Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou lifted the lid on his halftime team talk against Manchester City, claiming he wanted his players to “show a little bit more conviction.”
Postecoglou’s side took the lead through skipper Heung-Min Son in the 6th minute, only for Manchester City to turn it around and take a 2-1 lead into the break.
Stream Over 50 Sports Live & On-Demand with Kayo. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today >
The defending Premier League champions were left to rue not being clinical enough from the several chances they created in the first half, as Tottenham roared back in the second to score twice and nab a point.
Postecoglou’s introduction of defensive midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg at half time proved to be decisive in turning the side in favour of Tottenham and it helped the team carry out the Australian’s demand.
“I think it (Hojbjerg’s substitution) helped,” Postecoglou said in his post-match press conference.
“I thought Pierre was excellent in the second half. His experience out there, I thought we just as a group had a lot more conviction about our football, just passing it and not second guessing ourselves and being hesitant with our passes like we did in the first half.
MORE COVERAGE
‘Angry’ Ange sparks ‘unbelievable’ Spurs statement as gamble pays off against City
The 16-hour days and $33m revolution behind PL dark horse’s absurd revival
Ronaldo hit with $1.5 billion lawsuit over major crypto scandal
“Look, I’m on the touchline and everything outside looks easy but when you’re out there you’re facing a world class team in a venue where they don’t give up too many things.
“It’s understandable in many respects but at the same time, as I said to them at halftime, whatever fallout or bad outcome there is, I’ll take the responsibility. I’m the one that’s putting them out there.
“Let’s at least show a little bit more conviction about the kind of football team we want to be and I thought they did that in the second half.
“You’re never going to totally dominate a game of football here but in the second half I thought we were very much in the game against a very good football side.”
The draw pushed Tottenham up into fifth from sixth on 27 points, while Manchester City dropped to third and sit on 30 points, three behind league leaders Arsenal.
