Ange Postecoglou has described some of the headlines about his Tottenham team as ‘offensive’.
The Spurs boss has got his team playing some of the most entertaining football in the Premier League, although pundits have plenty of gripes with their all-action style.
Following Tottenham’s 4-3 win over Man United in the Carabao Cup quarter final – a clash where two costly errors almost saw Spurs throw away a 3-0 lead – Jamie Carragher suggested that their lack of ability to manage a game was ‘not right’.
Asked about the criticism of former players, Postecoglou laughed: “Jamie Carragher, mate. You can name him. He’ll enjoy that.
“People tell me he likes me so that’s a good thing. They say, ‘did you hear what he said? But he likes you as a person’. So, that’s important to me.
“Look, it’s all valid, it’s all valid but I don’t need validation from anybody to do what I do. Whether you agree with my approach or not, there is validity in both and I don’t have an issue with that.
“I love the fact people are talking about our games and analysing our games. I think that is important as well for this football club and I’d rather that than us be anonymous and no one talk about us, or we’re just grinding out an existence.
“As I’ve always said, you have to be prepared for scrutiny, you have to be prepared for criticism and it’s how you react to that that is more important.
“What I am saying is I don’t need validity and it won’t change what I believe because what I believe is borne from a lifetime of experiences and values that I won’t let anyone tamper with from the outside.
“Whether it is Jamie or anyone else scrutinising or criticising our approach, that’s healthy because to me how you react to that is much more important than that itself because if you’re going to jump every time, it tells me you don’t really have a lot of belief in this building about what we’re doing if we’re always going to worry about what he is saying, or we need someone to say a good thing, or someone already said a bad thing.
“I think it is healthy if it’s coming from the right sort of place. Someone like Jamie, he is there to give his opinion and will not stand there and say, ‘I’ve got nothing to say,’ he’ll give an opinion.
“Some of the other stuff I kind of don’t understand because I think it’s just about getting headlines but again if you react to that it kind of says more about yourself than anything else.”
Postecoglou added: “There is some stuff out there and I find – and at the appropriate time I’ll call it out – just offensive towards me.
“I just think you know what, I don’t know. I’m up here with a silly accent and maybe I don’t take things as seriously as people want me to and I’m fairly dismissive of them, but that’s alright. I love my life and I’ll keep doing what I’m doing.”
Next up for Tottenham is a home clash with Liverpool in the Premier League – a preview for their Carabao Cup semi-final which takes place over two legs early next year.
If Spurs can overcome the Reds, they’ll compete in the final in the hope of winning their first major trophy since 2008.
