Tottenham head coach Ange Postecolgou is adamant his side do not have a problem with defending set pieces after his side fell to a North London Derby defeat.
Arsenal scored twice from corners in their 3-2 win against their deadly rivals amid a growing trend that has seen Spurs struggle at defending from dead ball situations.
Postecoglou, when asked in March, said he wasn’t planning to add a specialist set-piece coach to his staff – a role a number of clubs have looked to fill in recent years.
And asked about his side’s apparent difficulties with defending set plays, the Australian coach denied his team have a specific issue saying: ‘No, because it’s understanding where you are as a football team.
‘If I thought fixing defensive set pieces was the answer to us bridging the gap then I’d put all of my time and effort into that. But that’s not where we’re at.
Ange Postecoglou has insisted Tottenham do not have issues defending set pieces
Spurs conceded twice from corners in their 3-2 defeat by title-chasing arch rivals Arsenal
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‘For us it’s about focusing on the details of, not just set pieces, but a lot of moments in games where we don’t sense that you give good opposition the time and the space to do that are going to hurt you.
‘I don’t think it’s about one part of it, I think it’s a bigger, broader picture than that, but our defensive set pieces for those two were very poor.
‘But there’s a lot more than that to fix. It’s about now over the course of time getting from where we are to where we want to get to.
‘To do that we’re still not absolutely laser focused on the details, the small things that get you from where we are to become a team that contends.
‘Credit to Arsenal, they’re there now. They’re a team that does deal with the details well and we don’t.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (second from left) broke the deadlock after touching into his own net
Spurs’ dramatic loss dealt them a severe blow in their bid for Champions League qualification
‘What are those details? There are thousands. I’m not going to sit here but it’s the little details like you can’t give time and space to the opposition, you can’t make decisions or lose focus in any given moment.’
Tottenham were caught on the wrong end of a number of refereeing decisions during the game.
Leandro Trossard caught Dejan Kulusevski in the Arsenal box just seconds before Bukayo Saka doubled Arsenal’s lead, while Spurs also had a goal from Mick van de Ven disallowed for a tight offside call.
Postecoglou added: ‘It doesn’t matter how I saw it. What matters is what I’ve said all along, games are not refereed in the stadium any more.
‘They are refereed somewhere else and no one will convince me otherwise. It’s not even re-refereed, it’s refereed somewhere else. That’s why I don’t celebrate goals any more.
‘I wait for somebody down the road. I just don’t think referees in the stadium any more have that authority they used to make decisions. It’s a shame.’
