'Most useless statistic in world football' - Ange Postecoglou goes on bizarre rant ahead of Tottenham's clash with Man City

The Australian was asked about Spurs forward Dane Scarlett's recent contribution for the first-team, where he has scored a goal and bagged two assists in all competitions. Postecoglou praised the 20-year-old's perseverance after some difficult loan spells at Portsmouth, Ipswich Town, and Oxford United; but then greatly downplayed the importance of assist-making.

He told reporters: "Dane, like you said, he's had a couple of difficult loans and that's part of the process as well for him. We were just talking about Djed [Spence], who had three difficult loans, so some of it is just perseverance and keep working hard and waiting for your opportunity. He has done well for us. I said when he came back, he wasn't in the greatest physical condition and he's working hard on that and hopefully he gets more opportunities. As an aside, I've got to say the assist is the most useless statistic in world football. Seriously, it could come off your backside, fall to somebody on the halfway line he scores, and it's an assist. So it doesn't impress me, but Dane's assist at the weekend was a good one."

Aside from Scarlett and the importance of assists as a statistic, Tottenham are aiming to win a fourth-straight Premier League game as they try to close the gap on the top 10. They host a City side who will be smarting from their 2-0 loss to Liverpool last time out. Postecoglou is seemingly one bad result from being under pressure so he will hope for another win this time out.

Tottenham, who sit 12th in the division, host fourth-placed City at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Wednesday night. It remains to be seen if Scarlett will feature.