Ange Postecoglou has held up Brennan Johnson’s growth as indicative of what he is trying to achieve at Tottenham Hotspur and has revealed that even he was surprised when he saw one of the former Nottingham Forest man’s stats.
Johnson finished the season as Tottenham’s top goalscorer with 18 goals across all competitions and it was fitting that he was the man to score the goal that ended the club’s trophy drought.
The Wales international has endured a difficult season, coming under huge criticism at the start of the campaign for his inconsistency, but he has responded in perfect fashion.
After the final whistle at Bilbao, Johnson took a shot at those who use the term ‘Spursy’, which has further cemented his popularity among the Tottenham faithful.
Ange Postecoglou wants Brennan Johnson to develop into a mentality monster
Postecoglou lavished praise on the Tottenham Hotspur winger and admitted that even he was surprised to see how his numbers match up against the best wide-forwards across the Premier League.
The Australian insisted that there is more to come from the 23-year-old, remarking that Johnson could take his game to the next level as a result of the confidence he will get from this trophy win.
Postecoglou said (via Football.London): “Brennan is kind of indicative of what I’ve been trying to build here. It’s about people of character, people of resilience and he hasn’t had it easy.
“It’s been surprising to me because his contribution has been significant since we signed him. You stack up his record since he’s been here to any other winger apart from Mo [Salah], who is a freak, and Brennan’s stands up. Goals and assists, that is what you need from attacking players and not just in any game, but the big games as well.
“It’s a credit to him and again, fair to say he’s one of the ones who has enjoyed himself in the last couple of days, but rightly so.
“And I’m hoping him doing that on such a big stage, he comes back next year as a mentality monster of I know what it takes to win, this is what I want again and that feeds onto everyone else. That is what you hope Wednesday night creates. That all these guys have got a taste of it now and want more of it.”
Postecoglou is relaxed about his own Tottenham future
The Tottenham boss has been through a lot emotionally this season, having been torn to shreds by the UK press at various times, and on occasions, the pressure has got to him. He can now look forward to a well-earned holiday after silencing his critics and creating history.
When asked how he will be spending his holidays, the Tottenham boss said: “Just family time and finding some quiet spot. Yeah, that’s got some water and a sun lounger and not too much movement, that will do me. Just mainly family time and like I said, time to reflect, not just for myself, but, you know, for my wife, for my kids. Just pretty chilled and laid back.
“It’s one of those things where you probably don’t realise till you’re stopped how tired you are, you know, physically and emotionally and I’m sure that’ll hit me Monday morning.”
Over recent days, Postecoglou has said that he wants to continue building on the foundations he has laid at Tottenham, but has confessed that he has not had any conversations with Daniel Levy about his future.
When asked if he will be able to relax, given the uncertainty over his future, the Australian responded: “Don’t worry about that. I’m good at relaxing mate. Come Monday, I won’t have a care in the world. I won’t have a care in the world.
“But, I assume I’ll have an indication at some point. Only because, you know, there’s some serious planning to do more than anything else. I won’t have any problem switching off.”