Postecoglou aims ‘mate’ dig at Mourinho, explains ‘beauty’ of Tottenham’s nine-man win over Chelsea | OneFootball

Ange Postecoglou has fired a shot at Tottenham predecessor Jose Mourinho by saying he doesn’t understand one particular manager complaint about players.

Tottenham were widely praised for their resounding nine-man victory over Chelsea, which has been weirdly recorded as a 4-1 win for the Blues despite Spurs claiming the clear moral triumph.

Postecoglou instructed his players to keep attacking despite going down to nine men, with the hosts deploying their defensive line on the halfway line before conceding three times from the 75th minute onwards.

Postecoglou was hailed by most for his approach but told the Daily Mail he “doesn’t know any other way”.

“In the broad church of football philosophies, I have stayed really strict to one religion,” he said. “I went into a library of football books and got stuck on one section that was about attacking football.

“It’s the only space I feel comfortable in. If you asked me to set up a team to get a point by playing defensive football I could probably do it but I wouldn’t have anywhere near the conviction as if you asked me to try and win 3-0.

“I actually understand what people are saying about that night. If I was on the outside I would be saying the same thing.

“But this is the test for me isn’t it?

“The amount of times I hear managers saying: ‘I would like to play this way but I don’t have the players…’

“I just think: ‘Just do it mate…’.”

Apropos of nothing, Jose Mourinho once said he was playing a “chess game without pieces” during his time as Tottenham manager, adding: “I cannot speak about the progress I want to make because I don’t have the players I want. And the team needs players to progress, collectively, tactically and dynamically. We need to have the players but we don’t have the players.”

Back to Ange, though.

“All eyes are on me now,” he added.” The scrutiny will come but more importantly the players will see and the staff will see that I am not changing.

“Yes we have players missing. But we are gonna go out there whether it will be Villa or Manchester City and we are gonna play our football.

“If we are gonna grow and be the team we want to then we will have to expose ourselves and we exposed ourselves that night against Chelsea.

“Part of me felt a perverse pride because it showed these players are all in. Now it’s up to me to show them the way forward and I will.

“The beauty of it is that I had nine men out there who totally believe in something. For me that’s the biggest part of the battle. That’s gold.”