Tottenham forward slammed for underperformance - by his own manager

Ange Postecoglou pulled no punches when addressing the media after Tottenham Hotspur's 1-1 draw with Rangers in the Europa League, singling out Timo Werner for not "playing at anywhere near the level he should be".

The German forward, on loan at Spurs for a second time from RB Leipzig, was taken off at half-time after completing just 69% of his attempted passes at Ibrox, many of which were the result of questionable decision making.

Werner has scored just once in 19 appearances across all competitions this season, and his latest display saw Postecoglou openly - and uncharacteristically - criticise him as Spurs failed to pick up what would have been a hugely important win away from home.

"He wasn’t playing at anywhere near the level he should be," Postecoglou sombrely admitted. "Timo's first-half performance was not acceptable to me. I told Timo that he's a German international, that I need everyone to be trying to give their best and this wasn’t an acceptable example. I expect a lot more from the senior guys.

On Spurs' performance overall, Postecoglou continued: "But we weren't anywhere near our best, I think it's fair to say that we're in a period of games that we’re grinding through at the moment. But in the context of where we are in Europe and with our squad fairly depleted by injuries it was an important point.

"Rangers are difficult to play against, especially here at Ibrox on European nights. With the nature of the competition and the atmosphere, not many teams can come here and win so you expect a tough game. It was a tough, tight game for us and I thought we did well to claw it back after Rangers took the lead."

The share of the spoils leaves Tottenham ninth in the Europa League league phase standings, having taken 11 points from the six games they've played. The Lilywhites are one point and two places behind Manchester United, who picked up an important 2-1 win over Viktoria Plzen, and five points off the pace set by table-toppers Lazio.

READ THE LATEST TOTTENHAM NEWS, TRANSFER RUMOURS & GOSSIP