MANCHESTER, England: After a file-breaking begin as Tottenham supervisor, Ange Postecoglou is experiencing the opposite facet to life in a job that has proved an excessive amount of for a number of the greatest names in soccer.
A 3-sport dropping streak has seen Spurs fall from first to fifth within the Premier League, whereas a rising harm record means it may worsen for Postecoglou’s workforce because the congested Christmas schedule approaches.
But forward of Sunday’s sport on the dwelling of defending champion Manchester City, the Australian coach is adamant he’ll keep on with the components that has made Tottenham the shock bundle in England’s high flight this season.
“You look at the top teams and there’s one common trait amongst them — they’ve all got a plan, they invest in that plan, and they stick to it,” Postecoglou mentioned. “They don’t shy away from that at the first difficulty. Whether it is City or Arsenal or Liverpool, all the teams that have dominated in recent years, they’ve got a plan and they stick to it. You have to.”
It is a measure of simply how good Spurs’ early-season type was that even after three straight losses they’re solely 4 factors off league chief Arsenal.
A win at Etihad Stadium on Sunday would see the Londoners transfer stage on factors with City.
“For me these are the important times because this will show what kind of football team we want to be,” Postecoglou mentioned. “You can sort of shy away, say we have injuries, we’re playing Man City away, but you’re either going to be a club that tries to knock off the big clubs or you are a big club. You are one or the other.
“My hope and my ambition for this club is to make it a big club and to do that you have to be successful and win things.”
The former Australia and Celtic coach has gained lots of admirers for his blunt-speaking method and attacking type of play. He additionally gained the Premier League supervisor of the month award for the primary three months of the season as Tottenham charged forward.
No different supervisor had achieved that feat within the first three months of a marketing campaign — or the primary three awards accessible to them in a job.
Not even Guardiola, who has led City to 5 league titles in six years.
Postecoglou’s affect on Spurs has been famous by City’s supervisor.
They confronted one another as soon as earlier than when City performed Yokohama F. Marinos in a preseason pleasant in 2019. Postecoglou was teaching the Japanese workforce on the time.
City gained 3-1, however it prompted Guardiola to say “wow, there are things I like.”
“We won, all respect to Yokohama, but we had better players,” Guardiola mentioned. “But I realized for the first time I met him, and have followed him when he was at Celtic winning trophies and now in the short time he’s been (at Spurs).
“As a manager and a spectator I enjoy a lot watching them play with the approach they have. I think all the Spurs fans and the people in England can admit that his impact has been quick and really good.”
When employed by Tottenham in June, Postecoglou grew to become the membership’s fourth everlasting supervisor for the reason that departure of Mauricio Pochettino in 2019. In that point, serial winners like Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte each got here and went after brief-lived spells.
Having led Celtic to 5 trophies in two seasons, Postecoglou was tasked with the accountability of turning Spurs’ fortunes round after failing to qualify for Europe for the primary time since 2009.
As if that job wasn’t laborious sufficient, he needed to do it with out file scorer Harry Kane, who was bought to Bayern Munich within the offseason.
A run of eight wins from his first 10 league video games in cost prompt Postecoglou had found a method to stay with out the long-lasting striker, with summer season signing James Maddison in excellent type and Son Heung-min serving to to fill the scoring void.
But a 4-1 loss at dwelling to Chelsea when all the way down to 9 gamers final month introduced an finish to that streak, with Spurs occurring to lose in opposition to Wolves and Aston Villa. All of these defeats got here after Postecoglou’s workforce had taken the lead and seem to indicate the fragility of a squad that has misplaced host of key gamers to harm, together with Maddison, Richarlison and Ivan Perisic.
Rodrigo Bentancur has now been dominated out for about two months with an ankle harm.
Postecoglou refuses to compromise his type.
“Whatever you believe in, whatever you really strongly believe in, you as a person, only gets tested in the toughest of times. It doesn’t get tested when things are going well,” he mentioned. “And for me these are the important times because this will show what kind of football team we want to be.”
Guardiola is anticipating nothing apart from a typical attacking efficiency from Postecoglou’s workforce on Sunday.
“I encourage our fans to come to the stadium because we will have fun,” he mentioned.
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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
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More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is printed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
