Destiny Udogie and Timo Werner fell just short of being involved in the 20-man match day squad in N17 on Thursday but Postecoglou is hopeful that the duo will be able to make a return against table-topping Liverpool.
"Timo [Werner] was unwell yesterday so we've got 48 hours or so before the game and hopefully he will recover. The plan is Destiny [Udogie] should be ok."
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Gray keeps shining
It seems far too familiar that Archie Gray was on the receiving end of praise from his manager as he looked ahead to their next test.
"I said last week that he has been outstanding. We have no choice as we have no other centre-backs. You put an 18-year-old kid there - I shouldn't say 18-year-old kid as he's a man in every sense of the word - and he's handled it brilliantly, both from a footballing perspective... If you do it for one game you can sort of get away with it where you put a young player out of position in one game but he's done it in multiple games now against some pretty decent opposition."
The former Celtic boss hailed the quality of the 18-year-old - who put in exemplary performances against Rangers and Southampton before following it up with a solid showing alongside Radu Dragusin in the Carabao Cup Quarter Final on Thursday - to keep performing despite the circumstances the side face themselves stuck in,
"Like I said, as an 18-year-old he's handled it so well and it's not like he's surrounded by experience. Obviously our goalkeeper is out, our two centre-backs are out, our left-back was out last night. Him and Radu handled it awfully well, awfully well. I keep saying you take out the goalkeeper, two centre-backs and a left-back from any team and I'm sure it will have an effect.
"The fact that our guys, and it's not just the way they're performing, they're still trying to play in the manner we want to play. We're not making allowances that we've got Archie at centre-back or Radu or Fraser in goal, we're still trying to play our football and it's a credit to them."
