As a poor Tottenham were held to a 1-1 Europa League draw at Rangers, Ange Postecoglou struggled to protect Timo Werner.
“He wasn’t playing at anywhere near the level he should be,” Postecoglou said after replacing the German at halftime. “Timo’s first-half performance was unacceptable.
Since Timo is a German international, I informed him that I need everyone to give their best and this wasn’t an acceptable example. I expect much more from seniors.
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We weren’t at our best, and I think we’re grinding through games. But given where we are in Europe and our injury-ravaged squad, it was important.”
Spurs are ninth in the Europa League; with two games left next month, they hope to finish in the top eight and escape February’s play-offs.
Postecoglou, a former Celtic manager, was greeted with “sacked in the morning” after Hamza Igamane gave Rangers the lead before Dejan Kulusevski equalized on a night when Fraser Forster shined in the visiting goal.
“Rangers are tough to play against, especially at Ibrox on European nights,” remarked the Australian. “With the competition and atmosphere, few teams can win here, so expect a tough game. We played a tough, close game and did well to come back after Rangers took the lead.”
The home manager, Philippe Clement, whose team is ninth in the Europa League, praised an excellent advertisement for the game.
The Belgian stated, “I think we should have won and we deserved to win but to play that well against a strong Premier League side was a very good advertisement for Scottish football. I’m proud of the performance. Our progress is significant.
My players are upset about the draw because they wanted to win and were close. We wanted to force our football on Tottenham and give our forwards something.
We didn’t want to merely defend our 18-yard box and wait for the ball to fall, so my players showed everyone we could do something exceptional with both hands. My team has a lot of promise, and tonight they played fast and made quick decisions.”
Postecoglou’s injury-plagued team faces Hoffenheim and Elfsborg in January. “I thought we got back in and scored a good goal.
“We’re struggling. Down on numbers, the players know we’re asking for a lot of repetitive efforts, which takes its toll.”
