Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Dan Kilpatrick

Ange Postecoglou insists he knows how to fix Tottenham slump as he makes vow to players

Ange Postecoglou says he knows "unequivocally" how to address Tottenham's slump but warned his players it would never be a "smooth" ride while he is at the club.

Spurs' winless run stretched to a fifth game with a 2-1 defeat to West Ham on Thursday, becoming the first club in Premier League history to take the lead in five consecutive matches and fail to win.

They again failed to convert early dominance into more than one goal against the Hammers and Postecoglou believes his players have fallen into the trap of believing "the football alone" will guarantee results -- something he says has happened at all his previous clubs.

Spurs entertain Newcastle on Sunday in a battle of two squads depleted by injury and, speaking before the game, Postecoglou said he was confident his team would emerge stronger from their rough patch of form.

"I have been there and I have the benefit of experience," he said. "I've been through this many times. So I know, unequivocally, what we need to do.

Tottenham are winless in five Premier League matches (Action Images via Reuters)

"But for a lot of these guys, it's the first time. And I'm always mindful of that wherever I've been. That's why I know that invariably, sometimes it's happened at the beginning of my tenure, sometimes happened in the middle, sometimes at the end of the first season. But always in the first season there are challenges.

"Players need to go through that and come out the other side and see that: ‘Okay, we've survived that. It hasn't killed us, we're still going, we're still alive, we're still up for it’, right? And then if anything it can make us stronger going forward.

"But obviously, I have the benefit of that experience. The players don’t and my role in this is to guide them through it. I know how we get through this, and I know what the road ahead looks like. But they’ve got to go through it themselves and find out about it themselves."

But the Australian also revealed he had told his players that playing under him would not "get any easier" even if results pick up, because he will always demand more.

"Do they want to be part of this? Because it's not gonna get any easier, that's the one thing I keep telling them," Postecoglou continued.

"There’s never going to be a time where it's going to be smooth, not while I’m at the club. Even when things are going well. I'm going to be pushing for us to be better. I'm going to be pushing for us to improve and pushing for us to bring success to this football club."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.