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Ange Postecoglou has promised Tottenham supporters they will take the game to Arsenal in Sunday\u2019s derby fixture.<\/p>\n
Spurs have won four of their five Premier League matches under the Australian, but the biggest test of this bold new era in N17 will occur this weekend at a ground where victories have been notoriously hard to achieve.<\/p>\n
Tottenham\u2019s last league success at the Emirates was in 2010, although the most underwhelming aspect of recent displays at Arsenal has been the lack of attacking imagination with Postecoglou\u2019s predecessors Antonio Conte, Nuno Espirito Santo and Jose Mourinho all favouring pragmatism in this match.<\/p>\n
There appears no chance of the current Spurs head coach employing a defensive approach and the 58-year-old is excited to watch how his young group cope in a fiery atmosphere against one of the division\u2019s best teams.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWhen I went into Champions League games with Celtic or went into World Cup games with Australia, people said I should have changed my approach and we got some pretty decent lessons along the way, but I just think that\u2019s the only way you can measure yourself,\u201d Postecoglou explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know if you want to be that kind of team? That\u2019s the question. If you want to be a team that challenges, you know you have to play that way irrespective of the opponent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no point not using a game like Sunday as a measure to see where we\u2019re at.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we shy away from it, don\u2019t play our football, manage to get a draw and survive the experience, what have we really learned? Apart from surviving 90 minutes of football? Nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe players already know that\u2019s what will be my message to them. We\u2019re going to go out and play our football.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we\u2019re short, we\u2019re short and we need to make it up. If we match them it\u2019s great isn\u2019t it (because) we know we have a long way to go and we\u2019ve already established ourselves and on the biggest occasions we\u2019ve shown we\u2019re prepared to play our football.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spurs have had a full week to prepare for the trip across north London, while Arsenal warmed up for Sunday with a 4-0 thrashing of PSV on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
PSV tried to aggressively press Mikel Arteta\u2019s side and were picked off to devastating effect on the Gunners return to the Champions League.<\/p>\n
It was put to Postecoglou that Arsenal would prefer an open match, but the Tottenham boss responded: \u201cI\u2019m not really bothered about what Arsenal want as a game. I\u2019m bothered about what we want as a game.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about us challenging ourselves to be the football team we want to be and the kind of progress we want to make is playing the football we\u2019ve started playing. It\u2019s as simple as that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the opposition may want or may not want becomes a moot point for us if we don\u2019t play our football. There\u2019s always natural adjustments during a game because of what the opposition do.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we\u2019ve started playing this way because it\u2019s how I believe we\u2019re going to be successful, not because I\u2019m trying to create something easy on the eye.\u201d<\/p>\n
We\u2019re going to go out and play our football. If we\u2019re short, we\u2019re short and we need to make it up<\/p>\n
Postecoglou acknowledged the inexperienced nature of his squad for this derby date with Guglielmo Vicario, Pedro Porro, Micky van de Ven, Destiny Udogie and James Maddison set to be involved in the fixture for the first time.<\/p>\n
Even Yves Bissouma and Pape Sarr have limited memories of playing for Tottenham against Arsenal but the ex-Celtic head coach says that all contributes towards Sunday being a crucial part of the group\u2019s journey.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThis is the experiences I want the guys to have and for us to have as a group to help us grow. It is the only way you grow.<\/p>\n
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\u201cYou don\u2019t grow by literally being in the shade. You need to stick your head up and see the sun and allow yourself to grow even if it means at times that experience isn\u2019t a great one because you can grow from that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a challenge for all of the group and us, but irrespective it won\u2019t stop our real intent to become this kind of football team whatever the outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n