Ange Postecoglou has reflected on his first season in charge of Tottenham Hotspur and admitted that he took a lot of heart from the spirit and the togetherness that his players showed even amidst adversity.
Postecoglou was brought to Spurs with a remit of getting the side to play possession-based, attacking football and bringing the feel-good factor back to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and the Australian did not take long to achieve that.
Many were surprised by just how quickly he managed to transform a counter-attacking outfit into a hyper-aggressive, front-foot one, with the 58-year-old admitting that he got a feeling in pre-season that the players would embrace his approach.
When asked about his thoughts leading into the season, Postecoglou told Tottenham’s official website: “The expectation from me was that it was going to be a challenging year.
“There was going to be significant change in the way we did things and, whenever that happens, it’s going to be really challenging for people. I do enjoy it, it’s kind of what excites me in starting a new role. It’s always interesting to see how people react, and people react differently.
“My gut instinct was, for the most part, the players would embrace it. I was really happy with the coaching staff we put together, really excited by that. From there, it was really interesting to see where it would take us.
“At the start of pre-season, we went to Australia, by the end of that trip, I could see enough there for us to at least start beginning to be the team we wanted to be.”
Tottenham started the season like a steam train, sitting at the summit of the table in November, with Postecoglou winning the Manager of the Month award three months in a row.
He said about what unfolded in the initial months: “We had a great start, and we needed to get off to a great start. If we hadn’t got off to a good start in terms of results and performances, it could have been an even more difficult and challenging year than it was, but we had a really healthy squad, a strong bench and the momentum carried us through.
“It’s a funny one, the Manager of the Month, because you know you are just representing a larger group of people, not just the coaching staff, but everyone involved in whole football department.”
Tottenham’s slide started with the London derby against Chelsea in November, with the home side losing Micky van de Ven and James Maddison to long-term injuries in that game while also seeing Crisitan Romero and Desinty Udogie red-carded.
Postecoglou was pleased with his players in first Spurs season
However, Postecoglou insisted that he was pleased with the spirit his players showed amidst the injury crisis in the subsequent months and the way they competed in every game.
The Spurs said about the 4-1 defeat to Chelsea: “At the time we were flying, and we started the game so well. We scored and Sonny was inches offside from getting the second goal. Then Romero got sent off and they get a penalty, Micky does his hamstring, so you’ve lost your two starting centre-halves… in that moment, my instincts weren’t about the game, my instincts were, ‘okay, here it is, the first big challenge for us’.
“I knew from then it would be an interesting insight as to where we’re at, how we react to extreme adversity and to be honest, I was really happy with the way we did that. We had some tough games, but we were competitive all the way through.
“The results were a little inconsistent, but we were in every game. That also gave me a lot of heart about the spirit in the group, but I also knew that would have an end date because eventually, that spirit, it’s like fuel, it runs out, you get tired, and I think that caught up with us towards the end of the year.”
Spurs Web Opinion
On the face of it, Tottenham’s results in the last two months of the campaign were extremely appalling. However, the reason alarm bells are not ringing at N17 is that our performances in some of those games were quite good, with us rarely getting the rub of the green during that run.