Ange Postecoglou has said that he is actually enjoying the fact that many are starting to doubt his methods and admitted that he is keen to prove his detractors wrong.
Much of the optimism that surrounded Tottenham at the start of the season has now dissipated, with some now starting to question whether Postecoglou’s high-intensity and ultra-attacking approach can be successful in the Premier League.
While the challenge that the Australian now faces is bigger than any he has experienced in his career, given the calibre of teams and managers he is now up against, he has always made it clear that he is not one to ever change his methods.
The Spurs boss has now revealed that he actually enjoys these difficult times as they bring the best out of him as a coach.
Postecoglou told Optus Sport: “This is the bit I love mate. I feel this is my purpose. If I’m not enjoying or being at my best when times are toughest, then why am I here? That’s my function. You don’t manufacture bad times, you don’t try to create this scenario, but when this scenario presents itself, and it always will, it has throughout my whole career, then that’s when I need to be, not at my best, but at my most alert and most visible.
“A lot of my coaching and relationships, I’m very empowering of the people around me, I give them responsibility, I’m not in their faces, but in these times I want to be more visible than anybody else at the club. This has got to be about me now, so I’ve got to lead the way out. It’s not enjoyable when you’re going through it, but part of me loves this part of the process.”
The 58-year-old stated that he never expected to be smooth sailing throughout and always knew there would be some stumbling blocks along the way. He insisted that it is now a good opportunity for him to see how various players and staff deal with the added pressure.
Postecoglou continued: “If things are always going well, how do you know? I think I said in the first meeting, I said, ‘there will come a point where we hit a real stumbling block this year, we’re gonna hit some forks in the road and we’re gonna fall over and through that time it will reveal how much conviction we have in what we’re doing.’
“It will come. It might come at the start, in the middle, might come at the end and that’ll be a good opportunity for us, not just players, but coaches and the whole club, to see how do we deal with this knowing we’ve gone off in a different direction now.
“How much belief and conviction do we have in this direction now time is the toughest? You don’t manufacture it, but it’s a necessary part of the process. You need to see how people are going to react to difficult times, difficult challenges.
“It’s not just the players, it’s the coaches, it’s everyone involved in the football club. How’s everyone reacting to four losses? Is people’s demeanour different, are they talking different?
“This will be here again next year, maybe in a different form, maybe it’ll be we’re going to a title, the pressure’s there then. So the pressure is always there, it’s how you deal with it. Times like this are great for me, I’m always alert, but I’m hyper alert now as to how everyone’s going through this.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Postecoglou certainly appears to be ultra-confident that his methods will work over the long run but unless results start to come next season, the players will start to lose belief in this way of playing, which would be hard for him to recover from.
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