Ange Postecoglou insists Tottenham can dispel negativity with Europa League triumph after fan anxiety in 3-1 semi-final first leg win over Bodo/Glimt

Postecoglou has sensed fans' anxiety at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at times during their Europa League run and the Australian believes the only cure for that is to win some silverware this season.

He told reporters: “People are their experiences and Tottenham supporters have had some real near misses for a long time. So there’s always this safeguard of not getting too excited about what’s happening, but part of creating a winning culture is not to fall into that trap. Winners don’t think about things in that way; they don’t think about what could possibly go wrong. I’ve said before that the narrative around the club is not positive at all. That’s existed for a very long time and you need to break through that. I’m trying to create a culture within the group at least that that can’t guide our destiny because that’s almost self-fulfilling. If you expect something to go wrong, it will. I don’t know if it’s a culture in the club; it’s a culture around the club. Obviously, if you accept that then you are almost self-prophesying what’s going to happen. I don’t accept that. But with all of these things, there’s really only one remedy: win. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

When asked if he could control what went on outside the squad, he replied: “No, I can’t control it. It’s fair to say I’ve tried but it’s a losing battle because there’s a lot of stuff that feeds into that and people invariably react to it. If you’re feeling insecure about something and you’ve got 20 people telling you that you should be insecure, you’re going to be insecure. So I can’t change that. You’ve got to stay very focused on what you can control and we can’t control how people feel, we can’t control the anxiety of … whether it’s our supporters or whatever narrative is around us. What we can control is our behaviours and our performance.”

Tottenham seemingly have one foot in the Europa League final after a 3-1 first-leg home win over Bodo/Glimt on Thursday. However, they held an advantage in the Carabao Cup semi-finals against Liverpool before being ripped apart in the second-leg earlier this year. Spurs are aiming for their first trophy in 17 years, something that could save Postecoglou's job.

Before that semi-final clash at Bodo/Glimt, Tottenham take on local rivals West Ham in the Premier League on Sunday.