After Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou described Timo Werner’s performance against Rangers as ‘unacceptable’ he has also hit out at comments from Cristian Romero.
The Premier League and Scottish Premiership sides shared a pulsating 1-1 draw at Ibrox on Thursday night after Dejan Kulusevski’s 75th-minute strike cancelled out Hamza Igamane’s opener just after half-time.
Both sides squandered opportunities for more goals but a draw is a decent enough result for both sides as they look for automatic qualification to the Europa League knockout stages.
Rangers are in the final automatic spot in eighth, above ninth-placed Tottenham on goal difference.
Postecoglou said it was an ‘important point’ for his side but blasted the performance of Werner, who he subbed off at half-time.
‘When you’ve got 18-year-olds in the team, it’s not acceptable to me,’ Postecoglou said when asked about Werner’s withdrawal.
‘I said that to Timo, he’s a German international. In the moment we’re in right now – it’s not like we’ve got many options, I need everyone to at least be going out there and trying to give the best of themselves.
‘His performance in the first half wasn’t acceptable. We need everybody, including him, to be contributing because we don’t have the depth to leave people out if they perform poorly.
‘I expect a level of performance from some of the senior guys, and tonight wasn’t that.’
Expanding on those comments at a press conference on Friday morning, Postecoglou said: ‘We’re in a fight here. I’m not going to go around worrying about bruised egos. We want to achieve things, we want to be successful and we’re down to the bare bones in players.
‘If someone is fit and able to contribute and someone who feels they need a bit extra [motivation], they are probably not the right person. If they can’t give me extra right now, that shows me where they are at.
‘We are in a difficult situation because of where we are squad wise. We have 15 fit players. If you want to make excuses there’s millions of excuses of them why they can’t be successful. If that’s you, move on, go somewhere else.
‘Last night wasn’t about Timo Werner wasn’t about him. It could have been someone else. Other players could have given more. It’s not about Timo, it’s about the situation we are in. It could be anyone. It’s not about bringing someone down or blaming someone.’
The Australian also responded to Romero’s comments which suggested there has not been enough investment in the squad.
The Argentina international said earlier this week: ‘Manchester City competes every year, you see how Liverpool strengthens its squad, Chelsea strengthens their squad, doesn’t do well, strengthens again, and now they’re seeing results. Those are the things to imitate,’ said Romero.
‘You have to realise that something is going wrong, hopefully, they realise it.
‘The last few years, it’s always the same: first, the players, then the coaching staff changes, and it’s always the same people responsible.
‘Hopefully, they realise who the true responsible ones are, and we move forward because it’s a beautiful club that, with the structure it has, could easily be competing for the title every year.’
Postecoglou is not impressed, saying: ‘I am sick of that too. That is an excuse for me. That is why, Romero’s comments – I think that is an excuse.
‘We are here. If we think some mythical thing exits that prevents success, then change it – what’s the point otherwise. If you don’t buy into it, don’t come here.’
Speaking after the match on Thursday, the Spurs boss said of the draw: ‘A tough game as expected, obviously with the atmosphere in the stadium.
‘I thought the first half was pretty tight with no clear-cut for either side. When they score straight after half-time the energy levels obviously go up and it’s going to be a tough one to claw back, but I thought we worked our way back in well.
‘I thought the substitutes made a difference and we scored a good goal, had other good moments and a great save by Fraser [Forster] at the end.
‘In the context of where we are in Europe, an important point.’
While Postecoglou was content with a point, the result means Tottenham have now not won in four games since they thumped Premier League champions Manchester City 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium.
They are 11th in the English top-flight ahead of Sunday’s trip to the south coast to face a Southampton side sitting bottom of the Premier League with five points from 15 games.
Rangers, meanwhile, will hope to produce an equally dynamic performance on the weekend when they face Old Firm rivals Celtic in the League Cup final.
Speaking after the Spurs stalemate, Rangers boss Philippe Clement said: ‘I’m very proud about the performance because it’s the way we want to see football being played.
‘Also if you see where this group of players is coming from, from a few months ago and making performances like this now, it is a big, big step forward.
‘On the other side, I’m also disappointed we didn’t take the three points. That would have been even better and would have been the result we deserved today with the performance the players gave.’
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