Ange Postecolgou is hopeful that Tottenham Hotspur can finish the season stronger than they have started, now that key stars are set to return from injury while the players are now better accustomed to his system.
If you had told Spurs fans at the start of the season that the club would be sitting just six points off the top of the table after 20 Premier League games, they would have bitten your hands off.
The Lilywhites not only lost Harry Kane ahead of the season but also ripped up the playbook and starting afresh, with Postecoglou bringing a completely different philosophy to the one the club had been used to in previous years.
In addition, Tottenham have also been one of the worst-hit sides with injuries across the Premier League but have still maintained a high standard of performance.
When asked if the way Spurs have dealt with those challenges bodes well for the coming months, Postecoglou told Football.London: “It does excite me. Look, that has to be the objective [to be better] and the aim and we’ve got to take every opportunity we have to get stronger. Part of that process is just a trust thing, they have obviously invested in me, you can only gain that trust over a period of time and after doing certain things.
“The club itself probably took a lot of comfort from our summer window knowing they got their business right there and going into this window, saying you want to work quickly, there’s a leap of faith there which the club has to have in me and what I’m doing.
“I think the first part of the season has helped that and hopefully that keeps accelerating because hopefully it can accelerate our work and where we want to get to. All things being equal, we’ve had some rotten luck with injuries, Bentancur, Maddison and suspensions which are our own fault but all these things we have to overcome, but with the conditions we’ve overcome, with the conditions we’ve made, we certainly we feel we can finish the season stronger than we started.”
When asked if he has set any particular targets for his side, the Australian said: “No, I don’t think that would be right for the players and for the club, we have scratched and clawed our way into a decent position in the league, we’re into the next round of the cup, those possibilities are always there and we certainly want to tackle them as robustly as possible without any fear or fear of not achieving anything.
“We’ve done it from day one, we’ve had a vision of the sort of football we want to play and some parts are really, really good and have surprised me with the progress and other parts we’re still in the early stages of development. We’ve got a platform here to kick on and try on from here.”
Tottenham are now preparing for a trip to Old Trafford, a stadium where they have a poor record, but Postecoglou can perhaps take heart from the fact that his side have done well in the games against their big six rivals this season.
However, the Spurs head coach is not under any illusions about the difficulty of the challenge his side will face in Manchester.
When asked about the fact that Tottenham have done well against the big sides this campaign than they have historically, Postecoglou responded: “I’m not a great one at looking at the historical references to these things, I always feel I wasn’t there so I don’t know the reasons behind whether there was something endemic in the club that didn’t allow that. I just tackle from when I get into a club, from there onwards.
“I think it is important how you perform in those games because if you want to be successful you need to be able to perform in those big games, particularly away from home, the challenges. We went to Arsenal, City, Liverpool here, we’ve done OK in those games. Not just results but performance-wise I don’t think we’ve walked away from any of those games and thought there was a massive gap between us and them.
“That is important and Old Trafford is another place where you know the atmosphere is going to be a great challenge for us. It would be good to see how we react to that and how we keep developing as a team. It’s an important part of the process. Home comforts are great and we have a great crowd behind us, but if you can do it away from home in adversity I think it accelerates your growth.”
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One would expect Tottenham to be a lot stronger once the likes of Maddison, Romero, Son, Sarr and Bissouma return while the additions of Werner and Dragusin has added more depth to the squad.
With no European distraction for Postecoglou’s men, they have a great opportunity to get back into the Champions League, but I suspect the team will have their eyes on a much bigger prize.
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