Timo Werner was the sole change from either side at half-time, and it turns out Ange Postecoglou made that change — bringing on Dejan Kulusevski for Tottenham — off the back of an “unacceptable” first 45 minutes from the German.
Here is Postecoglou, speaking about Werner in his post-match press conference:
💬 “He wasn’t playing anywhere near the level he should…When you’ve got 18-year-olds (playing), it’s not acceptable to me. I said that to Timo.
“He’s a senior international, a German international. 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.”
So how did Werner take that assessment and what was it down to?
💬 “Don’t really know. It’s not really of great concern. 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.”
GO FURTHER
Ange Postecoglou labels Timo Werner performance ‘not acceptable’ in draw with Rangers