Postecoglou reveals what he is ‘super proud’ of at Tottenham so far this season
Ange Postecoglou has said that he is delighted with the way the Tottenham squad has embraced the new tactical approach and has dealt with all the challenges that have come their way this season.
At the start of the season, if you had told Spurs fans that the team would have a fighting chance of finishing in the top four with ten games left to go, most would have bitten your hand off.
The club was in turmoil last summer on the back of the failed Antonio Conte experiment and also lost their record goalscorer, Harry Kane.
Considering those factors as well as the host of injuries that Tottenham have had to deal with this season, there is no doubt that the campaign has been a successful one for Postecoglou, with the Australian admitting that he is proud of the way his side has competed.
Reflecting on the season so far, the Spurs boss told Football.London: “I think with everything that’s happened, if I give myself that luxury of trying to reflect when there are still 12 games to go, I am super proud of the club, the players in particular, have responded to the adversity we’ve had this year.
“New manager coming in, new way of playing, new staff, squad changing over and we’ve had some real challenges, including losing Harry Kane two days before the first game, and I could envisage many scenarios where that could go very, very differently.
“With the way that we as a football club and the players took on that challenge, if you are looking for a bit of leeway or some excuses, we’ve had plenty this year for us not to be in the position we are.
“We’ve had some pretty big injuries, pretty big absences, international tournaments and I’ve been so proud of the competitiveness of the players we’ve put out there every week. Even in games we’ve lost, we’ve been in them and we’ve not been blown away by anybody.”
Tottenham are building foundations for success
In a way, Postecoglou has been a bit of a victim of his own early success at Spurs, with fans’ expectations getting reset on the back of some of the eye-catching football that the side produced, particularly at the start of the season.
Unlike some of his predecessors, the 58-year-old has also not downplayed expectations, instead setting the aims high and even asking the supporters to dream big, but he insisted that he does not regret doing so.
Postecoglou added: “I think if we had gone the other way, downplayed our expectations, downplayed any progress for this year, then I don’t think we would have got as much out of the year as I think we have. I think we’ve set a really strong benchmark for competitiveness and not having any excuses for what we do now, moving forward.
“If we continue to grow then I think there will be other challenges – not the challenges we’ve had this year – but we can continue to refer back to this year and say ‘look, through the whole time, we never once laid down and we were fighting all the way’.”
Spurs Web Opinion
While there is no doubt that we have seen plenty of progress this season, it would still be hugely disappointing if we fail to finish in the top four.
Realistically, Spurs need to be in the Champions League in order to attract the calibre of players we need next summer to close the gap on the likes of Man City and Liverpool.
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