Former Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has always been a man to stick by his principles… even when it can feel that everybody else is trying to sway him to change.
And he insists that’s exactly what he will continue to do with the long-term goal of it proving successful.
The Tottenham Hotspur boss is under the spotlight this season because of his tactics, which was summed up by Sunday’s 6-3 home defeat against Liverpool.
There are suggestions that the Greek-Aussie could face the sack should results get worse, with Spurs sitting in the bottom half of the league table at Christmas.
Speaking after their eighth loss of the English Premier League season, Postecoglou said: “I think I have been really patient the last 18 months sitting up here answering the same questions over and over again. If people want me to change my approach, it’s not going to change.
“We are doing it for a reason: we are doing it because we think it will help us to be successful.
“If people don’t understand the circumstances we are in at the moment, the challenges we have from a squad perspective — which are as obvious as you want to make them.
“I get the idea that people think that I should just flip a switch and change and somehow that will miraculously make us a better team.
“It is what it is. I’m just going to continue, stay focused on trying to build this team to be the team we want. In the interim, we are going to have to accept there are going to be challenges along the way.”
Tottenham have conceded nine goals in their last two matches and ex-Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher questioned why Postecoglou won’t shift his style depending on the opponent.
“Not that I expect Tottenham to win the Premier League but nobody has ever won anything playing like that,” the Sky Sports pundit commented.
“It was almost Kevin Keegan-like. The other team I could associate with that was almost Brendan Rodgers with Liverpool, where it was just end-to-end, 6-3, 5-4, and at the end of it they just come a little bit short.
“You’ve got to respect the opposition, you’ve got to respect the defensive side of the game.”
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