The biggest news to come out of Scotland after Tottenham Hotspur’s 1-1 draw against Rangers in the Europa League wasn’t the point earned for both teams, or even the excitement of a big European match under the lights. It was Ange Postecoglou hooking on-loan winger Timo Werner at halftime for Dejan Kulusevski, and his subsequent comments to the press about Timo’s poor performance.
Postecoglou publicly expressed disappointment about Timo’s performance against Rangers, challenging his perceived effort in a match where he without a doubt performed poorly. The statistics showed that Werner lost possession 16 times, didn’t successfully dribble anyone in five attempts, and had a passing completion percentage of just 63% in 45 minutes. It was, by most metrics, a pretty dreadful performance and Ange let him have it, calling it “unacceptable.”
Twelve hours later, Ange was back in front of the microphone for the press conference ahead of Sunday’s trip to St. Mary’s to face bottom-of-the-table Southampton, and as expected, he was given plenty of opportunities to clarify his comments on Timo. Postecoglou did not back down from yesterday’s comments, but did clarify, calling his comments about Werner “assessment” and stating numerous times that due to Tottenham’s injury crisis he needs every one of his senior players to give 110%, and no longer has the luxury to bench players who perform poorly.
“It wasn’t criticism. It was assessment. If we played poorly, we played poorly. With Timo it wasn’t about whether he played well or not. It was a difficult game last night. I’m asking 18-year-olds to do some massive jobs and you want senior players, and he’s a senior player, he’s an international and he’s won the Champions League, there’s a level of application and performance you need to rise to, to help the team.
He didn’t reach that. I think me taking him off at half-time was a statement enough. The same way I won’t be hiding behind poor team performances, the same with and no different for the players or anyone else. It wasn’t criticism, it was just an assessment of his performance and on a really challenging night for us, which we knew going into it, it needs to be better.
“[Timo’s issue] can’t be ability. Like I said, you don’t play for Germany and big clubs [and not be good enough]. Whether it is a combination of confidence and mentality – at this moment – we don’t have the luxury of that. You are out there, playing, fit and we don’t have the luxury of not just him, but any player at this moment, because he has an opportunity to play.
“It is not like if he has a bad performance that I can just put somebody else in – I’ve got nobody else to put in. We need all that stuff to be put to the side, whether it is a lack of confidence or believe, to say [to ourselves] are you in this fight? Because we are in a fight, we’ve got a limited number of players to call upon.
“We’ve got some big games that can set up our season and we just need people to have that level of commitment and application to find our way through. As much as I am talking about Timo, I am talking about the whole group and all of us right now. The norms of football where you have a poor performance and you’re out don’t exist in our environment right now so I need players going out there and putting that to one side and fight, put in a shift, because what ever issues we have it is about putting that to one side, whatever it may be and discuss that further down the line.”
In this context, Postecoglou’s comments about Werner appear to be more than just singling out a player — he’s intending it to be a message to the entire team, and Timo is just the vessel through which Ange is making his point.
Spurs are in crisis. They haven’t won a match since the trip to the Etihad several weeks ago, Postecoglou is without three of his four senior central defenders, both of his starting CMs for this weekend (Rodrigo Bentancur and Yves Bissouma are both suspended), one senior striker, and two wide midfielders. They are playing two matches a week until the new year, and do not have the players available to adequately rotate and rest.
So you can understand why Ange would be peeved when one of his players, who hasn’t played a bunch lately, gets an opportunity and doesn’t put in the effort required for a good performance. Postecoglou went through great pains to say that this isn’t really about Timo — it’s about a crisis situation at the club, and his comments could be directed at any one of his players that don’t put in the required effort to succeed.
“[Timo has been on the bench more] but at the same time he still had the ability to come on and affect that from the bench, which he has, he did that against City and in other games this year. In Europe, a midweek game, he is there to start and make an impact. Like I said, I get there’s a lot of discussion around him but, for me, last night was not about Timo Werner – it is about the situation we are in and what is required in this time.
“Last night, it didn’t have to be Timo, it could have been someone else and there are other players who I think could have also given more to what we were trying to do last night. I just felt from him, particularly because he hasn’t played a lot, there should have been some freshness around him to make a real impact because I know he is a top player. I suspect he looks around and sees an 18 year old and other players who have played a lot and say; ‘I am going to make an impact myself’ because he is a top player and that’s what I expect.
“It’s not about bringing somebody down and blaming someone. This is not about one person, it’s what we’re in and the situation we’re in right now. We’ve got a limited amount of players, we’re really stretched but we’ve got big games that can set up our season. It’s a great challenge. I want people who are up for that challenge and when they go out there, irrespective if things go well or not, I want them relishing the opportunity to be out there. This is not a time for us to be kind of worried about people’s mindset. If you don’t understand or feel what we’re in at the moment, I’m not sure what it’s going to take.”
All that said, Timo Werner’s status as a loan player at the club is very much in the background of Ange’s comments and the issue at hand, and even though Ange is trying to make this about collective effort and not one person, there sure does seem to be an implication that Werner might not possess the mindset that Ange wants from a player in his system at this time. That could be a factor as to why he has not played as much football this season as we expected, and it raises the possibility that the club could opt to make a change when the January transfer window opens.
Could it mean that Timo’s loan might be terminated next month? We don’t know. Wilson Odobert won’t be returning for a good while yet and Mikey Moore is still recovering from a pernicious virus that has sapped his energy. It feels unlikely that Timo would go without someone else coming in, but regardless that’s not going to help Spurs at all until the window opens.
Ange also took some time to thoroughly dismiss any notion that there is something inherent in the club’s history that is preventing it from sustained success — while the word “Spursy” was not mentioned, it was definitely implied in the question, and Ange’s answer.
“I’m sick of that. That’s an excuse for me and that’s why even with Cristian Romero’s comments, I just think that’s an excuse. At the moment I’m here, I take responsibility. These players, we’re here. If we think something mythical exists in this club that prevents success then change it. What’s the point otherwise? Don’t come here. I just don’t buy into that.
“At the moment we’re in a difficult situation because of kind of where we are squad-wise and team-wise. You either embrace this challenge. If you want excuses there are a million of them. There are a millions excuses of why we cannot be successful but if that’s what your clutch is, particularly in tough moments, then what’s the point? Move on then and go somewhere else.”
