The seven-word message Ange Postecoglou told his Tottenham players after Brentford win
Ange Postecoglou has revealed that he told his Tottenham players "it's exactly who we want to be" following their brilliant 3-1 win over Brentford. After a mixed start to the campaign with the team going into Saturday's game with one win to their name from their first four league fixtures, Spurs made the worst possible start to proceedings with Bryan Mbeumo scoring inside the first 25 seconds of the contest.
Despite the early blow, Spurs responded well and went in at the break 2-1 up after goals from Dominic Solanke and Brennan Johnson. James Maddison then ensured the hosts claimed all three points late on as he scored Tottenham's third of the afternoon.
Amid their early season struggles, Postecoglou loved what he saw from his team in their win over Brentford.
"Yeah I thought it was fun, it was exciting" he told SPURSPLAY after the game. "I said to the lads after the game that it's exactly who we want to be.
"Obviously we kind of kept them in the game by not sort of getting that third goal but it had a little bit of everything. We needed Vic a couple of times so he contributes, everyone contributes to the game, but really pleased for the lads.
"Obviously not an ideal start but it was almost like it never happened. The boys got on with it and didn't let it affect them at all and really pleased for them."
READ MORE: Tottenham player ratings vs Brentford with James Maddison magic after Solanke and Johnson score
READ MORE: Postecoglou says Brennan Johnson critics 'would be looking for a change of pants pretty quickly'
He added: "Our pressing was unbelievable and our general play in that front third was really, really good today. The boys had a real clear focus on ways we could get through them and create opportunities for ourselves. We scored three great goals and definitely should add more but overall really pleased."
Having to answer questions about Solanke on the eve of the game after failing to score in his first three Tottenham appearances, Postecoglou hailed his frontman for not only scoring but delivering an impressive performance.
"Yeah, I mean, again Dom's still working his way to match fitness," he said in his post-match press conference. "You saw at the end there, he was out of gas. We wanted to take him off a bit earlier, but we needed that third goal to kill the game off.
"But he was good again, I think he's been good in every game he's played for us, and as you said, strikers love scoring goals and, yeah, a great moment for him to score his first goal for the club, particularly at home. But aside from that, again it was a really strong performance by him.
"I thought he led the line really well, important for us today as a link up there because we knew they'd go pretty aggressive on a man-to-man marking and he was going to have to hold the ball up for us and I thought he did that really well."
Listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham! Click here for in depth Spurs chat on your preferred podcast platform.
Want breaking and top Tottenham stories sent straight to you? Join our Spurs WhatsApp community by clicking this link. If you're curious you can check out our privacy policy here.