Spurs 5-1 Shakhtar Donetsk | Ange's verdict: “We showed that when we’re at it, we’ll be a compelling team”

Ange Postecoglou gave us a glimpse of the levels of performance he’s aspiring to from the squad after our 5-1 win against Shakhtar Donetsk on Sunday.

As the scoreline suggests, it was a dominant display in Ange’s first game as Head Coach at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium - 32 efforts at goal (taking us over 100 in three pre-season matches), 680 passes, 67% possession and a sizzling second half show taking the score from 1-1 to 5-1.

Ange felt some of the football on show in the second half showed we’d be a ‘compelling team’, but it’s fair to say he was less than impressed with a spell at the end of the first half where the Ukraine champions levelled Harry Kane’s opening goal via Kevin Kelsy’s header to go in 1-1 at half-time.

Speaking live and exclusive from pitchside on our matchday show on SPURSPLAY, Ange was asked about the performance. “It was okay,” he said. “There were elements of it I wasn’t happy with, particularly in the last five minutes of the first half.

“Look, that’s not on the players. That’s still on me. We’re working on a way to play, and I felt in the last five minutes, we were trying to play to half-time, and that’s just not part of who we are. That’s up to me to get the belief into the players that we can’t take that approach. If we want to be this kind of team, we have to be this kind of team all the time, forget the scoreboard, forget how much time is left, just keep being relentless.

“It was a great response from the lads in the second half. They showed that when we’re at it like that, we’ll be a compelling team. But, that little five-minute spell showed me we’ve still a long way to go.”

Ange spoke about the ‘intent’ of the players in the second half as Harry completed a hat-trick and then took his tally to four goals before Dane Scarlett’s fine finish in added time made it 5-1.

“The intent is there,” he added. “The players are trying to put in place everything we’re talking about, everything we’re working on. The second half was much better, we played the game in the opposition’s half, we didn’t let them get out.

“They tired a little, because when you play high-tempo football, it puts pressure on the opposition, and we need to understand that when we try to take a breather, we’re giving the opposition a breather as well. We don’t want to do that.”

As for his first experience of his new home - as we welcomed over 56,000 fans in a match dedicated to the people of Ukraine - Ange told us: “It was nice. I hadn’t been at the stadium before today. I purposely stayed away, I wanted to experience it on a matchday. What a great turn out, 56 thousand for a friendly game, for a great cause and a great atmosphere.”