Ange Postecoglou has explained why he told off his players during Tottenham’s pre-season win over a K-League side on Wednesday.
Spurs claimed a 4-3 win over South Korea’s top flight side in Seoul, with captain Son Heung-min scoring twice in an eventful friendly match.
The game was goalless after 25 minutes, and Postecoglou was apparently not happy with what he had seen from a starting team that included veteran players such as Son, Dejan Kulusevski, Brennan Johnson, Pape Sarr, Ben Davies, Emerson Royal, Pedro Porro and Guglielmo Vicario.
During a drinks break, the Australian made it clear that he expected a little more effort.
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What did Postecoglou say to the Spurs players in front of the K-League starting XI?
Postecoglou was caught on camera telling his players: “I’ve got one damn thing to say: let’s go and play, man for man.”
While it may seem like a tall order for the first half of a pre-season friendly, the Spurs boss later clarified that he wanted his players to maintain their intensity in order to improve their fitness levels.
“It was more about making sure we kept pushing, because with the conditions the way they are and the training load has been quite high, I didn’t want us to back off at that point and really [wanted to] “We got to halftime more because of our physical condition than anything else,” he said.
“We thought it was a good opportunity to move forward and try to be even more aggressive than we had been up to that point.”
Spurs will face Bayern Munich on August 3, also in Seoul.
