Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has launched a staunch defence of his claim that he always wins trophies in his second year at a club.
The Australian made the eye-catching remark after Sunday's 1-0 North London derby defeat to Arsenal, which left Spurs on just four points from their first four games of the 2024-25 Premier League season.
Postecoglou's comments could have been interpreted as the 59-year-old promising to deliver a piece of silverware to Tottenham this season, thus ending their 17-year wait for another piece of silverware.
The Lilywhites have not won a major honour since the 2007-08 EFL Cup, and they kick off their journey in the competition away to Championship side Coventry City on Wednesday evening.
Postecoglou addressed the media in Tuesday's pre-game press conference, in which he stressed that he was simply stating a fact after the North London derby and believed that the reaction has been blown out of proportion.
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Postecoglou: 'I was not boasting with trophy claim'
The Australian did win trophies in his second seasons with Celtic, Australia, Brisbane Roar, Yokohama F Marinos and South Melbourne FC, and he was confused to see his remark "upset" some people.
"It's amazing, isn't it? I just stated a fact and it seems like, am I supposed to just lie or just say it never happened? But, no, it's just confusing to me that people are making a big deal out of something. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to answer something that is true," football.london quotes Postecoglou as saying.
"Like if I don't win it in the second year this year and I come out next year and say 'well, I always win it', well, no, actually it's not true, but I've just said something that's true, and it seems like it's upset a lot of people for some reason."
The former Celtic manager added that he was not boasting about his extensive trophy-winning CV, and he would happily change his remark to "mostly" rather than "always" if Spurs end the year without a piece of silverware for the 17th year in a row.
"How am I supposed to answer something that's true. Is it to say 'well, actually, no, it wasn't that important, they were easy competitions and they don't mean anything'. If you've achieved something, aren't you supposed to say ' yes, I have, and that's what I hope to do again'?
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"I'm not really sure why people misconstrue it as me trying to boast about something. I've answered a question which I think somebody else brought up here anyway, before that, which is true. That's always happened and my plan is for it to happen again this year. And if it doesn't happen, then I can't answer that question in the same way next year, I can say 'mostly' not 'always'."
Postecoglou confirms Spurs absentee for Coventry clash
The Tottenham boss also revealed that Mali midfielder Yves Bissouma would still be unavailable for the trip to Coventry, having missed the derby loss with the knock he picked up on international duty.
"Biss is still not where we want him to be but hopefully he there is a chance that he will be okay for the weekend," added Postecoglou, who is also without striker Richarlison due to his recent training injury.
The Lilywhites boss will be expected to make wholesale changes for the EFL Cup tie, with all of Fraser Forster, Radu Dragusin, Ben Davies and Timo Werner potentially coming into the XI.
Tottenham have not progressed past the third round of the EFL Cup since reaching the semi-finals of the 2021-22 campaign, losing to Fulham on penalties in the second round last year.
Ben Knapton
