Ange Postecoglou has said that while he did not want to waste this season and thus set the objectives quite high, he is proud of the effort that his players have put in this campaign, particularly given the relative inexperience of the squad.
If you had told most Spurs fans before the start of the season that they would be in with a shot of finishing in the top four with six games left to go in the season, most would have bitten your hand off.
The club was in complete shambles last summer after stumbling to an eight-place finish last season and subsequently losing their record goalscorer, Harry Kane.
However, Postecoglou was careful not to put a limit on Spurs’ ambitions right from day one, with the Australian even making it clear on multiple occasions that he has his eye on the big prize (One Football).
In some ways, the 58-year-old is perhaps a victim of his own early success at Tottenham and he has now insisted that he is proud of what his players have produced, especially given that a number of them are in their debut Premier League season.
Postecoglou told Football.London: “I am proud because to be honest, I am pretty hard on them.
“People ask whether I’d have taken fifth at the start of the year. A lot of people would have, and when I think of the challenges I’ve put to this group of players – a lot of them in the Premier League for the first time or still very young in age or not having that sort of hard experience that we lost at the start of the year – I haven’t wavered in not making excuses for them.
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“I love the fact that they haven’t sought that and never felt sorry for themselves. So on my side, I am purposely being hard on them because some of the potential in this group is pretty exciting and I don’t want to limit that. I don’t want them to limit themselves.
“I want them to embrace it and be disappointed with where we are at. Be disappointed that we haven’t been successful this year, even though its our first year, because that’s the kind of attitude I have had in my whole career.
“I don’t want to waste a year. I don’t want to waste a season on something that might come in years to come. The opportunities are here and now. So I have been proud of the way that, mostly the young players but even the more experienced players like Sonny and the others have also embraced the challenge.
“They’ve said ‘okay, we are a new group, it could be so easy to say that this is a new five-year project’ but we want to be better than that. We want to get in quicker than that. So from that perspective, I am proud. Yes.”
Postecoglou wants to compete with the likes of Arsenal
Tottenham sit 17 points behind Arsenal heading into Sunday’s North London Derby, although the Lilyhwhites have two games in hand over their rivals, and Postecoglou acknowledge that he wants to catch the Gunners next season.
When asked if Mikel Arteta’s side have set the benchmark for where he wants Spurs to be, he said: “Yeah, absolutely. That’s what I’ve been saying all along. That’s where I want us to be. When it gets to this time of the year, I want us to be one of the ones fighting for that ultimate prize. Right now we are 10-15 points behind that. That’s your measure.
“We can win on Sunday but it doesn’t mean we are title contenders this year. To be title contenders you’ve got to do it over the course of the whole year. That’s how I’m measuring ourselves. So we know we’ve still got some work to do.
“At the same time, we’re in a better position than we were 12 months ago to build on that. That has to be our aim, that in 12 months’ time we’re in a position where we are one of the contenders rather than trying to disrupt them.”
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After constantly hearing Conte make excuses and talk about how Tottenham are not ready to compete with the best teams in the Premier League, it has been quite refreshing to hear Ange make it clear from day one that the club are aiming for the biggest prize.
The Australian is perhaps putting pressure on himself and the players by going public with his ambition but that is the sort of mentality Conte failed to instil despite his reputation of having a winner’s mindset.
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