Tottenham boss Postecoglou brushes off Liverpool rumours – “Out of our hands”
Ange Postecoglou says Tottenham are still a “long way” from playing the football he wants after he fended off talk he could leave at the end of the season to replace Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool.
After nine years at the club, Klopp confirmed last month that he will leave Anfield at the end of the current season.
Postecoglou is supposedly on Liverpool’s shortlist of contenders to succeed Klopp, with Xabi Alonso of Bayer Leverkusen likely at the top of the list. However, the Spurs manager is adamant that his main priority is to finish the season strong.
“Maybe they’ve shortlisted me? Prior to Wolves’ visit on Saturday, Postecoglou stated, “I don’t think I want to say anything about that because I don’t think that’s ever going to enter my brain space for what is my priorities in life and my profession right now.”
“Well, I am (just getting started at Tottenham). Not just feel — I am. I’ve only been here seven months, so that’s self-explanatory. “I’ve been at pains to say we’ve still got a long way to go in terms of the football we want to play, the team we want to be, the squad we want to have.
“We’ve had two positive windows, I think we’ve had a decent campaign so far, but we’ve got a long way to go.
That’s the amusing area when discussing management. There are doubts regarding our continued existence when things aren’t going smoothly.
Even if everything seems to be going well, there’s always uncertainty regarding your future. In actuality, we have little control over the majority of it.
“I never give that much consideration or worry. With my 26 years of managerial experience, you can see what I do quite well.
“I use that to justify where my mind is at when it comes to all those kinds of things.
“Right now, it’s about trying to build a really solid foundation for who we want to be in the years to come and finishing the season strong with Tottenham.”
“That is only possible if my entire attention is on the benefits that these final 14 games can provide for us.”
Postecoglou responded, “It depends,” when asked if having ties to Liverpool was a praise. Who cares if it’s just people calling each other names?
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter; if I’m doing a good job, perhaps people will recognize it in some way, form, or other. But really—so-called “chat”? I have no interest in that.
Postecoglou will have to contend with missing both of his recognized full-backs for Wolves’ visit in the near future.
Pedro Porro pulled a muscle during this week’s workout, and Destiny Udogie had to be substituted due to a slight injury at the conclusion of last weekend’s thrilling 2-1 victory over Brighton.
Postecoglou is optimistic that both will return for Tottenham’s match against Crystal Palace at home on March 2. The club will not play the following weekend since Chelsea is competing in the Carabao Cup final.
Though Spurs backup goalkeeper Fraser Forster suffered a foot fracture and will be out for “a couple of months,” Ryan Sessegnon (hamstring) has also resumed training.
