Angel Postcoglou retaliated to the criticisms of “Mr Hindsight” and explained the doubts about his ability to manage Tottenham Hotspur.
Postcoglou, who led the Spurs in the quarterfinals of the Europa League on Thursday, was released by fighting with an extraordinary response to the pressure he suffered during his second season at the club.
Before facing Fulham on Sunday in the Premier League, Postcoglou asked how he had dealt with questions about his future and if there was more control in Tottenham than in his previous jobs, the club was seated 13th on the board.
During a press conference that lasted more than 30 minutes, he said: “Yes, control is more because there is no more noise, but that does not mean that it should affect you.
“I said on several occasions that it does not concern me because I do not really know how people perceive in a way this role and in particular as a person, that they would think that I would worry tomorrow if there is a negative result. I do not live my life in this way. I do not speak that way. I do not think that way.
“I love what I do. I get up every day, take up the challenge, see where the possibilities are and continue to move.
“There is a lot of noise. I think there are always on both sides. We are that people do somehow a critical analysis of what I do. Others, just like the story of a manager being under pressure, people are excited by that.
“Some people really appreciate this process for a bizarre reason and the more they try to push individuals, whether it is me or someone else, to this kind of position, then it generates for them what type of satisfaction they draw from it. But that does not infiltrate my world.
“Regardless of what happened last night (vs Az Alkmaar), I would always have returned home and I asked my children how the concert went. My life happens. It is not so overwhelming that I feel the need to block everything or react to it. I don’t mind.
“Google my name and make the headlines”
When he was asked if he was more intense because of where he comes, Postcoglou said: “If I say that, then people will see me just in a way playing the victim’s card and I don’t want to do it. But 100% there is an element of this. There is no doubt about it.
“Let me give you an example. Whatever profession you are, you are a journalist, you are a plumber, you are a police officer, you are a lawyer, you have been a doctor, you have been doing this job for 26, 27 years.
“Regardless of everything you do, do you think that person has a good idea of this work? Would you have ever questioned his knowledge about this work? Do you ever want to ask if each decision he takes or experienced before?
“If you survive for 26, 27 years, it means that you have not stuffed too many times. Whatever you do, because if you are a plumber, then wherever you have gone, if there are leaks, then you will not get another job. If you are a doctor and people die, then you are unlikely.
“If you do it for 26, 27 years, he has a good idea of what he does. But then you might say he is just a crusher?
“But if this person has started roughly on the floor of the factory of this industry, whatever the industry, you may be a CEO or something else, and he ends up in the position where the top percent of his profession happens, then you must say, ok, this guy must have something.
“I’m talking about the level, I’m not talking about expertise. But then you could say, ok, but it is out of its depth now. But if you have taken a club that has finished eighth in the fifth row of your first year … So when you put it all together and you hear, as I said, it does not come out of its depth, it does not know what it does, its methods do not work.
“You could be critical of his performance, but you wouldn’t do that. Google my name and make the headlines. Just plaster them on a wall. And you would say, I don’t think it adapts in one way or another. But that’s the case. Because it’s a bit where we are.
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Angel Postcoglou feels that Djed Spence and James Maddison of Tottenham have been in great shape and are sure that they will both be as part of the future teams of England.
“There is a critical analysis of performance at all levels. And as I said, as you increase, there are more important things in play, that’s for sure.
“Forget the football manager, forget me. Just the others, would you say that he has no idea what he does. He has no plan B. He is stubborn, his methods do not work. He is out of his depth.
“Where does it come from? People who are probably … Some were not even born when I started to manage. I started in 1996-1997.
“ The biggest sworn enemy of a manager is Mr. Hindsight ”
“You just have to accept that it is part of the world in which I am. But I accept it. I don’t have to react. I can just laugh because I just think it’s ridiculous.
“And that doesn’t change me as a person, it doesn’t change what I do or what I think or how I continue to continue. Because my career will continue. Everyone realizes that, whatever happens, my career will continue. It’s a long answer, isn’t it?”
Do you always appreciate it even during this period?
“I love it. No, I’m not saying this kind of facetious. I love the fact that, you know, there is a huge challenge there and that people doubt you and all this kind of thing.
“I love it. But I also think that some of them are simply ridiculous beyond its nature of being something other than inexpensive and very superficial. I am not talking about critical analysis. I do not speak, you know … Oh, Jeez, I continue now …
“I have one more story and I will make you go. Do you know who is the biggest sworn enemy for any manager?
“You know who Mr. Hindsight is the guy who, when the result is there, the result is already made, he has all the answers with the greatest certainty that was so obvious, and he was never mistaken.
“And Mr. Hindsight will go there every time and professes being the oracle of all the oracles because he takes care of what happened after the event, never before. And there is such a mass of hindsight. The killers should make a song about it. I would certainly buy it.
“You want to be critical or want to have a very strong kind of opinion on things? Indicate them before the event. Do them really clearly and stay by your side when they are wrong because I guarantee that they will be just as false as any manager who is probably more often wrong.
“But there are not many.
“It is easy to face a result. Anyone can face a result. You don’t even need to understand football. This team has won, this team lost, this team is better, this coach is better, these players are better, this system is better, these selections are better, these decisions are better. Everything is obvious, so what was going to be better?
“If these are just results what is the point of having something else? All we will do is anyone who won, you put a column there and say that everyone writes the same room for that and whoever has lost, you put a column there, everyone writes the same room there. These managers are always under pressure.
“But anyway, we should have had this offline line, I said too much that I will regret tomorrow.”
