Ange Postecoglou says even in-form Liverpool ahead Mohamed Salah would discover life a battle for the time being within the Tottenham crew he manages.
Spurs are set to face the Reds within the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final on Wednesday (20:00 GMT), throughout a tough run of type.
Tottenham have misplaced three and drawn certainly one of their previous 4 matches, together with a 6-3 Premier League defeat by Liverpool on 22 December.
Egypt worldwide Salah scored twice in that recreation and has netted 21 objectives from 27 appearances in all competitions throughout a very eye-catching marketing campaign.
Nonetheless, under-pressure Postecoglou believes even having an “unbelievable participant” in Salah at his disposal would have achieved little to enhance their fortunes.
“Mo is a world-class participant, however if you happen to put him in our crew now I am unsure he’ll have that very same degree of efficiency due to the state of affairs we’re in as a gaggle,” mentioned the Spurs boss.
“His attacking play, who do you want? You want a crew that is sort of in good type, creating alternatives, enjoying on the entrance foot, having a extremely stable basis of a defence that’s cohesive. None of this stuff exist for the time being.”
Spurs head into the match towards Arne Slot’s aspect with the information that captain Son Heung-min will keep on the membership till at the very least the summer time of 2026 after activating an choice to increase his contract.
Son has scored 169 occasions in 431 Spurs appearances, together with seven objectives in all competitions this season.
Postecoglou felt the South Korean’s type doesn’t mirror his true capacity in comparison with fellow 32-year-old Salah.
“You have all the time obtained to offer context. He [Salah] is enjoying in a improbable crew which might be flying for the time being,” he defined.
“I might hazard to say that if you happen to put Son Heung-min in Liverpool’s crew, I reckon his goalscoring return could be first rate. It is onerous for our gamers for the time being, they’re making an attempt awfully onerous to be the most effective they are often.
“However once we’re at our greatest, I nonetheless suppose you may see Sonny’s return, by way of his capacity to attain objectives and be actually efficient for us. I do not suppose that is diminished in any respect.”