Victory in the UEFA Europa League against Elfsborg on Thursday could provide Tottenham with some much-needed confidence heading into Sunday’s Premier League clash with Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium, with Ange Postecoglou admitting in his pre-match press conference that “Brentford at their place is a tough one for every club.”
Thomas Frank’s side have picked up 23 points from a possible 36 at home so far this season, and Postecoglou told reporters that “their home form is really good; our league form isn’t great and we need to address that.”
The Australian sees this weekend’s clash as an opportunity to turn things around for Spurs though, as he assured fans that “our season still has plenty of opportunity and potential for success this year but we need to address our league form. It’s a tough place to go, but we need to go there and make sure we give a good account of ourselves.”
Brentford’s transformation as a club over recent years has been nothing short of sensational, with the West Londoners having competed in League Two as recently as the 2008/09 season. Postecoglou drew attention to their rapid rise in his press conference, highlighting that “people forget that it wasn’t that long ago that to have Brentford as a Premier League outfit would have been unheard of.”
“I think the whole club deserves credit – definitely Thomas [Frank], but the whole club, you know – it’s a well-run club, they’ve got a clear identity, they’ve got a clear idea about what they want to do and who they are and the way they do their business.”
“I think there’s a few clubs now who are understanding that that’s the way forward. You set yourself up with a plan, you find the individuals that will drive that and you stay the course,” he added.
It cuts a sharp contrast with what is increasingly becoming a bitter relationship between fans and club ownership in North London, as protests against the ENIC Group and chairman Daniel Levy continue in the stands.
Embed from Getty ImagesSpeaking on Tottenham’s next steps, Postecoglou admitted that “I don’t think we can look too far ahead right now, because there are a couple of immediate objectives that we need to really tackle.”
“One is our league form, we need to rectify that and improve that and find some consistency in that, and then there’s some fairly big opportunities over the next sort of month or so for us to make an impact in a couple of tournaments, starting Thursday night [v Liverpool in the Carabao Cup].”
“So, that’s where my head’s at at the moment. Beyond that, like I said, I really believe there’s been some growth in the guys we we’ve got here, which I think we’ll see the benefits of further down the track. But right now the main objective and criteria is to look at what’s in front of us.”