Postecoglou clarifies decision to remove goal-kicks from Spurs' playing style - Paul Vegas

This season, Spurs have not resorted to long goal kicks, as Postecoglou's strategy emphasizes building up play from the back in a consistent manner.

He said ahead of today's clash with West Ham: "We might have played one or two longer but I won't second guess your research. It's part of the way we want to play our football. The shorter pass means you're going to start off with possession. We don't want to give away possession.

"The kind of team we are, we want to set things up so we have control of the game and the shorter pass guarantees that and from there you move your way forward.

"A big part of our build up play is to manipulate oppositions as much as we can as we move up the park rather than go long to a contested ball and hope we get the second ball. We're just not that kind of team. But within that context, there's enough variety there that we still make it difficult for teams to stop us from achieving that."