Tottenham were given a scolding by manager Ange Postecoglou during their 4-3 win over a K-League XI on Wednesday.
With the game goalless after 25 minutes the Australian boss wasn’t happy with what he had seen from his players and let them know in a drinks break.
Postecoglou had named a strong side which featured captain Son Heung-min, Dejan Kulusevski and Ben Johnson as the front three.
“I’ve got one f***ing thing to say,” Postecoglou was caught on camera shouting at his players. “We go and have a crack, man for man.”
Postecoglou was asked about his rant after the game and claimed his priority was improving his players’ fitness.
“It was more just about making sure we kept pressing on, because with the conditions the way they are and the training load’s been pretty high, I didn’t want us to back off in that moment and really [wanted to] push to half-time just more for our fitness than anything else.
“We thought it was a good opportunity for us to push on and try to be even more aggressive than we had been up to that point. ”
Yang Min-hyeok – who will join Tottenham in January having agreed a £3.5m move – was playing for the K-League XI, and Postecoglou was asked for his take on the 18-year-old’s display.
Postecoglou said: “Yeah, look, you know, there’s a game of football tonight. I was focused on our players, so I wasn’t really following the opposition players. When he comes in, in January, we’ll have plenty of time to look at him.
“I think what’s important now is that we’ve made the announcement and he concentrates on his club football here in Korea, finishes his season strong. He’s had an outstanding season so far and then when he gets to us, he’ll have plenty of time and plenty of opportunity to show us what he can do and we’ll help him with that process.”
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New signings Lucas Bergval and Archie Gray joined Pape Matar Sarr in midfield and Postecoglou believes the three young stars will be “very good footballers” for Spurs.
“Yeah, I thought it worked ok. Obviously they are three very young players in that midfield set up and as you said, the first time they had played together. But yeah, for the most part I thought they handled it pretty well. I think Lucas found it tough physically. It’s a very demanding role in there and it’s going to take us a while to get him up to speed from a physical perspective, but you can see the quality he has when he’s on the ball.
“And Archie, he’s what he’s shown the whole time. He’s been very composed, he seems to understand the game really well and for the most part, I thought he was taking up the right positions. But again, physically I think we’re gonna have to build him up. I thought Pape’s running is just unbelievable. He’s a benchmark for us in that midfield area.
“So, yeah, I think the three of them – considering they’re so young and that’s the exciting bit – if we keep pushing them and improving them, they’re going to be very good footballers for us.”