Dejan Kulusevski has leapt to the defence of Ange Postecoglou and said he will fight to make the manager’s “perfect” football bring success to Tottenham.
Postecoglou is under growing pressure after losing 2-1 at home to Leicester last Sunday, especially as the defeat was played out in a toxic atmosphere at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but the Australian retains the support of the dressing room before the team host Elfsborg in their final game of the Europa League group phase on Thursday night.
Kulusevski stressed that the malaise runs deeper than the manager and the players, saying that it is “not OK” for Spurs to have taken on four competitions with a squad decimated by injuries, and he went to great lengths to explain his faith.
“We had games when we showed perfect football; football that not many teams can play in the world,” he said. “We played beautiful games against [Manchester] United, against [Manchester] City – 4-0 – so I think he is the right man. We play for him. We want to win for him and to be honest we have similar ideas. I am very positive as a guy and I always want to play that football he wants. I have to fight for him because I believe in that football too.”
Spurs, who will seal qualification to the last 16 of the Europa League if they beat Elfsborg, are banking on key players returning from injury as they look to arrest a slump that has left them 15th in the Premier League. They could be without 12 players, and fans frustrated with the absence of any senior outfield signings this month have ramped up calls for Daniel Levy to quit as chairman.
The return of Micky van de Ven has been offset by James Maddison being ruled out for up to three weeks with a calf injury. The midfielder is set to miss next Thursday’s Carabao Cup semi-final second leg at Liverpool and the trip to Aston Villa in the fourth round of the FA Cup. The goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario trained on Wednesday but Cristian Romero is still out. Queens Park Rangers have signed the 18-year-old South Korean midfielder Yang Min-hyeok on loan from Spurs.
Kulusevski is aware of the unrest, saying the team could feel the energy in the stands during the Leicester game, but insisted he would not be shaken from his belief in Postecoglou’s methods. “I listen to no one because I know the truth,” the Swede said. “It’s not important what people say. It has never been. The league is very bad but you have to stay clear-minded and focus on the goals. We have done mistakes, don’t get me wrong. We have done a lot of mistakes,” he said. “We are 10, 11 fit players in four competitions and that’s not OK and that’s why the team is paying that price in the league especially. You can look at the manager and the players but it’s bigger than that, it’s everything involved.”
Asked to expand, Kulusevski said: “We play three games a week with nine or 10 players. That’s all I need to say; it’s nothing more than that. I think everybody has got to watch the picture and ask themselves how we came this far. That’s it. We are 11 players playing three games a week for a long period. I don’t see any other team doing that. That’s the only thing we should look at.”
