Postecoglou tells bickering players to ‘get into UFC cage’

‘They should get in a UFC cage’ – Postecoglou angry over player spats in 3-2 Brentford win

Transcript

00:00 I'm not a fan of it. I don't like the whole bravado, pushing people around. If they're

00:09 that brave about things, my players and their players get into a UFC cage and I'll see how

00:13 brave they are. We're out there to play football and that's what I want our guys to do, focus

00:18 on playing football. They shouldn't get motivated by things that aren't really that important

00:23 to us. Like I said, we got sucked in the first half, but the second half was much better.

00:27 There were just too many stops, starts and it kind of plays into their hands. A lot of

00:35 set pieces and throw-ins. We spent more time talking to the referee than playing the game.

00:40 I was just a bit frustrated that we lost real clear focus. The second half, I think 25 minutes,

00:48 30 minutes were outstanding. We scored three goals and probably should have had a couple

00:52 more and then sort of give the goal away, which gives them a little bit of impetus in

00:55 the game. Again, after that, it was a lot of stop, free kicks, throw-ins, which we had

01:01 to deal with. I thought for the large part we dealt with okay. In the end, from our perspective,

01:07 I think great character shown by the lads to get a win.

01:11 He's probably one of the guilty ones. I think he spent more time chatting to the ref in

01:19 the first half and getting on the ball. That's not what we want him to do. We want him to

01:23 play football. I thought in the second half again, his quality shone through. When he's

01:30 like that, as he is, and I'm sure that game will do him the world of good, it just gives

01:36 us so much more creative flow through that central area.

01:38 We've been there abouts the whole season. It's nothing different for us. As I said,

01:49 I think there's still a lot of growth in this team. Nights like tonight, nights like

01:56 Friday night, it just shows me that we've still got a long way to go. Within that context,

02:02 the fact that this team still produces and gets results, I think is a credit to them.

02:08 We need to keep improving in a whole lot of areas. It's good some guys got some game

02:13 time tonight. Pape will be back today, which is good for us. It's good for Raddy to get

02:20 some time. I think it's a short turnaround. We've probably got the shortest turnaround

02:23 playing 12.30 on Saturday. We're going to need some fresh bodies. It's going to be a

02:29 tough game, so I'm looking forward to it.

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