1 week Ago By Evening Standard
's will be back at the scene of his predecessor's unforgettable last stand when they face rock-bottom Southampton at St Mary's on Sunday. — also at the foot of the table in March 2023 — did for Antonio Conte, who eviscerated his players in a now-infamous rant after the match. Conte went into the game amid a sense that his time at Spurs was inexorably unravelling and while there is not the same feeling with Postecoglou now, last night's 1-1 draw with Rangers — which left Spurs with one win in the past eight matches — did little to lift the mood around the club.
by castigating winger for an "unacceptable" performance after hooking the German for goalscorer at half-time. “He wasn’t playing anywhere near the level he should,” said Postecoglou. “When you’ve got 18-year-olds [playing], it’s not acceptable to me.
I said that to Timo. “He’s a senior international, 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 trying to give the best of themselves. His performance in the first half wasn’t acceptable.” Conte thought nothing of digging out his squad but Postecoglou's criticism of Werner, a 28-year-old loanee from RB Leipzig, was uncharacteristic and by far the most critical he has been about one of his players in public.
It came just 24 hours after the Australian had claimed he "wouldn't criticise a player publicly" during the pre-match press conference at Ibrox, when explaining why Cristian Romero's decision to point the finger at the board following Sunday's defeat to Chelsea was so unhelpful. Postecoglou's uncharacteristic frustration at Werner suggested the head coach is feeling the pressure of Spurs' rough form and what he described as the worst injury crisis of a 30-year coaching career before the game. Maybe Postecoglou was deflecting from another middling performance from his side — which leaves them outside the Europa League top eight, albeit with two games to play — but he has previously tried the arm-around-the-shoulder approach with Werner, who has been underwhelming all season.
Postecoglou may feel that tough love is now his best and last remaining option to spark the winger into life. Werner was especially poor in the first half, repeatedly losing possession, going backwards and at one point failing to control a simple pass on the touchline. He was, though, part of a dismal Spurs display for the best part of an hour before the introduction of Dominic Solanke helped to give Spurs a focal point up front and a much-needed foothold in the match.
The striker squared for Kulusevski to level the scores with 15 minutes to play, cancelling out Hamza Igamane’s excellent goal at the start of the second half. Heung-min Son and Brennan Johnson, who started alongside Werner in the front three, were also ineffective, and Postecoglou can legitimately feel that he should not need to call for the cavalry to rescue a draw against Rangers — who had half an eye on Sunday’s Scottish League Cup final against Postecoglou’s former club Celtic. With the scale of Tottenham’s injury problems, the head coach’s job becomes even harder if he cannot rest the likes Kulusevski and Solanke, who will now return to the XI against Saints.
Injuries to Wilson Odobert and Richarlison, and Mikey Moore's illness, should have offered an opportunity to Werner to step up and earn a permanent deal in the summer but his Spurs future now looks uncertain, particularly if Postecoglou is backed by the club to make changes in January. , who held his own at centre-half. "He's 18, it's a big experience for him," Postecoglou said of Gray, who hails from a Celtic-supporting family.
"I thought he handled himself really well. We're asking him to do something that as an 18-year-old in his first year at this level, to play in an unfamiliar position in such big games, I thought it's outstanding what he's doing." Gray is expected to keep his place at St Mary's and for next Thursday's crunch Carabao Cup quarter-final against Manchester United, as Spurs' recognised centre-backs recover from injury, and it says everything about Postecoglou's injury concerns at present that Werner will probably be needed to feature over the next week, too.
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