Ange Postecoglou rues Tottenham’s profligacy in the 1-1 draw with Leicester City
Tottenham Hotspur opened their new Premier League season by sharing the spoils against newly promoted Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Monday night.
Spurs head coach Ange Postecoglou had named new striker Dominic Solanke in his first XI of the campaign with fellow summer arrivals Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall on a strong bench. The visitors played some lovely stuff and dominated Leicester City from the first blow of the whistle, but it took around the half-hour mark for them to open the scoring.
James Maddison came back to haunt his former employers when he curled in a fine ball in the box for onrushing right-back Pedro Porro to flick a header past the goalkeeper. Despite dominating the proceedings and controlling the tempo of the game, Tottenham were simply wasteful in front of goal and Leicester’s old dog Jamie Vardy netted an equaliser before the half-hour mark.
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Spurs tried their best to find the winner but failed, leading to dropped points in the opening week of the season. The manner in which the visiting side missed so many gilt-edged chances in the first half left Ange Postecoglou extremely frustrated, and rightly so. And he didn’t hold himself back after the game.
In an interview with BBC, the Spurs head coach said: “Disappointing night for us. First-half excellent and controlled the game but wasteful in front of goal. Second half was the same. we started off well and once Leicester scored, the crowd lifted and we lost our composure.
“It was an issue we had last year as well, we need to keep working hard and be a bit more ruthless in front of goal. At times we made poor decisions. When we are that dominant we should be out of sight.
“We do everything to score goals and we didn’t score. The dominance is great but if you don’t score it is meaningless. We have to be stronger in our mindset in the front third. To be that wasteful tonight is disappointing. We just weren’t clinical.
“They were all [the debutants] okay. It’s not our football or effort. To get results you need to be a lot more ruthless in the final third. If we don’t we won’t get the rewards our football should get. The responsibility is on me. That’s why you coach.”
Postecoglou is absolutely spot-on with his remarks after the game. The way Spurs started and controlled the game—barring a few Leicester counter-attacks—was extremely impressive. The link-up play, movement and energy were great, and we clearly deserved to win the contest after creating so many clear-cut chances in the first half.
It felt like Déjà vu watching the game as memories of wastefulness in front of goal in many games from last season came flooding. Our new boy Dominic Solanke did everything so well but score, while Richarlison missed a fantastic heading chance to win the game at the death. It actually feels like two points dropped than one earned.
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It is good to see Postecoglou take responsibility for his team dropping points at the King Power Stadium. The Greek-Australian and his coaching staff must help the boys punish opposing teams by becoming ruthless in front of goal. That said, we have to bounce back at the weekend against Everton and get our first win of the new season.
