It was a big call from Ange Postecoglou and it’s either going to be a moment that woke up his Tottenham players or began to sow seeds of discontent.
Spurs flew away from Glasgow with a point from their Europa League clash at Ibrox but also serious questions about their senior players’ ability to battle and fight against a motivated Rangers side pushed on by their vocal fans.
Postecoglou’s threadbare squad means he has to take any opportunity to rest players when he can or risk adding further absentees to the huge list. He chose Dejan Kulusevski, Dominic Solanke and Pape Matar Sarr to sit out this game and in one fell swoop removed three of his biggest battlers from the spine of the team.
For he needs battlers not bottlers, and what was left behind bordered on the pathetic at times among the remaining senior players when it came to showing much strength in their individual duels.
Overall, Tottenham won just 36% of their ground duels in the game. Timo Werner was the worst culprit, losing every single one of the five duels he actually attempted to go for.
Few among the starters did much better though. Captain Son Heung-min won only one of his five and lost both of his aerial duels. Rodrigo Bentancur, back in the midfield amid his domestic suspension, could only win two of his six ground duels, Pedro Porro three of his nine and Destiny Udogie and Brennan Johnson both came out on top in only two of their five ground battles each.
Porro and Udogie were both constantly left exposed by Johnson and Werner’s lacklustre attempts to track back. Johnson has played a lot of football and was ill earlier this week so might hang on to that as an excuse. Werner has not played enough football to be providing so little in a first half of football.
Even Spurs’ most powerful player and only fit centre-back, Radu Dragusin, came out on top in just one of his four ground duels but did triumph in half of his six aerial battles. Eighteen-year-old Archie Gray alongside him won one of his three ground duels and two of his four ones in the air.
It’s worth pointing though with the young makeshift centre-back pairing that they did plenty more at least, with Dragusin making three interceptions, four clearances, one block and seven ball recoveries. Gray completed one tackle, seven ball recoveries, two blocks and four clearances.
So when football.london asked Postecoglou after the game why he had taken off Werner – the worst of the bunch – at half-time, he used it to break a cardinal rule he had stated only 28 hours or so earlier, again to football.london.
You might remember that when speaking about Cristian Romero’s backing of him and criticism of Tottenham’s hierarchy and effectively chairman Daniel Levy, Postecoglou had said on Wednesday night: “Cristian realises what he said…a lot of what he said was good, some wasn’t right and shouldn’t have been done in public.
“We deal with these things in our own four walls. There’s always issues we need to deal with. The same way I wouldn’t criticise a player or anyone else, we shouldn’t be doing that in a public sense.”
Yet on Thursday evening, Postecoglou ripped that up as he tore into Werner’s dreadful display.
“He wasn’t playing anywhere near the level he should,” he said. “Yeah absolutely [I need more from him]. When you’ve got 18-year-olds [playing] it’s not acceptable to me. I said that to Timo.
“He’s a senior international, he’s a German international. In the moment we’re in right now, it’s not like we’ve got many options. I need everyone to at least be going out there trying to give the best of themselves. His performance in the first half wasn’t acceptable.”
When asked how the Champions League-winning attacker had taken his half-time rebuke, Postecoglou did not particularly care.
“Don’t really know. It’s not really of great concern. We need everybody including him to be contributing. because we don’t have the depth to leave people out if they’re performing poorly,” said the Australian.
“We need them to play their part. Especially the senior guys. When I’m asking younger guys to do massive jobs. I expect a level of performance from some of the senior guys and today wasn’t that.”
It was a big call from Postecoglou, either forgetting what he had said the previous evening or deciding that a message needed to be sent regardless.
Werner has contributed a handful of useful moments this season – with three assists and a goal in 19 appearances – but ultimately the decision to extend his loan at the club from RB Leipzig has had little to back up what appeared to make some sense at the time as a squad bolsterer.
What fallout comes from this criticism is down to the Tottenham players, the ones who, with Levy, always ultimately decide the fate of the countless frustrated managers who have walked through the revolving door at Spurs.
The squad gathered around Werner this season when he was getting criticism from the fans and media, but this performance was as much about effort as it was the lack of quality in his play.
Werner failed in all three of his dribbles, constantly handing the ball to the opposition, he sent his only two crosses to Rangers players and curled his one shot well over the crossbar.
After hearing Postecoglou’s Werner criticism, the Tottenham fans unhappy with it – many likely having berated the German for much of the year themselves on social media – pointed out that the Australian could equally have criticised the likes of Son, Johnson, Porro and many more who struggled in the Ibrox noise.
Yet Werner was the worst of the bunch. The stats show that and it wasn’t hard to spot. His display only makes you realise how much game time the gifted 17-year-old Mikey Moore would have got during this period had he not been hit so hard by a virus.
Postecoglou has tried the supportive, protective approach with Werner and now he’s trying the other way to shake him up. On Friday he doubled down on what he called an “assessment” of Werner rather than a criticism, and said others certainly weren’t blameless but the German was fresher than most.
“No [I don’t regret it], it wasn’t criticism. It was assessment. If we played poorly, we played poorly. With Timo it wasn’t about whether he played well or not. It was a difficult game last night. I’m asking 18-year-olds to do some massive jobs and you want senior players, and he’s a senior player, he’s an international and he’s won the Champions League, there’s a level of application and performance you need to rise to, to help the team,” he said.
“He didn’t reach that. I think me taking him off at half-time was a statement enough. The same way I won’t be hiding behind poor team performances, the same with and no different for the players or anyone else. It wasn’t criticism, it was just an assessment of his performance and on a really challenging night for us, which we knew going into it, it needs to be better.”
When asked how Werner has responded since, Postecoglou took a swipe at anyone in his dressing room that’s not up for the struggle ahead.
“I’ve got no time for that sort of stuff anymore. We’re in a fight here, collectively we’re in a fight. I’m not going to go around worrying about people’s bruised egos,” said the Australian.
“This football club we want to achieve things and be successful. We’re down to the bare bones in players. If there’s somebody in the dressing room who’s fit, able to contribute but who feels he needs something extra in this moment, he’s probably not the right type.
“I need guys who, and we had some last night, understand the situation we’re in. We’ve 15 fit players and in some positions we’ve only got two players. I’m not going to go around trying to get extra out of people. If they’re not able to give extra now, it kind of gives me an indication of where they’re at.”
What the future holds for Werner at Tottenham remains to be seen. Whether he will return to Leipzig next month likely lies in the German club’s hands rather than Spurs’ as it often does with loan moves.
The threadbare north London club aren’t particularly in a position where they can allow players to leave their squad, but if Werner was to be replaced then it’s a different matter. Even if Werner did remain at the club, he could find himself out of the Europa League squad to make room for new signings or Djed Spence if the right-back sticks around himself.
Yang Min-hyeok will be adapting to Tottenham life this month before the 18-year-old winger is able to officially train and play from January 1. There might even be a case for recalling Manor Solomon from Leeds, if possible, if Tottenham cannot secure anyone Postecoglou wants in the January market.
One thing is for the certain. The option to buy Werner for £8.5million might as well be 10 times that figure, for it’s looking about as likely to be triggered as the German is to score 10 goals this season.
With just one win in eight matches, Postecoglou said he needs those who are up for the fight and Kulusevski also used that battle analogy after the game.
“Football is a war. You have to be prepared 100 per cent. If not, you’ll be eaten alive,” said the Swede. “You have to do everything in your power to come to the game ready. It’s a lot of games for us, a lot of injuries, so that’s when you have to do even better outside of the pitch, take care of the body and you have to help each other on the pitch.
“You have to play like it’s very important to help your team-mates. Nobody is perfect but if you stay strong together, you make one tackle, when someone makes a mistake, you help him, and then you can go a long way. We still have to improve and do everything for each other.”
Kulusevski did his part after at first struggling to find the rhythm of the game as he stepped up with the equaliser. It was a clinical finish across Jack Butland after Spurs’ best move of the game, with his fellow substitute Solanke eventually finding him with a ball across the Rangers box.
For Kulusevski it was his 41st consecutive match for Tottenham and he’s played 84 of the past 86 matches for the club. You will not find him shirking the challenge despite his workload.
“I’m doing everything I can to be competitive and be the best every game, every training session. It’s a lot of sacrifice but I’m willing to pay that. I’m feeling good, I’m feeling ready. It’s never easy to come into a game and change it and score, so I’m very happy for that,” he said.
“I’m very, very hungry to take this situation from the last weeks out of this and help the team as much as I can. I believe there is a lot of talent in this [squad]. It’s important that everybody is doing their maximum to help us go forward.”
The problem for Postecoglou is that his leaders have been either absent or inconsistent this season so younger players like Kulusevski have needed to step up.
Guglielmo Vicario is out for what will be three months with his fractured foot. Romero just popped in to say a 14-minute hello before heading off again with a new injury. Son has struggled to make much of an impact at all this season and Maddison has not dispelled any notion built up over his career that he is a streaky player.
Both Son and Maddison are terrific players on their day, with the South Korean having long been one of the game’s stars and saved Spurs with goals on countless occasions, but neither fall into the category of warrior leader, inspiring the troops to victory.
Son was never part of the leadership group under any previous Tottenham manager yet suddenly became Postecoglou’s captain as the team’s star name and it’s in moments like this where he needs to step up.
One video on social media appeared to show Postecoglou saying something passionately in the direction of his skipper as the teams walked off the pitch on Thursday after the game and Son was just staring ahead a couple of paces in front. It’s a short clip and the head coach had been speaking to Dragusin moments before so there may have been more to it, but it’s not a good look for the 32-year-old or Postecoglou’s connection with his emotional captain in that moment.
Leadership is an area that Postecoglou needs to address if this group of players don’t end up seeing him off beforehand.
The Spurs boss refuses to accept players looking for excuses when it comes to the historic flakiness of the club over the years.
“I’m sick of that. That’s an excuse for me and that’s why even with Cristian Romero’s comments, I just think that’s an excuse. At the moment I’m here, I take responsibility. These players, we’re here. If we think something mythical exists in this club that prevents success then change it. What’s the point otherwise? Don’t come here. I just don’t buy into that,” he said.
“At the moment we’re in a difficult situation because of where we are squad-wise and team-wise. You either embrace this challenge. If you want excuses there are a million of them. There are a millions excuses of why we cannot be successful but if that’s what your crutch is, particularly in tough moments, then what’s the point? Move on then and go somewhere else.”
His senior players were the ones who struggled on a chilly Glasgow night. Yves Bissouma was weak at times in the centre of the pitch and while Rodrigo Bentancur brought some calm and assurance with his control of the ball in the first half he once again faded badly in the second half.
The Uruguayan was dribbled past four times. He should be fresher than everyone, yet the lack of match sharpness has impacted him more than expected.
Pedro Porro at 25 was the older head of the young back four, yet was all over the place at times. Like Bentancur, he was dribbled past four times.
Rangers’ goal early in the second half was terrific in creation and execution with Hamza Igamane half-volleying home a superb, deep curling James Tavernier cross from the right. Yet Spurs could have done more in the moment. Johnson didn’t track back with Tavernier, Udogie didn’t step forward to close him down and Porro was left trailing in Igamane’s wake.
Porro and Udogie have played so many minutes in recent weeks that surely Djed Spence at least needs to get his first start for Tottenham on Sunday at St Mary’s and you know things are bad in terms of squad depth when Sergio Reguilon could also come into contention, a player who was meant to have left in the summer.
