A win for Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham against Manchester City this week could hand the Premier League title to Spurs’ arch rivals Arsenal. So be it, says the Australian, who has said not only is he seeking a win, he cannot understand why any Tottenham fans would want their team to lose.
Spurs host the Premier League champions on Tuesday (Wednesday 0500 AEST) with City currently one point behind Arsenal, who have already played their 37th game. Anything other than a City win and Arsenal will go into Sunday’s final round of matches, when they host Everton, leading the table.
Spurs also have the incentive of knowing a win will keep their own Champions League qualification hopes alive after Aston Villa were held by Liverpool on Monday night.
They would, though, need to beat Manchester City and, on Sunday, win at Sheffield United, and hope Villa lose at Crystal Palace.
Nevertheless, the prospect of helping Arsenal win the title has led to suggestions that some Spurs fans want to lose but Postecoglou said: “I understand rivalry. I was part of one of the biggest ones in the world in the last couple of years with Celtic and Rangers. But I will never understand if someone wants their own team to lose. That’s not what sport is about. It’s not what I love about the game.
“What I love more than anything in the game is the competitiveness, challenging yourself to beat someone and coming out successful. Anything outside of that it’s got nothing to do with sport. It’s got nothing to do with me.
“If other people want to treat it that way, that they get pleasure from other people’s misery, that’s not how I’ve lived my life and how I perceive my role.
“My role is to bring success to this football club and whatever proportion, whether it’s his two mates or 99 per cent of people you know, I know 100 per cent of Spurs supporters want us to win, be successful and win trophies.
He added: “You think the majority of our fans will want us to not win tomorrow night? I don’t see it that way. I think the majority of our fans will create the atmosphere they always create at our home games.
“We have an opportunity to measure ourselves against the best tomorrow night, a team that is consistently striving for honours. A team we want to try to emulate one day.
“The best way to do that is to measure yourself against them by being yourself. We will go out there tomorrow night, play our football and see where it takes us.
“Real success looks like trophies. Anything else in between, bragging rights, whatever it is, it is absolutely meaningless to me, to anyone involved with me. We have a game tomorrow we want to win.”
Source: PA
