Ange Postecoglou has urged his players to embrace the opportunity to end Tottenham's agonising wait for a trophy and says the chance to be the man to deliver silverware was the main reason he took the job.
Spurs face Championship side Coventry in the Carabao Cup third-round tonight, aiming for a first trophy since they won the competition in 2008.
Postecoglou made headlines after Sunday's north London derby defeat by Arsenal when he insisted "I always win things in my second year" and said yesterday he is "happy to be judged against that standard" this season.
Speaking ahead of the visit to Coventry, Postecoglou urged his players to face up to the club's 16-year trophy drought and not be burdened by history.
It was the biggest attraction to me coming here ... imagine I did win something, imagine it was in my second year!
"You can try to ignore it but it's a reality. That's what it is. It's a fact. So just face up to it, mate," the head coach told Standard Sport when asked if the lack of silverware won by Spurs could weigh heavy on his players.
"I kind of flip it. As I keep saying to the guys, 'What a great opportunity. Imagine you are the ones to do it!'
"It was the biggest attraction to me in coming here.
"I get it, it's the Premier League and everyone wants to be here. It's a big club and you do get well-rewarded financially and talk to fantastic people [in the media] like yourselves.
"All these things are great attractions but the one that ticked the biggest box for me was to imagine I did win something. Imagine it was in my second year!
"Imagine that happened. That's something I could reflect pretty fondly on. That's how I see it. I don't see it as a burden, I see it as an opportunity.
"That's what I keep saying to the players every day, 'Don't ignore it. See it as an opportunity to do something special.'
"It's not easy. When you say these things, then [the reaction] is, 'Oh my god, what if it doesn't happen?' and we've lost at the weekend and people are coming for you! But that's okay. Don't worry. Think about the flip side of that, if it does happen. That's what got to motivate us."
Postecoglou's comments after the 1-0 defeat by Arsenal caused a stir but the Australian, who has won a trophy in year two with every club where he has spent more than one season and with the Australia national team, was "confused" by the reaction to him "stating a fact".
He says he will judge himself at Spurs by his previous success with Melbourne South, Brisbane Roar, Yokohama F. Marinos, Celtic and the Socceroos, and is happy for others to do the same.
"I failed last year in my head because that's how I'm geared," he said. "I think I've made it pretty clear what my expectations are.
"I'm happy to be judged against that standard because that's my standard, that's what I've done in the past and I don't want to dilute that because then I miss the opportunity to continue on the road I've been on.
"I have no problems with people using that as a yardstick. I will say we're four games into a new season, it's pretty early. I realised in Scotland, they'd rule me out after two games. They said it was all over in the year we won the double."
