Postecoglou says he has not re-watched Tottenham’s St James’ disaster

Ange Postecoglou has said he has not re-watched Tottenham’s 6-1 defeat at Newcastle from last season as the north Londoners return to St James’ Park this weekend.

Spurs suffered a humiliating defeat on their last visit to the North East as Newcastle recorded a huge win, with the Magpies racing into a 5-0 lead inside 21 minutes. Only Watford, against Manchester City in 2019, have ever trailed 5-0 in a Premier League games earlier (18 mins).

That defeat came under caretaker boss Cristian Stellini and Postecoglou has said he has felt no need to watch back the game, ahead of facing Newcastle on Saturday lunchtime.

“No, I haven’t because there’s no reason to for me,” the Australian said at his pre-match press conference.

“It will be a tough game. We are leaving today and we have had good preparation for it. They are going through a tough time with injuries, like everyone this seaosn, but they have probably been hurt for more of a prolonged period than anyone else.

“At home they are still a very good side, irrespective of who is out there facing them. We are going to have to match their energy, but it is the way we like to play football too.”

Postecoglou said plans are already in place for the summer transfer window and said Spurs can be ‘a lot more calm in our approach’, having identified their transfer targets early.

“It’s an ongoing process. It was similar last year when I took over,” he said.

“It is just part of the process of planning and the difference from last year is we are well into that planning. Where as last year we had to do it on the run because I came in post-season and we had a big squad then.

“We had a lot of decisions to make about players who were coming back from loans, players who could go out on loans, players we had to bring in or move out. This year we are a lot more calm in our approach because we’ve been working on it a while with Johan and the people in the football department.”

Postecoglou also praised the performance of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg during last weekend’s 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest. The Denmark international continues to be linked with an exit but came off the bench to help Spurs to a comeback win in the capital.

“He was good. Him coming on at half-time really helped us as it was a game that needed something different to what we usually have.

“Pierre has been good. He has not started as many as he probably would have liked, but he has done a good job for us. We are in a good place where I can make these changes within games.”

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