Ange Postecoglou slams Brennan Johnson abusers and names Tottenham player he sees huge upside to

The Tottenham Hotspur boss has rounded on those social media trolls who forced one of his young players to deactivate their Instagram account

Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou has taken aim at the social media trolls who played their part in forcing Brennan Johnson to deactivate his Instagram account.

The 23-year-old was signed by Spurs from Nottingham Forest for £50million last season and in his first campaign at the club managed to rack up 15 goal involvements in 35 Premier League matches with five goals and 10 assists. The young Wales international has not yet found his groove in the first four games of this season, other than a positive display from the bench at Newcastle United this month.

Johnson has been on the receiving end of social media trolls in the past year and on Instagram he limited the ability for anyone other than those he follows to comment under his posts. However, that does not completely remove abuse as, for example, it does not prevent users from sending unsolicited direct messages on the platform which collect in a separate folder.

After Sunday's North London Derby and the defeat to Arsenal, the young attacker deactivated his account entirely and Postecoglou was asked whether social media abuse was now just par for the course for players in the game nowadays.

"I hope not. I hate how we’ve just normalised all that stuff," said the 59-year-old. "I’ve been around long enough and even when I was playing, I copped a fair bit, but it was usually on the terraces and then the game was over and you’d go home. When people are at the game they get a bit frustrated that you’re not playing well, they give you some fairly direct feedback, I’ve had all that.

"You’re talking about a young guy who is probably lacking a bit of confidence at the moment. Things haven’t gone his way, but he comes here every day, he’s working his backside off, he’s asking for feedback, he’s doing everything right, he’s trying so hard to become the player he wants to be, it’s hurting him a lot.

"It’s not like he’s out on the town and he doesn’t care and he rolls up late. So what’s his crime? His crime is he isn’t performing at the level that people expect of him. As a professional footballer you've got to expect that you’re going to get criticism about that, that’s part of your growth. He’s still a young player and I think there is so much more of Brennan that we’re going to bring out in him.

"It's sad for me that we’ve kind of normalised that stuff. That getting abuse, and it is abuse and a lot of it personal, is 'oh well, that’s part of the territory'. I don’t see that."

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He added: "I don’t cop it anymore. If somebody is abusive to me, they’re going to hear it back. I don’t believe that’s right. I’ll take criticism because that’s my role, and scrutiny, you have to because that’s your role, but I don’t have time for abuse. I feel sorry for the young people today, they are on these social media platforms. I can switch off and my one follower doesn't get upset by it.

"For the young guys today, it’s part of their world. They seem to get some sort of enjoyment from it. I don’t understand it but they do. The fact that they’ve got to limit their world, close their world a little bit because of… I mean what kind of person writes abusive things to an individual?

"Criticism is one thing, exasperation at a game, you accept that. To sit down and write something abusive anonymously… say it in front of me, you’ll get a punch on the nose, you won’t do it again, mate. But they won’t do that. They’ll hide behind this… I hate that it’s normalised but unfortunately that’s the world we live in.

"When I look at Brennan I see a young man who is trying his hardest to be the best he can be. It doesn’t always guarantee success and it’s part of his journey how he deals with all this, but he’s a great kid, a great footballer and I’m very optimistic about what he's going to do for us."

Postecoglou is positive about his attacking options on the whole at Tottenham and the room for growth that his players have in that department.

"I think there is so much more upside. We’re nowhere near capacity in terms of the players we have there at the moment. Dom Solanke is an obvious one, Richy hasn’t even played yet. It’s fair to say Sonny has had a stop-start to the season. He hasn’t hit the consistent levels. The other guys like Brennan and Wilson [Odobert], I think there’s a lot of growth in there. Timo [Werner] hasn't had much of an opportunity," said the Tottenham boss.

"I look at our attacking midfield players, I think there’s massive upside in [Dejan] Kulusevski. I’m seeing more and more growth in him in that attacking midfield role. I definitely think there is capacity to improve there in that area, for sure, 100 per cent.

“Dom and even Richy, just having a focal point up there, that’s the reason we signed him, is going to make a big difference to us in that area. I think we have at present enough there to overcome the deficiencies we have at the moment through more a lack of fluency and cohesion in that front third. We just haven’t been able to nail on a formation there that will give us some consistency."

Much has been made of Postecoglou's exasperated interview with Sky Sports after Sunday's defeat in which he made it clear after being asked about his record of winning trophies in his second season at clubs that he was looking to do so at Tottenham as well.

It was put to the Australian on Tuesday that his candid statement might have heaped unnecessary pressure on him and the team to deliver, especially with a potential banana skin of a Carabao Cup third round fixture at Coventry City on Wednesday night.

"By stating a fact? I’m not sure. What did I do, did I unfurl banners and get a band out?" he asked. "Am I supposed to say that’s not really relevant or that doesn’t really count or that’s not really important? Because it is to me. That’s what I’ve got to rely on, that in my 26 years of managing I’ve had success and most of that has come in the second year, not all of it. Sometimes it’s happened in the first year, sometimes in the third year.

"I rely on that. It’s something I’ve achieved. If by the end of your career you’ve won a couple of Pulitzers mate, and somebody asks you about winning a Pulitzer, would you say, ‘Well it’s not really that important’? I don’t see why that puts extra pressure. It doesn’t put extra pressure on me because I love the fact that I’ve done that. It’s what I want to do here.

"I’d like to think that just saying the truth is the way to go forward, but I think sometimes that’s too confronting for people. They’d much rather I didn’t."

Postecoglou was asked whether by using that standard he sets himself will it be a failure in his mind if he does not win a trophy at Tottenham this season?

"Yes. I failed last year in my head because that’s how I’m geared. I think I’ve made it pretty clear what my expectations are, but that doesn’t mean that I stop, that just fuels the fire of 'Why didn’t I do it? Why didn’t we achieve last year? Why didn’t we win something last year?'" he said.

"That gets me going for this year and this year it’s about progress. That’s been my whole career, that’s my foundation. That’s why I’m sitting here. There’s no other way I could have got here. No chance in any universe I could have got here from Australia and been sitting here answering questions at one of the biggest clubs in the world and the best competition in the world if I didn’t have some sort of self belief based on something of substance. I was never going to get here with my charm and good looks."

So by that logic everyone else can judge the Spurs boss by his own standards?

"Yeah. I’ve never tried to steer it another way. Have I ever downplayed anything since I’ve been here? So I’m willing to be measured against that, that means that I’m fair game. I’ve never said not to. Now, how you come to your summary at the end, that’s as much on you as it is me," he explained.

"You can make your assessment on just one thing or many things, but I’m happy to be judged against that standard because that’s my standard, that’s what I’ve done in the past and I don't want to dilute that because then I miss the opportunity to continue on the road I’ve been on. I have no problems with people using that as a yardstick.

"I will say we’re four games into a new season, it’s pretty early. I realised in Scotland, they’d rule me out after two games. They said it was all over in the year we won the double, so…I just find it…It’s just me, I’m going to be me. I’m just going to say these things the way I always have and I’m not going to change."

For a club like Tottenham that has been starved of silverware for what will be 17 years by the time this season's finals come around next year, perhaps it's not the worst thing to have a manager normalise that word that has hung instead like a weight around the team's neck over the years - trophies.

"Maybe, yeah, but it’s still me. I’m not putting it on, that’s the thing…I’ve never tried to do it as a tactic. I keep saying, it’s why I came here. I came here to try to win things for the club. I think that should be our measure and if we fall short of that then we’ve fallen short and we need to be better and improve," he said.

"That’s up to me, under my tenure, to try to achieve that, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with embracing that. Again, I’d be surprised if anyone could dig up something I’ve said where I’ve tried to downplay anything, even when we started well last year I said ‘look mate, if people want to dream about us winning things, let them go for it’.

"It’s just the way I’m wired, I think it’s the way forward and you need to embrace that if you want to become a successful club and not shy away from it. It’s easy to…not easy but if I said ‘this is going to take three or four years’, then yeah it would relieve pressure, but I don’t want to wait three or four years. This year's an opportunity and then if we do well this year, next year’s an opportunity. So that’s the way I think about it."

He added: "I just think there are plenty of reasons why we can’t be successful, so there’s no point focusing on those. There’s countless reasons why you can say this club won’t win something.

"I think I’ve always tried to focus on the way I see it, which is there are no impediments for us winning anything if we’re prepared to plan for it and be really bold in our approach to try and achieve that. I don’t think there’s anything limiting this club having success. I really don’t believe that. That’s why I’m here, but that doesn’t mean we’re ready for it now. It just means it’s what we should be striving for."

Postecoglou believes that it's his responsibility to deliver Tottenham the silverware that a club of its size should be holding aloft because 16 years is too long.

"In isolation yes, because with the fanbase we have, and we’ve seen clubs of similar stature win trophies in that time, it’s a long time, but in context, there was also a period of time when we got very close, and sometimes there are fine margins between success and failure, so when you’ve been at the doorstep of success it hasn’t been a total waste of 16 years," he said.

"We've built a stadium in that time, and it’s not just the money involved. It's disruptive, and other clubs who have been through a similar process found it doesn't gear you up to win trophies, so there is context to those 16 years.

“But if you are a supporter of this club, I would think you would look at it and say, 'Yes, it’s time'. That’s my responsibility and that’s why I’m in the chair - to try and change that, and to change that we need to try and change the way we approach things as well because, ultimately, if you keep doing the same thing, you’re going to get the same outcome."

That process begins on Wednesday evening with the trip to Coventry and all eyes will be on Postecoglou's line-up. He received plenty of criticism early in his tenure last year for making nine changes and exiting the Carabao Cup early following a penalty shoot-out defeat at Fulham.

"Fulham reached the semi-finals, which means they are a pretty good side, we were playing at their place and we lost on penalties," he said. "Hindsight is a beautiful thing, but we had an experienced line-up on the night and it's not as if I put kids out there.

"I didn’t dismiss that game, I didn’t underestimate that game and I didn’t go into it thinking it’s OK if we lose. We desperately wanted to win but it was early in the season with a brand-new squad and we still put out a strong line-up."

Postecoglou will be looking for his players to make amends this time around with a victory at their Championship hosts and push them along the path towards a potential long-awaited trophy.

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