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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Dan Kilpatrick

Ange Postecoglou ready to 'explode' but insists Tottenham is not his hardest job

Ange Postecoglou has said there is a "pretentiousness and arrogance about people in the Premier League", as he insisted the pressure on him at Tottenham is no greater than when he was in charge of South Melbourne Hellas.

Postecoglou's Spurs return to action after the international break at home to West Ham on Saturday, looking to bounce back after their second-half collapse against Brighton last time out.

Tottenham have made a mixed start to the season, with three defeats from their first seven league games, but Postecoglou denied that the scrutiny and pressure from supporters made this his hardest job yet.

He told Optus Sport: "No and I'll tell you why. There's a little bit of pretentiousness and arrogance about people in the Premier League, thinking that they're in a special space, right? But it's still football.

"And whether it's a thousand South Melbourne supporters who weren't happy with me after a game and gave me direct feedback or hundreds of thousands around the world, it's still the same to me.

"I care about what I do. And if I've upset one person, that's enough for me. So the scrutiny, it's not the challenge for me.

"The challenge is, yes, the competition is more challenging for sure because you're playing against and competing against the best in the world.

(Action Images via Reuters)

"The demands of that are pretty dramatic in terms of where I've come from in terms of starting my journey. But at the same time, I've kind of moved up the levels.

"The club has its own unique challenges for sure. Are they more difficult than others?"

Postecoglou spent two years at Celtic before joining Spurs, leading the Bhoys to back-to-back titles and a historic treble in his second season.

"When I was at Celtic, people say, Celtic are expected to win," he continued. "That's right. They're expected to win. You lose one game at Celtic, that's a major problem for you.

"Not many can cope in that. So it's just a different challenge for sure. But I get why people would say it's because of the level you're at now and the scrutiny that you're not having success. I don't believe that.

"I still believe we're going to have success but there's nothing that I'm facing here that I think is insurmountable."

Spurs led 2-0 at half-time at the Amex Stadium but slumped to a 3-2 defeat, with Postecoglou afterwards criticising his players "fight" and accusing them of failing to do the basics.

The majority of Spurs' squad reported straight from the game to international duty, and Postecoglou joked that he is "ready to explode" with his players when they have returned to Hotspur Way this week.

"You never know if [the international break] is good or bad. Maybe for the players, it was good, but I don't like sitting on a loss," he said.

I've been sitting on the Brighton loss for 10 days, I'm ready to explode once they get back in the building

Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou

"There can be a tendency to overanalyse things. It wasn't a good one. The first half was unbelievable, it was as well as we've played all year.

"But I didn't like the second half and what we looked like. It wasn't the loss, that's painful enough, it was the manner we went about it I wasn't comfortable with. The game finishes and everything goes so the dressing room is not the time to analyse.

"I've been sitting on it for 10 days, I'm ready to explode once they get back in the building and that will be my therapy."

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