Tottenham rival publicly calls out Ange Postecoglou tactic ahead of crunch reunion

Bodo/Glimt defender Fredrik Sjovold has taunted Tottenham’s players ahead of their trip to Norway next Thursday. Spurs will go into the Europa League semi-final second leg with a 3-1 lead and are clear favourites to progress through to a clash with either Athletic Club or Manchester United.

Ange Postecoglou’s side dominated for much of the night at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and led 2-0 at half-time thanks to goals from Brennan Johnson and James Maddison. Dominic Solanke’s penalty then appeared to make the tie safe for the hosts before things unravelled late on. Both Maddison and Solanke limped off before Ulrik Saltnes scored seven minutes from time to set up a nervy finale.

here was no further scoring, but the Saltnes strike gives Bodo/Glimt renewed hope for the return match next week. Tottenham’s trademark pressing game under Postecoglou also appeared disjointed in the latter stages, and Sjovold has cited that tactic as a reason why his side can overturn the deficit.

“I think their press will collapse pretty quickly,” the 21-year-old told VG. “Then we can cause trouble.”

Sjovold started at right-back on Thursday and struggled in the opening 45 minutes to deal with the threat of Maddison and Richarlison. However, his bullish comments underline the perception that Postecoglou’s side lacks game management.

Furthermore, the pressure is all on the visitors as they bid to salvage their season. Spurs lie 16th in the Premier League, with Europa League glory their only chance of salvaging silverware and European football for 2025/26.

Bodo/Glimt coach Kjetil Knutsen also made telling comments after his side’s defeat in north London, saying: “If you see when Tottenham conceded a goal, they were really disappointed.

“They lost energy and I think we got a lot of energy because of the goal. I think we can take the energy from this game into the next game. It’s totally different for us to play at home.”