TITLE TWIST! Tottenham Manager Ange Postecoglou Responds to Claims of Wrecking Arsenal’s Premier League Dreams.
Spurs could do Arsenal or Manchester City a huge favour when facing the defending champions on Tuesday but Ange Postecoglou says his struggling team’s focus is in only one place.
Ange Postecoglou insists Tottenham’s sole focus remains their own performances despite knowing that they could gift the Premier League title to neighbours Arsenal this week.
Spurs host Manchester City on Tuesday with a win against the defending champions potentially handing the Gunners a huge advantage in the race. A defeat to Pep Guardiola’s team would equally likely wreck Arsenal’s hopes.
But having lost four in a row and seen their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League fade, Postecoglou says the only thing that matters for Spurs, who could still conceivably finish eighth in the table, is finishing the season strongly.
“I’m here fighting tooth and nail every single day for everything I can get for this football club because that’s my responsibility,” Postecoglou said in his press conference ahead of today’s game against Burnley.
“I would not give up on any cause even the most lost of causes because then I’d be abstaining from my responsibilities. I want us to finish the season strong. I want us to try and win three games of football and see where that takes us.”
Asked in a follow up question if the players had “given up” with three fixtures still to play, the Australian shot back: “That’s a harsh term, give up. What does that mean I come in here at 12 o’clock, have a latte, go home and just let the guys train? I don’t give up on anything.
“I never said I didn’t care about finishing top four. What I said was finishing top four does not mean we’re going to be the team I want us to be next year. That’s not what will define us.
“I don’t give up and I’d be surprised if anyone in my position at this level will go in with anything other than 100 per cent commitment to fight for everything because if you don’t invariably you fail.”
And in a brutally honest assessment of where his team currently stands, Postecoglou does not think Spurs are yet a bonafide Champions League club.
The Australian added: “Finishing fourth and getting into the Champions League does not make you a Champions League club, in my opinion. It just gives you an opportunity to be in there. To me, to be a Champions League club and to be at that level requires more than finishing fourth in one year.
“We’ve still got work to do. That doesn’t mean I don’t want us to reach that Champions League. That’s self-defeating in terms of what I’m trying to create. Should we finish fourth and make the Champions League, it isn’t going to change my view of where we’re at and what we need to do in the summer. That’s still really clear in my head.”
