The Spurs boss says patience has paid off for Liverpool and hopes this weekend’s game benefits his team’s momentum;
Jurgen Klopp says no amount of European football will increase Spurs’ chances of finishing in the top four;
Ange Postecoglou may have got off to a fast start at Tottenham, but he says Liverpool’s long-term approach under Jurgen Klopp is a model the club must follow to succeed.
Spurs host Liverpool live on Sky Sports on Saturday evening. Both teams are undefeated and will look to build on their impressive form from earlier this season.
But although Spurs have managed four wins and two draws in their first six Premier League matches under Postecoglou, the head coach has stressed that it will take time for his work to bear fruit, earlier suggesting that months that it could take at least two or more.
Klopp’s first trophy with Liverpool – the Champions League in 2019, which he won by beating Tottenham in the final – came in his fourth season as manager, and Postecoglou says patience can pay off in the soccer.
“We now look at Liverpool, Arsenal and even Brighton – there is a plan they have stuck to,” Postecoglou said.
“If you look at the development of these teams, it has not brought short-term success.”
“They believed in something and let it grow. They all had a different way of doing things, with different managers with different levels of experience.
“There are certainly lessons to be learned from this, but if you look over time, teams that dominated for long periods of time usually had a plan or ideology to follow and stuck to it.”
“It’s not easy because short-term results mean pressure and control and some clubs give in to that.” Liverpool’s short-term success didn’t come immediately, but they saw that if they supported Jurgen they would reap the rewards.”
Ahead of Liverpool’s visit to Tottenham, Jurgen Klopp talks about Spurs’ current form and life under new manager Ange Postecoglou, comparing him to Australian film icon Crocodile Dundee.
Postecoglou – who revealed Spurs will be without the injured Brennan Johnson this weekend and will have to check James Maddison and Heung-min Son late – also praised Klopp for taking the pace of the Premier League “to another level”.
He believes a positive performance and result for his team in this match will give them even more momentum after fighting back twice to equalize against arch-rivals Arsenal last Sunday.
“Can we impose our style of football on another top-level opponent who plays differently than last week?
“The more we undergo these tests, the more we believe we can continue on this path and accelerate growth,” Postecoglou said. “We are at home.
It is not a small incident, but so far we have played seven games and only two of them have been at home.
This shows the resilience of the group which we managed to overcome with a good performance.” and results.”
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou explains why he grew up playing for Liverpool and why his players call him dad
Postecoglou also recognized Liverpool’s trophy-rich era in the 1970s and 1980s and planted the seeds for him to become a manager.
Postecoglou made no secret of his childhood love for Liverpool, recalling several times watching matches in the early hours of the morning in Australia with his father Jim.
Kenny Dalglish was an early hero for the 58-year-old and he believes watching Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley’s teams win European Cups helped shape his path to a coaching career which has seen him travel the world and Mark.
“I was just consumed with football,” Postecoglou said. “I enjoyed reading about the history of football teams and the great people who make them up.
“Certainly in Liverpool at that time there was always a unique story about this mythical shoe room where all the magic happened.
For me it was almost like reading fairy tales all the time.
“That obviously has an influence, yes, because that’s where all the seeds are planted, my love for the game.”
Dalglish would have been the Liverpool player on Postecoglou’s noticeboard as a child, but he is quick to point out that he is no longer like that.
He added: “I was angry with Kenny Dalglish. For me it was all about Dalglish, whether it was Celtic or Liverpool. I was a die-hard Kenny fan.
“It was around that time when I was 12, 13 and you know we look for heroes in our lives. He was it for me, with the goal in the European Cup final and the way he played.”
“Like every child I had posters on the wall, so Liverpool was my team, but when you grow up things change.
I loved Happy Days then too, but I don’t have any pictures of the Fonz on my wall today either!”
Klopp: No European football gives Spurs an edge in the race for the top four
Liverpool manager Klopp, meanwhile, described his team’s trip to north London as “a very tough test”.
Klopp, who said Trent Alexander-Arnold will return to the squad after recovering from a thigh injury, expects a different challenge at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to those his side faced under recent Spurs bosses Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho.
“Both teams will play football. This is good news and also new, because at Tottenham you played against perhaps the best counter-attacking team in the world in recent years. It’s incredible what they achieved there.”
“We talked about it before games: wherever you lose the ball, the next ball will find [Harry] Kane and Kane will find Son and be in a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper.
“Now it’s much more possession based, based on creative ideas. In the analysis we’ve seen things where they’re not perfect, but they have a whole week to work on all these things and they can create new routines for set pieces or you change the how they attack or defend is a huge advantage.
“I know he is a great coach and they spent time giving us difficulties. We hope to be equally well prepared.”
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Tottenham’s off week came courtesy of an early exit from the Carabao Cup, but without European football, Postecoglou will have a lot more time on the training pitch with his players than Klopp this season as Liverpool are in Europe League.
Klopp sees this as a reason why Spurs – and Chelsea, who also have no European football – will be rivals for a top-four place this season.
“Tottenham is not in European football at all. Chelsea is not in European football.
Two heavyweights who can train all week, without traveling and things like that, is a huge advantage,” Klopp said.
“Entering the Champions League this year will be a huge and difficult task due to the rested big animals.”
