Ange Postecoglou has leapt to the defence of Destiny Udogie, insisting that mistakes are natural for a young man who is still learning the intricacies of the game at the highest level.
Udogie has been one of the most consistent performers for Tottenham since the start of the season and has surprised many with how easily he has made the adaption to Premier League football.
However, the 21-year-old had a bittersweet outing on Wednesday against Brentford, with his inexperience perhaps showing on a couple of occasions.
While the left-back did impress going forward, netting Tottenham’s equaliser at the start of the second half, he was at fault for both of the away side’s goals.
In the first half, it was his poor pass that set the Bees pounced upon to counter-attack swiftly, with the ball eventually being turned into the back of the net by Neal Maupay.
He then had a complete brain fade on 67 minutes as he passed the ball straight to Ivan Toney, with the striker having all the time in the world to place his shot past Guglielmo Vicario.
Postecoglou leaps to the defence of Destiny Udogie
Despite Udogie’s errors, Postecoglou has insisted that he was pleased with the left-back’s overall performance.
When asked about the Italian’s outing on Wednesday, the Spurs head coach told Football.London: “Mistakes will happen mate. He’s a young man learning the game. He worked hard, he was instrumental in the first goal, driving through and obviously, he scored.
“Just his drive and he continues to present himself. I’ve got no issues with Destiny and I thought he was good. He made a mistake but you know what I’ve made more mistakes today like that, let alone in a career.”
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We know that one of the central tenets of Postecoglou’s philosophy is to remove the fear of failure from the players’ minds. The last thing he wants is to instil any doubts into them or stop the likes of Udogie from taking risks, which is why he has unsurprisingly come out in support of the left-back.