Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has called on his players to be more ‘ruthless’ if they wish to close the gap on the Premier League’s top teams.
Spurs were held to a 1-1 draw against Leicester at the King Power Stadium on Monday night in a game they had 71 per cent possession in.
The north Londoners had ten shots in the first half – more than any other side managed across the opening weekend of the top-flight campaign.
While Pedro Porro broke the deadlock, Spurs should have went into the break at least two or three goals to the good.
But the visitors failed to make their dominance count, resulting in Jamie Vardy equalising in the 57th minute with the Foxes’ first shot on target.
And Tottenham failed to get themselves back ahead, with Spurs now failing to beat a newly-promoted side for the first time under Postecoglou.
The Australian, who was spotted looking despondent on the team bus, conceded that his side will fail to reach the next level unless they improve on their decision making.
Speaking to talkSPORT’s Sam Matterface, Postecoglou said: “I thought we started the second half well, I think for 15 minutes we were on top.
“We were just really wasteful in front of goal, we just didn’t take the opportunities.
“We weren’t clinical enough, we made some poor decisions, we lacked composure in and around the box.
“And in a game of football, it’s always a danger that the opposition will go up once and score and that’s exactly what happened.
“They get a bit of momentum from that and we lost a bit of composure and finished strong.
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“But like I said, you can’t keep giving up chances like we did tonight and hope to get a better outcome.”
And Postecoglou then insisted that Spurs’ attractive style of play counts for nothing unless they claim all three points.
He stated: “You play that football for an outcome, you don’t just play it to look nice.
“If we’re going to go to the next level as a club, then as a team we need to have that [cutting edge].
“There were times last year where we were very similar, we kept oppositions in the game because they just weren’t ruthless enough with our decision making in the front third.
“We need to be better, our football will take us so far, but if we want to bridge a gap with the top teams, then we need to be more decisive.”
He concluded: “I can’t fault the performance of the players.
“But at the same time, as a team, when you don’t get the result you want, you’ve got to take that as a collective disappointment.”
Postecoglou will be hoping for a better result on Saturday when Spurs welcome bottom of the table Everton to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
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