A disappointed and frustrated Ange Postecoglou demanded that his Tottenham side quickly discover a ruthless edge in front of goal in order to bridge the gap to the Premier League’s top four.
Spurs were completely dominant for almost an hour of Monday night’s opening match of the new season away to newly-promoted Leicester, deservedly leading through Pedro Porro’s flicked effort just shy of the 30-minute mark but guilty of having wasted several golden opportunities to extend their lead in a thoroughly one-sided game.
They paid the price for such profligacy when fit-again captain Jamie Vardy nodded in to equalise for the Foxes totally against the run of play, with the 37-year-old then also having the best chance to win the game during a thrilling second half in the East Midlands.
Starting fast but not taking their chances and eventually fading was a familiar theme during Postecoglou’s first season in charge at Tottenham, which began with them in the title mix and ended with his side losing out to Aston Villa in the race for fourth place and Champions League qualification.
And the Australian could not hide his frustration as the issue quickly reared its head again in their opening game of the new campaign.
“Disappointing outcome,” he said in his post-match press conference. “Very dominant first half, really wasteful in front of goal.
“We started the second half similar. First 15-20 minutes very dominant, wasteful but you know at 1-0 there is always an opportunity for the opposition to come back into the game.
“That's what happened and we lost our way for 15 or 20 minutes. We lost our composure and the crowd got behind them, but again finished strong.
“Just really disappointed we lacked a little cutting edge in the front third, made some poor decisions, lacked some composure and didn't get the reward our football deserved.”
James Maddison impressed for Tottenham on his first return to Leicester since leaving for Spurs in a £40million deal last summer, while the visitors also got a promising debut from new £65m striker Dominic Solanke, who caught the eye with much of his play but will be frustrated not to have scored one of a slew of first-half chances.
Asked for his verdict on Solanke’s eagerly-anticipated debut following his high-profile move from Bournemouth, Postecoglou said of the former Chelsea and Liverpool frontman: “Yeah, he was good. He worked hard for the team. He had a couple of chances.
“He will be disappointed he didn't do better with them and the overall performance of everyone was okay, but it doesn't mean anything if we don't turn that performance into outcomes.
“We had similar issues last year and if we're going to get to the next level as a team and bridge the gap to the top sides, it is an area of the game we need to improve.”
