Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs open Premier League season with draw at Brentford

Ange Postecoglou has described his first Premier League game in charge of Tottenham as a “good starting point”.

Ange Postecoglou acknowledges Tottenham fans after the draw with Brentford. Picture: Julian Finney/Getty Images

Ange Postecoglou praised Tottenham’s “resilience” but demanded improvement from his Spurs side after having to settle for a 2-2 away draw with Brentford in his English Premier League managerial debut.

Tottenham led 1-0 from an early Cristian Romero header, but then trailed 2-1 before grabbing an equaliser in first-half stoppage time through Emerson Royal.

It was a rollercoaster ride for Postecoglou on the back of a turbulent week following the departure of star striker Harry Kane, who left Spurs to join German giants Bayern Munich.

Romero was forced off immediately after he scored with a head knock, while Brentford’s goals came from a Bryan Mbeumo penalty that was only awarded after VAR intervention and a Yoane Wissa shot that took a telling deflection off Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven.

Ange Postecoglou (right) thanks Tottenham fans after the 2-2 draw with Brentford. Picture: Justin Tallis / AFP

“There was a fair bit going on in the first half and it would have been easy for the lads to lose their composure, drop their heads, but I thought they handled themselves really well,” former Socceroos coach Postecoglou told SpursPlay.

“We controlled the game well in the second half, but we just lacked a bit of a threat in the final third, a little bit of creativity, but considering everything that happened, overall, I thought it was a good performance.

“It’s the first game of the season. Whatever we did we know we’ll improve (on). We’ll have to improve from here, but it’s a good starting point.

“We showed a real resilience that we’re going to need because it’s going to be a challenging year for sure.”

Postecoglou said he didn’t feel the need to address Kane’s departure with his players.

“Football clubs move on pretty quickly. I haven’t needed to give them a warm fuzzy cuddle just to see how they are,” he said.

“We had a game to prepare for and they knew that. If it felt like we were distracted, I was distracted or anyone else, I think you would have seen evidence of it (against Brentford), particularly after that first half and the way it went.”

Spurs are back in action next Sunday morning (AEST) with a home game against Manchester United.

Originally published as Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs open Premier League season with draw at Brentford