Ange Postecoglou has castigated Timo Werner’s first-half performance for Tottenham Hotspur against Rangers as “not acceptable” after taking him off at half-time.
Werner started at Ibrox but made no impact on the game, lost the ball repeatedly, and was withdrawn for Dejan Kulusevski at the interval. Kulusevski went on to score the second-half equaliser.
Postecoglou was brutally honest about Werner’s performance in his post-match press conference, saying that was not “anywhere near” the expected level. Postecoglou revealed he told Werner what he thought of his performance, and that he was especially disappointed given Spurs’ reliance on teenagers Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall.
“He wasn’t playing anywhere near the level he should,” Postecoglou said, when asked why he had withdrawn Werner at the break.
When asked whether he needed more from the Germany international, Postecoglou agreed. “When you’ve got 18-year-olds, it’s not acceptable to me,” he said.
“I said that to Timo. He’s a senior international, he’s a Germany international. In the moment we’re in right now, it’s not like we’ve got many options. I need everyone to at least be going out there trying to give the best of themselves. His performance in the first half wasn’t acceptable.”
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Spurs currently have Richarlison and Wilson Odobert out with hamstring injuries and Mikey Moore out with illness, leaving them short on attacking options. Werner has only scored once this season and has not made an impact in recent weeks.
“It’s not really of great concern,” Postecoglou said when asked to explain Werner’s poor performance. “We need everybody including him to be contributing. Because we don’t have the depth to leave people out if they’re performing poorly. We need them to play their part. Especially the senior guys. When I’m asking younger guys to do massive jobs. I expect a level of performance from some of the senior guys. And today wasn’t that.”
Postecoglou has traditionally defended his players in public even after poor performances. This criticism of Werner was most critical Postecoglou has ever been of one of his Spurs players.
Postecoglou’s side are now five games without a win and the point leaves them ninth in the Europa League table, just outside the top eight who qualify for the last 16 without needing to go through a playoff round.
Tottenham are next in action against Southampton in the Premier League on Sunday. They are 11th in the table, three points behind 10th-placed Fulham.
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