Tottenham’s Ange Postecoglou bristles at trophies criticism

Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has admitted his confusion over the backlash to claiming he “always wins things” in his second season following Sunday’s home defeat to Arsenal.

The 59-year-old referred to his track record of success at Celtic, Yokohama F. Marinos and Brisbane Roar where he delivered silverware during his second campaign, saying after the loss: “I always win things in my second year.”

However, Spurs are without a trophy since 2008 and had familiar issues exposed in their north London derby defeat to Arsenal, who won 1-0 courtesy of Gabriel Magalhães’ 64th-minute header.

Former Arsenal player and Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson claimed he had “more chance of winning [BBC reality show] Strictly [Come Dancing]” than Spurs had of ending their trophy drought this term.

Postecoglou said: “It is amazing isn’t it? I just stated it a fact and it seems like, am I supposed to just lie? Or just say it never happened? It is confusing to me that people are making a big deal out of something.

“I’m not sure how I’m supposed to answer something that is true. Like, if I don’t win anything in the second year this year and I come out next year and say: ‘I always win’ then [you can say] ‘no actually it’s not true.’

“I’ve just said something that’s true and it seems like it has upset a lot of people for some reason.

“Do you really think it is me sort of boasting? How am I supposed to answer something that is true? Is it to say: ‘Well actually, no it wasn’t that important, they were easy competitions, they don’t mean anything.’ If you’ve achieved something, aren’t you supposed to say ‘yes I have’ and that’s what I hope to do again?

“I’m not really sure why people misconstrued it as me trying to boast about something which I think somebody else brought up here anyway before that, which is true. That’s always happened and my plan is for it to happen again this year. If it doesn’t happen then I can’t answer that question in the same way next year. I can say ‘mostly,’ not ‘always.'”

Postecoglou confirmed Yves Bissouma will not face Championship side Coventry in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup third round tie but hinted Pape Matar Sarr, Wilson Odobert, Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray could feature in a rotated line-up.