Ange Postecoglou gave a press conference ahead of Elfsborg, but what Ange said wasn’t the highlight of the presser. Tottenham Hotspur attacking midfielder Dejan Kulusevski was also invited to the microphone to answer questions, most likely because he’s a Swedish player getting ready to play Elfsborg, a Swedish team, in the Europa League.
But what came out of Deki’s mouth was much more interesting — a full-throated defense of Postecoglou and his tactics, despite everything bad that’s happened to Spurs over the past three months. Deki came right out and said it — Ange is the right man for the job.
“Yeah, I agree with [Ange saying Spurs can do something special]. Three cups, we’re doing really well in the cups so it’s easy to focus on league but we’re doing really well in the cups. This is an important game and if we win we go to the next round so I think we can do good things in these last four months.”
Throughout this whole ordeal and the debate about whether Postecoglou is the right man to lead this football team, the one thing we’ve heard over and over again is that Big Ange still has the full backing of the players. Kulusevski puts a fine point on it — while he speaks for himself, his words carry the weight of the entire changing room, and it’s encouraging.
“[We’re behind Postecoglou] because we had games when we showed perfect football. Football that not many teams can play in the world. We played beautiful games against United, against City 4-0 so I think he is the right man. We play for him. We want to win for him and to be honest we have similar ideas. I am very positive as a guy and I always want to play that football he wants. I have to fight for him because I believe in that football too. Yes, I think he’s the right man.
“Opinions change. It’s not for me. I don’t listen to no-one because I know the truth. I see the truth my side. It’s not important what people say. It has never been actually. The league is very bad and the game on Sunday was tough to lose but you have to stay clear minded and focus on the goals. We have done mistakes, don’t get me wrong. We have done a lot of mistakes. We are 10/11 fit players in four competitions and that’s not OK and that’s why the team is paying that price in the league especially. You can look at the manager and the players but it’s bigger than that, it’s everything involved.
“Nah it’s not suffering. Losing that many games in the league is suffering. It’s very hard on me losing games. I accept it but I still have to see the bigger picture, and I still think we can do amazing things because we are left in three cups and that’s where my focus is. It’s a balance, it’s suffering. At the same time, I’m still positive and I still see opportunities we have.
But what’s causing the slip in form? For Kulusevski, it’s a very simple thing — Spurs are injured, short-handed, and exhausted, and everything spirals out from that.
“We play three games a week with nine or ten players. That’s all I need to say, it’s nothing more than that. I think everybody has got to watch the picture and ask themselves how we came this far. That’s it.
“That’s what I’m saying, we are 11 players playing three games a week for a long period. I don’t see any other team doing that. That’s the only thing we should look at.
“Of course you feel an energy [from the fans], you feel the vibe on the pitch. I understand that they are frustrated. Of course, it’s even more frustrating for us players. I understand it. And you can feel of course when the energy is not the best, you know? But that’s life, you’ve got to deal with it and you’ve got to find a way to win, because that’s what winners do in the end. Whatever happens to them, they try to find a way.”
Deki was asked how he stays positive despite the poor run of results.
“It’s a difficult question but you try to keep it up in the changing room, to lead by example and when things are going bad you try to lead by example and go to the gym a bit earlier, try to show other people that you’re doing it. They see it and go, ‘OK, we’ll go do that too.’ Be a good example and lead, stay away from everything negative.
“[We’re not taking our eye of the league] but like you said we really believe we have a lot to play for in these four months, three different competitions. It’s not that we’re taking our eyes off the league, absolutely not. The dream is still to do very good in these three competitions, win as much as possible as you can, and then in the league climb up. We’re getting some players back now, they are very close to playing. They are very good players and will give us a hand. The right thing is to just keep going, starting with a win tomorrow.”
Deki says a lot more in the video, which is embedded above. But the main thing I take from this is that the players haven’t quit on Postecoglou, just Ange hasn’t quit on this team. If anything, it makes me significantly more hopeful that both Spurs and Postecoglou can weather the storm and come out stronger on the other side of it.