Ange Postecoglou has pointed out that Tottenham’s performances this season against the top three have generally been quite good, even though the results do not reflect how well his side has performed in those games.
Judging from the general sentiment on social media, it is clear that the Tottenham fans want their side to throw the game in order to ensure Arsenal do not pip Manchester City to the Premier League title.
However, Postecoglou has repeatedly reiterated that he wants to beat City and the Spurs head coach has now explained that he wants his side to eventually win trophies rather than worrying about bragging rights against their local rivals.
The Tottenham head coach told Football.London: “I suppose in these last 16 years [since Spurs last won a trophy], there have been years where Tottenham have had bragging rights. Walk through the halls, mate, there’s no bragging rights there. There’s none. The pictures on the wall do not show players with a big sign saying ‘we’ve got bragging rights’,” said the Australian.
“They’ve just got pictures of Bill Nicholson and people who have actually achieved. That’s where I want to get us. The funny thing is if you win trophies, you tend to have bragging rights as well. I just want to make sure we stay clearly disciplined and focused. It would be easy for me to say that getting one over your rivals is most important.
“You could do that and not win anything and I would feel great about myself and maybe the fans feel good about me, but we can’t be successful if that’s our goal. Success to me is winning trophies and until we do that, we have just got to make sure we stay laser-focused on what we want to achieve.”
Tottenham will take the game to Man City
Postecoglou pointed out that the Lilywhites have competed well in their clashes against this season’s title contenders even though results have not always gone their way. The 58-year-old made it clear that his side will look to take the game to Pep Guardiola’s men this evening.
He added: “If you look at the top three and our games against them, they’ve all been crackers and we’ve ended up on the winning side only once but we’ve taken it to them. Arsenal away, City away, Liverpool away we got blown away in the first hour of the game but we still hung in there at the end and made it exciting.
“Even in the Arsenal game, we were pressing towards the end so I think the attitude we’ve taken into those games, to not shy away from the challenge, it’s easier to go in there and try to keep things tight, try to get a draw and even win 1-0, I don’t think that shows where you’re at.
“I think what shows where you’re at is when you go out there and try to meet them by playing your own football and obviously we haven’t conquered that part of it yet. But if we keep improving then we’ve got a shot at knocking them off at some point.”
Spurs Web Opinion
I suspect even the Spurs fans who want us to lose today will feel a little differently once the game kicks off as it is difficult to root against your own side.
A win for Tottenham today will also keep us in the hunt for Champions League qualification and will turn up the pressure on Villa, who travel to Selhurst Park for the final game of the season.
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