Ange Postecoglou has said that one cannot question the work that Mauricio Pochettino did at Tottenham, and respects him for taking on some big challenges post-Spurs.
There are certainly some big similarities between the challenges that Pochettino faced at Tottenham in 2014 and the ones faced by Postecoglou since taking over in the summer.
Similar to now, Spurs were coming off a couple of poor seasons under Andre-Villas Boas and Tim Sherwood, with Pochettino being tasked with rebuilding the squad.
The former Tottenham manager managed to achieve that, building a team that challenged for the Premier League title in his second and third seasons at the club.
The one difference between the two is that Pochettino took almost an entire season to make the desired impact in N17 while Postecoglou has instantly been able to transform the side.
The pair will lock horns this evening in the big London derby in what will be the Chelsea boss’ first return to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium since his sacking in 2019.
Ange Postecoglou has a lot of respect for Pochettino
When asked if he has a relationship with Pochettino, the Spurs head coach has told Football.London: “I haven’t come across him, as you know I’ve lived in a different world for quite a while.
“So I haven’t come across him. From afar, great admiration. I think the impact he had at Southampton and at Spurs is unquestionable.
“He has taken on some pretty big challenges post-Spurs as well which I’m all for. I like managers who take on big challenges so great admiration and respect for his work.”
There has been a lot said and written about the cultural revolution that Postecoglou has overseen at Spurs, with The Standard stating last two weeks ago that the changes implemented by the Australian have been underpinned by ‘example, empathy and emotional intelligence’.
When asked how he has managed to change the atmosphere at Hotspur Way, Postecoglou responded: “It’s a process. A lot of it is just behaviours and particularly my behaviour.
“When I’m the new person in the building, people are looking at me a lot. So what I do, what I say, how I behave is a fairly good indicator of the environment I want. I’ve said before if I walk past someone and don’t say hello, people notice. If I’m not here first thing in the morning, people notice.
“If I’m not really passionate about what I do, people will notice. If I don’t come in here every day feeling pretty blessed that I’m doing something I love, people will notice.
“That’s your starting point. I think most people will get a fairly good indicator of what I want by just seeing me. Then you try to get like-minded people around you, the staff report in, whether that’s new staff or existing staff, and hopefully those dominoes fall fairly quickly. Then people have a choice of whether they want to be a part of that or not.
“It is a process but I always feel it begins and ends with me. Regardless of what kind of environment I want to set, if I’m not showing or believing in those behaviours, if it’s just something I want to do artificially, if I want to be strict around time and how we talk and make rules, then I don’t think people are going to respond if they don’t see me actually doing it.”
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There are more than just a few parallels between Ange’s and Pochettino’s impact at Spurs, with the Argentine also being able to get the best out of players by adding a human touch, which seemed to be missing under AVB and Sherwood.
It is no secret that the players tend to perform at their best when they are happy, and there is no doubt that there is now a great feeling coursing through the Spurs squad at the moment, which is what makes the team quite dangerous.
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