Postecoglou explains what pleased him about Tottenham’s pre-season debut
Ange Postecoglou has admitted that despite Tottenham falling to a 3-2 loss in his first match in charge of the club, he was pleased to see that the players were trying to implement what they had been working on in training.
Despite the pre-season defeat against West Ham, Spurs showed plenty of promising signs, controlling possession, pressing the Hammers high up the pitch and not being afraid to play out from the back under pressure.
The score line certainly did not reflect the game, with the Tottenham forwards being wasteful in front of goal while the defence got caught out on a couple of occasions due to lapses in concentration.
Postecoglou admitted that he did not expect the players to be very sharp in their first outing of the summer and insisted that he was pleased with what he saw at the Optus Stadium.
Promising early signs for Postecoglou at Spurs
When asked if we are starting to see his imprints on the side, given that Tottenham had 30 shots on goal, the Australian told Football.London: “Yeah I think so. From my perspective, that’s what we were looking for tonight.
“We’ve obviously been working really hard in training and I didn’t expect the lads to be super sharp because this is the stage where you’re getting your conditioning but we have been working on stuff.
“We want to see some of that out there and I think in both halves there was a real willingness from the boys to try to put in place the stuff we’ve been working on. At times it looked good but we’re still very much in the infancy of trying to establish the way we want to play and our structures.
“For me, the key thing is are they trying out there to implement it and for the most part it was really good.”
Spurs could have run out comfortable winners had the likes of Richarlison, Dejan Kulusevski and Harry Kane worn their shooting boots but Postecoglou insisted that the tempo in which the side played was more important to him than scoring goals.
When asked if the likes of Kane and Richarlison lacked sharpness, the Spurs boss said: “Potentially but again if we keep creating those kinds of chances I have no doubt that they will finish them. They’re both quality strikers.
“For me, the outcomes become secondary right now. How we’re playing our football, what kind of tempo we’re playing at, our structures are much more important than the outcomes.
“Obviously, there were some positive things, not all positive but certainly enough there to at least from my perspective say that the boys are willing, are trying to change the way we play.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Right from the outset, it was noticeable that we were willing to commit bodies in attack, with Oliver Skipp often being the most advanced on the pitch at times in the first half.
That makes a huge change to last season when we essentially only attacked with the front three and our wing-backs.
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