Tottenham can become a fun factory, says Dejan Kulusevski

Dejan Kulusevski believes Ange Postecoglou’s fun football can bring more great results following Tottenham’s swashbuckling win against Manchester United.

A challenging year for everyone connected to Spurs was compounded on the eve of the season when star turn Harry Kane completed his much-discussed move to Bayern Munich.

Tottenham showed promise and resilience to draw 2-2 at Brentford the following day and this weekend summer appointment Postecoglou celebrated his first win since taking charge.

Plenty of contenders ‍

Vote for your Player of the Match from #TOTMUN now!

@HSBC_Sport

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) August 19, 2023

United started strongly but Spurs eventually kicked into gear, with Pape Sarr’s strike and a Lisandro Martinez own goal secured a thrilling 2-0 win at a rocking Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

“It was fantastic in the stadium today,” winger Kulusevski said. “Very, very good support from the fans.

“We want to make them happy and we are happy that we made them happy today.

“I think football has to be fun. That’s why we started playing and that’s when great results can come.

“So, it’s a great start to start having fun and then improve. Always have fun, then keep improving and we will be good.”

Kulusevski echoed Son Heung-min’s view on Postecoglou’s approach after the new captain said “it’s really, really fun” and “more enjoyable for the Spurs fans”.

Asked how his game has changed under the Australian, the Sweden international said: “A little bit, of course, because it’s more offensive.

“I don’t have to be more as a wing-back when we’re defending so I’m enjoying it a lot.

“I learn a lot of things every day. I like that because I’m still young, so it’s still good to go every day, to hear new things and keep improving.”

Kulusevski provided the cross that deflected into Sarr’s path for the opener on Saturday, but his wait for a goal stretches back to January’s 4-2 defeat Manchester City.

The 23-year-old’s goalless streak clearly frustrated the attacking midfielder, who says the whole Spurs squad need to chip in to help fill the void left by Kane.

“I had a good game, I just need to score,” Kulusevski said. “That’s all. “I just need to score and I try to find the right pass. I think that’s the only thing that’s missing in my game right now.

“We have to all do it and right now we’re doing it, everybody’s involved in the goal so that’s a good thing.

“The more people that score, we’re going to need that because we don’t have the 30 goals from Harry.

“He probably watched, yeah, for sure. We’re playing good. I think we’re doing the right thing every day but we’ve got to keep winning.

“Today we’re all happy about but tomorrow forget about it, keep improving and work harder.”

Spurs return to action at Bournemouth next Saturday lunchtime, while United will look to get back to winning ways against Nottingham Forest later that afternoon.

Skipper Bruno Fernandes held his hands up for a poor miss during a period of first half dominance for the Red Devils, who ultimately lost their way in north London.

“It’s about understanding what we did wrong in this game,” the Portuguese said.

“How we concede the goals, what we can do better, getting more ruthless when we are in front of the goal, understanding that we have to score that first goal.

“The meaning of the first goal, as the manager speaks so many times (about), and even more so now we’re at home.

“We know how it is with our fans there, they will be pushing for us.

“I think we have to understand that we’re in a good position still, it’s the beginning of the season.

“Obviously we don’t want to lose points straight away but we did and there’s nothing that we can do now apart from going into the next game and get the three points.”