Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou has responded to those trying to “diminish” his team’s achievement of reaching a European final, stating that he “doesn’t care” about the club’s form in the Premier League.
The Spurs overcame a difficult test more than 100 km inside the Arctic Circle, defeating Bodo/Glimt 2-0 on Thursday to secure a 5-1 aggregate score and secure a place in the Europa League final against Manchester United.
Este resultado va a molestar a mucha gente.
Ange Postecoglou
Postecoglou emphasized that winning a trophy would be much more successful than simply finishing in a high position in the table. “There will be debates now and neither we nor United will be able to win a trophy. If we win, we’ll just take a team photo because we’re not worthy. Who cares if we’re struggling in the league? Why is that important? If it’s so easy to reach a final, why doesn’t everyone who finishes in the top three do it? It’s something else. It has nothing to do with form in the league. We understand that our form in the league hasn’t been good. We understand the difficulties we’ve had. Many of them are due to the situation we’ve been in, but how does that diminish the achievement of reaching a final?”
The coach added: “This club and others have finished in first, second or third place in the Premier League and haven’t reached finals. So, why should that be diminished? I couldn’t care less who is fighting and who isn’t. I think both we and Man United have earned the right to be there. I think we are probably beating teams that will be in the Champions League next year on our way to get there. So I’m looking forward to the match.”
Whether a Europa League trophy is enough to save Spurs’ and United’s season has been a hot topic. This also occurs when Arsenal, Spurs’ local rival, will end the season without trophies despite being involved in the Premier League title fight and reaching the Champions League semi-finals.
Tottenham have not won a trophy since they lifted the League Cup in 2008, this being their first European final since they fell in the final against Liverpool in the Champions League in 2019.
“What’s happening now is people are fearing it can actually happen because it could happen. ‘Let’s see how we can knock it down’… somehow diminish it somehow by saying it’s been a bad season and we don’t deserve it. Or somehow compare us to Manchester United,” Postecoglou said.
“If we had United’s success, maybe I’d have a different opinion. I could have been sitting here exactly in fifth position [in the Premier League] and I guarantee you the comments around me would be, well, that’s a great achievement, but this club needs to win something. That’s exactly what everyone would be saying. Of course, this [reaching a European final] is huge.”
