I can’t take them all along with me

ANGE Postecoglou has warned his Tottenham players they will not all be joining him on the road to success. Spurs could lose four games on the bounce when they take on Liverpool at Anfield after Thursday’s defeat at Chelsea.

But Postecoglou says you only have to look at Jurgen Klopp’s blueprint for success to see what is needed at White Hart Lane.

“I’ve got to change this squad, I have to,” said the Tottenham boss. “Because I’ve got to build a squad I think can play our football.

“For that to happen, there has to be exits. I can’t just keep everyone here and keep bringing in players.

“So sometimes you let people go who you think, ‘He’s a good player’. But how am I going to change if I don’t do that?

Success

“If you’re really going to build for success, you need to go through tough times.

“You need to understand who deals with it well? Who doesn’t deal with it well.

“All those kind of things reveal themselves.

“Whether it’s Liverpool or Arsenal, if you look at the beginning of their journeys, by the time they have success, the team’s almost unrecognisable.”

Postecoglou saw that first-hand having come to the UK to watch Liverpool beat Stoke City on St Stephen’s Day 2016.

Klopp’s team that day included players like Nathaniel Clyne, Dejan Lovren and Ragnar Klavan, while Divock Origi started up front.

“I came over with the family and I took my oldest son to Anfield to watch Liverpool,” said Postecoglou.

“It was just at the beginning of that building phase and, to be fair, they hadn’t done anything significant up until that point.

“But there was a real energy in the stadium around Jurgen.

“And I think the whole club, the supporters, everyone had bought into him. I felt that in the stadium.

“For the most part, for most successful clubs, that’s the kind of formula.

“I really feel like the club has bought into the vision I have and it’s up to me to maintain that.

Change

“Change has to happen. You can’t want to alter your course and expect the same people are going to be on that.

“We’ve had two windows. We’ve had some development of players. But when I say we’ve still got a long way to go, that’s what I’m talking about.”

Asked whether he thinks this Spurs squad is ready to win trophies, he said: “It’s obvious we’re not right now because we haven’t.

“Will we be ready in 12 months time? That’s the challenge I’ve got.

“What I keep trying to emphasise is that for a club like this, wherever you think you are in your rebuilding cycle, you have to try and win something every year.

“I can’t sit here and say we’re going to finish 4th, 5th, 6th and then in the third of fourth year we’re going to win something. I’m not built that way.

“I want to win things all the time. We start next year trying to have success. But the underlying thing is growth. We’ve got to have growth.”