One of the Premier League clubs that appeared consistent until week 4 was Tottenham Hotspur. Three wins and two draws with a collection of 10 points. For the time being, Tottenham is in second place in the standings behind Manchester City.
Last season, Tottenham faced a quite complicated situation. Tottenham’s performance has been inconsistent and must end the 2022/23 season in 8th position. Inevitably, Tottenham made changes again. Change starts with a change of coach. Tottenham’s steps in changing coaches this season are different from previous methods.
In the last two seasons, Tottenham has been very diligent in looking for coaches with names like Jose Mourinho and Antoni Conte. However, this season, Tottenham seems to be leaving the box and looking for a coach with a different character. It was Ange Postecoglou who was chosen by Tottenham. Postecoglou is not yet well known in mainland England. The reason is, most of the 56 year old coach’s career was spent in Australia and Asia before joining Celtic for two seasons.
Tottenham were interested in recruiting Postecoglou after considering his coaching style with Celtic and his achievements with the Scottish club. Postecoglou won the Scottish premiership trophy in his two seasons coaching. Apart from that, Postecoglou also presented five trophies during his two seasons coaching Celtic.
Postecoglou’s success with Celtic sparked interest in Tottenham, who were currently in a complicated situation because they had not yet found a coach who could not improve the team’s performance for two seasons.
Tottenham’s choice is starting to bear sweet fruit. This is proven by the first four matches in the Premier League. Tottenham appeared convincing. Tottenham not only achieved positive results, but Tottenham also appeared aggressive even though they lost their mainstay striker, Harry Kane, who chose to leave for Bayern Munich. Postecoglou seems to be starting to succeed in filling the hole left by Kane if you consider Tottenham’s productivity with 11 goals from 4 matches.
After trying Richardlison as Tottenham’s spearhead, Postecoglou was not satisfied with the Brazilian player’s performance. Therefore, in week 4, Richardlison was benched and Son Heung Min was played as the sole striker. The experiment bore fruit because Son recorded three goals. After the match, Postecoglou seemed to agree with his policy of not insisting on finding a replacement striker for Kane because he continued to use existing players.
Postecoglou managed to utilize the players already in the squad. Also, Postecoglou’s success brought out the best in J. Maddison. This player, who was brought in from Leicester City, became one of Tottenham’s sensations at the start of this season. Tottenham managed to take advantage of Leicester’s relegated situation and recruited Maddison.
Maddison is placed as a hole attacker behind the striker. Unmitigated, Maddison has recorded two goals and two assists in four matches with Tottenham. Because of his performance, quite a few people think that Tottenham has found a figure similar to Erikssen.
Maddison’s success cannot be separated from Postecoglou’s astuteness in seeing the talent and quality of the player. Maddison was given the freedom to attack and organize the game as a midfielder. The situation is different if Kane is still on the team. Even though he plays as a striker, Kane also doesn’t hesitate to pick up the ball from behind and regulate Spurs’ play. Kane’s style could influence Maddison’s role.
Postecoglou’s prowess in concocting the Tottenham squad at the start of this season has led to his capacity as a coach to watch out for. Postecoglou’s track record should not be underestimated. When Celtic recruited Postecoglou, the club’s condition was also in a complicated situation. Didn’t win in 10 matches.
Doubts surrounded Celtic’s decision to recruit Postecoglou because he had no experience in Europe. Most of his time was spent in mainland Asia and Australia. In fact, Postecoglou was the second choice after Eddie Howe. However, Howe rejected Celtic’s proposal and inevitably Celtic recruited Postecoglou.
Celtic’s choice paid off sweetly. Last season, as the final offering for Celtic before joining Tottenham, Celtic won a treble of trophies at domestic level. Apparently, Tottenham’s choice was also right. Indeed, on the one hand, it is too early to judge that Postecoglou has been successful as Tottenham coach. However, on the other hand, Postecoglou managed to find a new direction and enthusiasm with Tottenham.
Tottenham appears as a team that has the ambition to achieve victory. The problems of last season seem to have been buried and there is more to see a bright new hope with Ange Postecoglou.
Tottenham supporters cannot hide their joy at seeing Tottenham’s attacking performance. Not a few people think that Tottenham have returned after their attacking style of play was no longer visible.
ASL
