Ange Postecoglou has revealed that he told the Tottenham players to settle down at half-time against Manchester United this weekend.
While Spurs had their moments in the first 45, it was arguably the Red Devils who showed the most intent and came the closest to opening the scoring at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
However, after the interval, Tottenham came out looking like a different animal, with the likes of James Maddison, Yves Bissouma, and Pape Matar Sarr taking the game by the scruff of the neck.
It was the latter who eventually opened the scoring after some lovely work down the right wing from Dejan Kulusevski, while Ben Davies forced an own goal to seal all three points.
Postecoglou admitted after the game that he thought the Spurs players looked a little nervous in the first half, and gave the ball away too often – which is expected when playing such a new system.
It appears the Australian’s team talk did the job at half-time though, as Spurs were by far the better team across the second 45, and the full 90 minutes as a whole.
Postecoglou told Spurs to calm down at half-time
Postecoglou said (Tottenham Official): “Like I said, I thought we looked a little bit nervous. We were giving the ball away, we weren’t moving it quickly and it’s only natural – it’s all new to these guys.
“For some of them, the Premier League is new and playing against a team like Manchester United is new to them. But I thought I saw elements of it towards the end of the first half, the last five or 10 minutes we settled down a little bit, started to move the ball a little bit quicker and that gave them the encouragement.
“At half-time that was the message, just to settle down. We could play through whatever their press was and as long as we stayed really up-tempo in our movement, we’d wear them down.”
Spurs Web Opinion:
Tottenham fans need to stay grounded in terms of their expectations this season. The Man United win was a high, but there are going to be so many ups and downs while the players get used to the system and other teams learn how to combat it. For now, let’s just have fun with it!