Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has claimed that his comments on Timo Werner's performance against Rangers were an "assessment", not a criticism of the player.

The Spurs boss substituted Werner at half-time of the draw against Rangers with the scores level at 0-0, and when asked after the game by football.london whether it was a tactical decision, Postecoglou said Werner's performance was "not acceptable".

"Yeah, yeah, he wasn’t playing anywhere near the level he should," Postecoglou said after the game. "Absolutely [we need more from him]. When you’ve got 18-year-olds it’s not acceptable to me. I said that to Timo.

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"He’s a senior international, he’s a German 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.

"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."

Understandably in a press conference around 12 hours later, the topic came up again. However, Postecoglou disputed whether his comments amounted to criticism, stating it was merely an assessment of the performance.

And the Tottenham manager admitted that his side were in a fight given the current circumstances surrounding the team, adding that if players aren't able to give extra effort, they may not be the right type of player for Spurs.

Asked whether he regrets criticising Werner in such a public nature, Postecoglou replied: "No, it wasn't criticism. It was assessment.

"If we played poorly, we played poorly. With Timo it wasn't about whether he played well or not. It was a difficult game last night. I'm asking 18-year-olds to do difficult jobs. He's an international, he's won the Champions League, he's a senior player. There's a level of application you need to rise to, to raise the team. He didn't reach that.

"It's just an assessment of his performance. On a really challenging night for us - which we knew going into it - he needs to be better.

"We're in a fight here. I'm not going to go away worrying about people's bruised egos. We're here to win things. If there's somebody in the dressing room who's fit who feels he needs something extra in this moment, he's probably not the right type. I'm not going to go around trying to get extra out of people. If they're not able to give extra now, it probably says something of the type."

He added: "Criticism is saying something that's not really helpful. Assessment is trying to give people feedback to try to make them better and give people the opportunity to improve.

"Timo is not where our season is at. It's not about Timo. It's not about bringing somebody down and blaming somebody. We've got a limited number of players. It's a great challenge. I want people who are up for that challenge."

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