With Tottenham Hotspur now out of the FA Cup, the club could push ahead with plans to arrange a post-season friendly in Ange Postecoglou’s home city of Melbourne once the Premier League campaign is over.
Despite a strong showing in the Premier League so far this season, Spurs have now crashed out of both cup competitions they were involved in this year.
An early exit to Fulham in the Carabao Cup has been followed up by a fourth-round defeat to Manchester City in the FA Cup at the weekend, meaning Ange Postecoglou‘s side now only have their league duties to focus on.
Spurs fans are understandably unhappy at being denied the chance to see their team lift the FA Cup, but the reduced fixture list could be a blessing in disguise, especially considering the Lilywhites are still within touching distance of a title challenge this year.
Are Spurs heading to Melbourne?
Whatever happens at end of the season now for Spurs, they know their campaign will come to a close with a visit to Sheffield United on the 19th of May. Once that is out of the way, the Lilywhites could be heading to Melbourne for a post-season friendly.
That’s according to a report from the Standard, which claims Spurs are “in talks” regarding setting up a friendly in Postecoglou’s “home city” after their schedule became a little clearer due to the FA Cup exit.
It is said the club are “exploring” the possibility of playing a game on Wednesday 22nd of May, but “nothing has been agreed” as of yet. If it were to go ahead, it is expected there would be “huge buzz” around Postecoglou’s return to Australia, with fans over there riding the ‘Ange-mania’ wave.
However, there could well be opposition from international managers who would rather their players be rested in the build-up to Euro 2024, which kicks off on June 14th.
Spurs Web Opinion
This sounds like a decent idea to me. It gives the players a chance to touch down in Australia and for the club to raise their profile even further out there. There would be plenty of time after the game for players to get ready for Euro 2024, so I don’t see it being an issue, especially with some other clubs keeping their players for cup finals around the same time anyway.