ANGE POSTECOGLOU WENT WILD AS HE SENT A STRONG MESSAGE TO ALL SPURS FANS CRITICISING TIMO WERNER.
Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has warned those judging Timo Werner harshly right now and has delivered a positive injury update on Richarlison.
Werner has started in back-to-back matches for Spurs in captain Son Heung-min’s hamstring injury-enforced absence. While the 28-year-old German has provided some positive moments in those games, he has also missed a string of clear-cut chances, twice being put through at Old Trafford against Manchester United on Sunday.
Then on Thursday night in the Europa League win at Ferencvaros, 17-year-old winger Mikey Moore picked out Werner on the edge of the box only for the Champions League winner to take a heavy touch in trying to round the goalkeeper and he ended up sending his shot into the side-netting.
Postecoglou has warned against anyone rushing to judgement on the experienced attacker’s recent misses in front of goal.
“It was 14 days ago those questions were asked of Brennan [Johnson]. It’s where we’re at in this world. We just think he’s missed two chances so he’s hopeless. No, he’s not hopeless. All footballers at this level are very, very good footballers,” he said. “If you write a bad article, it doesn’t mean you’re hopeless. You go ‘actually I could have done better there but I’ll write the next one [better]’.
“Actually, last night Timo, in his first action, took on the winger and put in a brilliant cross for Will [Lankshear] and Will didn’t quite get on the end of it. If that goes in, he’s had a great assist. He gets a one-on-one, if he scores that, if in the last two games he gets a couple of goals, then we’d be having a different conversation, but that’s the fine lines.
“In terms of his general play, I think his last two games have been really good for us. He’s been taking on his players, getting in the right areas. Yes, goals help, we’ve seen that with Brennan, for those kind of positions, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a good player and that’s where I get really annoyed when they put everything on that moment to say he’s not a good player. Of course he’s a good player. He’s a fantastic player.
“Scoring goals would help him, would help us, yes, but we’ll persevere with him because I still think he’s contributing to the team. As with Brennan, 14 days ago I was sitting here answering questions about Dom Solanke and Brennan. Now we’re talking about him in the England team and Brennan’s scoring, so it’s that fine balance.
“I think [Timo’s] performances in the last two games have been better for us in terms of doing his role as a winger in our team. Yes, a goal would be great for him but not for me to say I expect more from him in that position.”
Postecoglou also delivered an update on the fitness of Richarlison, who has been out since the early weeks of the season with a troublesome calf injury but has returned to working on the grass at Hotspur Way.
“He’s going well. Hopefully post-international break we’ll get him involved in team training,” said the Tottenham head coach.
Spurs have had £65million summer arrival Dominic Solanke scoring in Richarlison’s absence and Postecoglou is keen to get the Brazilian and the England international as options either together or in competition for the role in leading the north London club’s attack.
“I would love that. It’s exactly what we want. That was the plan at the start of the year and then you end up, second game of the season, neither of them is available,” said the Australian. “We’ve got a hell of a lot of games and we want to be competitive in all of them.
“I can’t wait to get Richy back available. When he played for us last year and was fit, he scored goals. To have him and Dom as our strikers – and Richy can play wide as well – can’t wait to get him back.
“His recent history over the last two or three years is that he hasn’t been able to sustain it, he’s broken down. What we’re trying to do this time around is do everything right so that when he comes back, he stays back. That’s the key with Richy and hopefully that is the case.”
Tottenham take on Brighton on Sunday in a tale of two clubs with different approaches to appointing managers in recent years. The Seagulls have always stuck to a type of manager who fits within their possession-based style of football, while Spurs have spoken plenty about having a DNA but in reality have flip-flopped between very different types of managers in recent years.
That has resulted in constant chopping and changing, squads having to be reassembled repeatedly and expensively and a revolving door that meant Postecoglou is the first head coach in half a decade to last a full season at the club. The Australian was asked whether Brighton are a good example of a club sticking to a certain style and thus enjoying easier transitions between managers over recent years.
“It just makes important decisions in a club a lot easier in my opinion,” said Postecoglou. “If you know what you want in terms of style of play, style of player, and there’s plenty of evidence. You look at a manager and how have his teams played? You look at a player and how has he played?
“But if you don’t [look at that] and just say ‘he’s a great manager, let’s bring him in but I want him to play attacking football’ but he hasn’t done that [in the past]. Then it’s more likely to not be a good fit. It’s the same with players, and it’s about what the club identifies as important to them.
“Brighton have identified and picked managers who have all done well for them, because they say ‘this is what we want, this is what we’ve got and this guy has shown evidence that he can do that’. Same with players. Unless you have a real clear idea of what kind of striker, winger, centre-back you want, then just going for the best centre-back is not necessarily going to work.
“And just going for the best manager is not going to work, and it’s a big part of the decisions I’ve made in my career about where I’m going. ‘Do they know what they’re getting?’ Because I’m not changing. It’s not like they can put me in and say ‘play counter-attack’, because that’s not going to happen.
