Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has taken aim at his players, branding their performance ‘unacceptable’ in Wednesday night’s 2-1 defeat to Arsenal.
Spurs went into the north London derby hoping to deal their rivals a blow as they chase a first Premier League title since 2004.
But that didn’t happen, with Arsenal winning 2-1 after a Dominic Solanke own goal and strike from Leandro Trossard to claim all three points.
Spurs have now won just one of their last nine league matches to sit eight points above the relegation zone.
Tottenham news: Ange Postecoglou has taken aim at his players, branding their performance ‘unacceptable’ in Wednesday night’s 2-1 defeat to Arsenal.
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Pressure is mounting on Postecoglou as a result.
And the former Celtic boss, speaking after the game, branded his team’s performance ‘unacceptable’ as he battles to avoid the sack.
“I just thought the first half in particular was just way too passive,” he fumed.
“We allowed Arsenal to control the game and we’re just nowhere near aggressive enough with and without the ball.
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“And, you know, allowed them to sort of feel comfortable in the game and that’s not what we’re about.
“It’s unacceptable. It’s a big game, we should be ready for that. And I said we were nowhere near the team that we can be in that first half.
“I think all you do is you get up tomorrow morning and start preparing for a tough game on the weekend.
“Our league form’s unacceptable, the results are unacceptable and it needs to change… as I said, our form and our results are nowhere near good enough so we need to change that.”
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While it was a frustrating night for Postecoglou, it was a good one for Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta.
His team are now just four points behind Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table, though the Reds do have a game in hand.
At times, the Emirates was hostile last night with some fans fearing the worst after Tottenham went ahead through Son Heung-min.
Yet Arteta chose to praise supporters after the match, describing the atmosphere as ‘one of the best’ he’s ever seen.
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“I’m extremely happy,” said the Spaniard.
“We have the opportunity to make a lot of our supporters very happy because it’s the most special day of the season, and I think we’ve done that.
“On top of that, I think they will feel very proud about the team and about the players that we have and how privileged we are that they are representing this football club in the way that they do.
“Today was one of the best [atmospheres] that I’ve seen.
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“That’s what we have to do consistently, I said it in the press conference, that depends on us, nobody else.
“There are things that we cannot control – that one for sure we can control, so let’s make the most out of it.”
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