(Reuters) – Tottenham Hotspur are struggling in the Premier League with only one win in the last five games and manager Ange Postecoglou said he’s not afraid of calling out his players ahead of Sunday’s game at Southampton.
Following criticism of Timo Werner in Spurs’ Europa League 1-1 draw against Rangers on Thursday, Postecoglou said on Friday it was his assessment that the 28-year-old did not meet the team’s expectations.
Spurs are 11th in the Premier League standings with 20 points from 15 games and with important matches coming in the next few weeks, the manager urged his players to be ready for tough challenges.
“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. We want to achieve things, we want to be successful,” Postecoglou told reporters.
“We’re down to the bare bones in players, if there’s somebody in that dressing room who’s fit, able to contribute, and feels like they need something extra in this moment, he’s probably not the right type.
“…I just need people to have that level of commitment and application and find their way through. As much as I’m talking about Timo, I’m talking about the whole group… I need players going out there and putting that to one side.”
Spurs have several injury concerns with Wilson Odobert, Micky van de Ven, Richarlison, Guglielmo Vicario and Ben Davies all sidelined.
While there are no new additions to that list, Yves Bissouma, who received his fifth yellow card of the season against Chelsea last weekend, will not feature on Sunday.
“You need to let the injuries settle down before you get a real prognosis so it’ll probably be next week sometime for Micky and Cristian (Romero),” Postecoglou said.
“Ben is not as bad as we thought. There is a chance he’ll be back before the new year.”
(Reporting by Suramya Kaushik in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
