Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou defended his comment about "always" winning trophies in his second season after their defeat to Arsenal last weekend.
Despite Arsenal missing several of their key players, Spurs were undone in familiar fashion as Gabriel Magalhaes nodded home from a set-piece to secure the North London bragging rights.
Spurs last won a title back in 2008 in the League Cup and currently occupy 13th in the early-season standings, having picked up four points from their first four Premier League games.
Postecoglou was left confused and amazed by the negative reaction to his comments and is still confident that he can lead Spurs to a trophy this season.
"It's amazing, isn't it? I just stated a fact. Am I supposed to just lie or just say it never happened,” Postecoglou said. “But do you really think it's me sort of boasting? It's just confusing to me that people are making a big deal out of something. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to answer something that is true.
"I've just said something that's true, and it seems like it's upset a lot of people for some reason. In my 26 years of managing, I’ve had success and most of that has come in the second year, not all of it. Sometimes it’s happened in the first year, sometimes in the third year.
“I don’t see why that puts extra pressure. It doesn’t put extra pressure on me because I love the fact that I’ve done that. It’s what I want to do here.
“I’d like to think that just saying the truth is the way to go forward but I think sometimes that’s too confronting for people, they’d much rather I didn’t."
Brentford, meanwhile, were involved in Carabao Cup action in midweek and booked their place in the next round with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Leyton Orient.
Fabio Carvalho starred for the Bees, notching a goal and two assists as he continues to find his feet under Thomas Frank since his move from Liverpool during the transfer window.
Frank was pleased his side were able to avoid an early exit from the competition, saying the level his players reached on Tuesday is something they must maintain if they are to return to winning ways in the league.
“It’s job done. I’ve said it many times: we want to go on a cup run, we want to go as far as possible and potentially win it - we know it’s difficult but that’s the aim,” Frank said.
“In these games, I need to find the perfect balance between putting a strong team out there, the mix of freshness but also with the game on Saturday in mind, and then also using the squad, because players need that to develop and also want to be included.
“We hit the level today; credit to Leyton Orient, they did well in the first 20 minutes, we didn’t get enough control, but then we got our goal, and from there we were in control.
“3-1 ahead at half-time; second half, I wanted us to be even more on top, but it’s not easy, they gave everything. But I'm pleased."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Tottenham – Pedro Porro
Only Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White (11) has created more open play chances in the Premier League this season than Tottenham’s Pedro Porro (10).
The Portugal international is the only player to have created four or more open play chances in two different games this season (four against both Leicester and Arsenal).
Brentford – Mark Flekken
Flekken has made 22 saves in four Premier League matches this season, six more than any other goalkeeper, and he may be needed once again in North London.
Since 2003-04, only one goalkeeper has ever made more saves in a team’s first four games in a season – Tim Krul for Newcastle in 2015-16 (23).
MATCH PREDICTION: TOTTENHAM WIN
Many say the first goal is the most important one, but that has not proved to be the case in this fixture. The team scoring first has won none of the last four Premier League meetings between Tottenham and Brentford (D2 L2).
Spurs have won just four points in the Premier League this season (W1 D1 L2), their fewest at this stage since 2015-16 (3). They haven’t lost three of their opening five games since 2008-09 under Juande Ramos, who left the club eight winless games into that season.
The hosts will also need to improve from set-pieces. Only Nottingham Forest (27) have conceded more set-piece goals (incl. penalties) in the Premier League since the start of last season than Tottenham (25).
Among all managers who’ve conceded more than 50 goals in Premier League history, only four have a higher percentage of goals conceded via set pieces than Ange Postecoglou (25/65, 38.5%).
Brentford have also won just one of their six Premier League meetings with Tottenham (D3 L2) and have struggled away from home, losing 12 of their last 16 matches away from the Gtech Community Stadium.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Tottenham – 58.8%
Draw – 20.5%
Brentford – 20.6%
Tottenham 3-0 Qarabag: Postecoglou's side win Europa League opener despite early red card
Ten-man Tottenham recovered from an early setback to start their Europa League campaign with a commanding 3-0 victory over Qarabag.
Despite Radu Dragusin's early red card, goals from Brennan Johnson, Pape Sarr and Dominic Solanke helped Ange Postecoglou's side to a third straight win in all competitions.
Just seven minutes had elapsed when the hosts were reduced to 10 men as last-man Dragusin dragged down Juninho after he was caught in possession.
However, Spurs responded brilliantly to take the lead just five minutes later, with Solanke stealing possession and feeding Johnson, who applied a neat first-time finish.
The hosts survived a scare before the break when Juninho steered wide from Elvin Cafarquliyev's cross but doubled their advantage seven minutes after the restart when Mateusz Kochalski helped a corner into the path of Sarr, who instinctively volleyed home.
Qarabag squandered a great opportunity to halve the deficit just before the hour mark when Toral Bayramov's penalty hit the crossbar after Yves Bissouma tripped Cafarquliyev.
Tottenham capitalised in the 68th minute as Kochalski parried Son's shot into Solanke's path and he put the game beyond the visitors, who were denied a consolation later on when Juninho's header was disallowed for offside.
Data Debrief: Spurs soar despite Dragusin's historic early bath
It had the potential to be a difficult night for Tottenham when Dragusin was shown a straight red card - Spurs' earliest in a major European match.
The defender also became the first Tottenham player to be sent off on his European debut.
Spurs recovered to take control of the contest, though they survived a scare when Bayramov hit the bar with Qarabag's first missed penalty in the Europa League after six consecutive successful kicks.
Napoli 5-0 Palermo: Five-star hosts cruise into Coppa Italia last 16
Cyril Ngonge scored twice in an electrifying performance, as Napoli breezed into the Coppa Italia last 16 with a crushing 5-0 win over Serie B Palermo on Thursday.
Ngonge struck first in the seventh minute with a left-footed drive that bounced in front of Salvatore Sirigu before squirming under his body into the net, leaving the goalkeeper shaking his head in disbelief.
Sirigu was at fault again five minutes later when Ngonge lashed another left-footer from a difficult angle, the ball flying across the face of the goal before nestling in the side netting to make it 2-0.
Palermo gave the hosts a scare as Matteo Brunori struck the post 29 minutes in, but Napoli were too big, too strong and too quick for their second-tier visitors, with Juan Jesus nodding home from a corner to make it 3-0 just before the break.
The visitors' hopes of a comeback were shattered when they were reduced to 10 men just before the hour mark. Aljosa Vasic was given a straight red card for dangerous play after catching Billy Gilmour in the face.
David Neres slotted home the fourth in the 70th minute, pressing to help win the ball back before coolly knocking into the net.
Scott McTominay then came off the bench to score with his first touch, rifling home a pass from fellow substitute Romelu Lukaku seven minutes later to complete the rout.
Data Debrief: A perfect performance
Conte's first game in charge was in the first round of this competition, and the Partenopei edged their way through with a penalty shootout win over Modena.
It was a totally different performance this time around though. They had 16 shots, seven of which were on target, accumulating just 1.55 expected goals.
Ngonge's part was perhaps the most impressive - he scored with both of his shots, with those chances equalling just 0.09 xG, though he just could not snatch a hat-trick in the second half to round off a brilliant game.
KC, JC, Excelsior all score heavily in Manning Cup wins
Kingston College, Jamaica College and Excelsior High all scored massive wins in ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup action on Wednesday.
KC hit seven past Meadowbrook High at Meadowbrook to remain atop Zone C with 13 points from five games.
Elsewhere in Zone C, Campion College dispatched Penwood 2-0 to draw level on 10 points with their opponents who are in second place on goal difference.
Jose Marti Technical edged Cumberland High 2-1 in the St. Catherine derby in the day’s other Zone C clash.
Zone F action saw leaders Jamaica College defeat Bridgeport High 9-0 with Giovanni Taylor bagging four goals as the standout performer. Excelsior High hammered Pembroke Hall 11-0 in the other game from the zone.
In Zone D, Vauxhall High grabbed a late equalizer to secure a 1-1 draw against Camperdown High to remain unbeaten this season.
STATHS displayed a vintage performance as they held firm to secure their third win of the season with a 1-0 victory versus Haile Selassie and remain top of the zone with 10 points from their four outings.
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