Australian head coach’s first official fixture in charge of Tottenham Hotspur is in Perth, Australia of all places – and with it comes the chance to enact lasting change.
With each passing week, Ange Postecoglou is ticking off a series of “firsts” as head coach of Tottenham Hotspur.
In June it was a signature on a four-year contract, that made him the first Australian to manage in the Premier League. Then came his first words to club media, then his first training session at Hotspur Way on July 1.
After one week of pre-season training came Postecoglou’s first press conference, in what was a typically-impressive display from the charismatic Aussie.
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On July 18 comes the next major milestone: his first game in charge of the Premier League side that, after a turbulent 2022-23 campaign, dropped to an eighth-place finish – the club’s worst in 14 seasons.
That first game just so happens to be in Perth, Australia at Optus Stadium. It’s a friendly affair against London rivals West Ham, and Postecoglou will be on home shores as he oversees it.
The new man in charge has promised drastic change at Spurs throughout his tenure, with his aggressive, attacking and entertaining brand of football set to break the mould of the counter-punching, deep-lying, reactive methods implemented by Tottenham’s last three leaders: Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte.
As Postecoglou prepares his charges to accompany him Down Under, a number of key points on his pre-season to-do list have become clear.
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MATCH DETAILS
Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham United
Date: Tuesday, 18 July 2023
Venue: Optus Stadium
Kick-Off: 8.00pm AEST/ 6.00pm (local)
Broadcast: 10 Bold, 10 Play and Paramount+
You can tune on 10 Bold or stream via 10 Play or Paramount+.
Tickets are still available on Ticketek
1. Tear up the tactics book
Tottenham’s club motto is “to dare is to do”, but under the club’s past three permanent managers – Mourinho, Espirito Santo and Conte – tactics have far too often allowed opposing sides to instigate the “doing”. Tottenham have been a reactive side for the majority of the time since the departure of Mauricio Pochettino; at their best, their counterattacking qualities were uncontainable, but by the end of last season their style had become predictable and uninspired.
Postecoglou will set out to change that immediately. And the club’s fans will be watching on intently as Tuesday’s friendly against West Ham provides the first opportunity to see it in action.
“I’ve had a lot of success in my career, but it’s also been done on the back of playing a certain way,” Postecoglou said in his first press conference as Spurs boss.
“I daresay probably one of the biggest factors for the club appointing me was they saw that, and that’s what they want. So that’s what I’m going to try and deliver.
“That seems to be the right fit for the club in terms of the fan’s expectations. They like to see their teams – what we call ‘entertain’ – but win games of football, score goals, and be exciting. They don’t want to see their team sitting back.
“There are different ways of doing that – but the intent for us will be to try and make sure we make this footballing club a compelling watch for everybody.”
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But it won’t be an easy task, and genuine change cannot be enacted overnight. Postecoglou warns his task to reprogram a squad that has been wired to think reactively rather than proactively for a number of seasons will be one of his toughest tasks in the early months of his reign.
“Absolutely – and that will be the biggest challenge. That’s what I’m concentrating on at the moment.
“We don’t have the whole group here, but even the guys I have here, it’s just about changing that mindset a little bit, and changing the way players see the game, and maybe their roles within it. Even the positions they play, there are going to be adjustments to the way I want them to do things.
“But again – I love that. That’s why I’m here… that’s part of the challenge, that it will be a bit of a shift from the way the club has played the last three or four years, and how quickly the players embrace that.”
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2. Bed in Harry Kane, or brace for his departure
When Harry Kane returned to pre-season training on time, Spurs fans breathed a sigh of relief. It was one positive sign, at least, amid the furore surrounding his future and strong links to Bayern Munich.
Whether he stays or goes in this transfer window is still up in the air; Kane has just one year left on his Tottenham contract and the club could risk their star man running that contract down and leaving for free next season.
But Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is attempting to convince the England captain to sign another contract at the club. Postecoglou simply cannot afford the circus to roll on through his pre-season, and will want the situation resolved as soon as possible so, whether he stays or goes, he has a definite reality to work with in planning for the seasons ahead.
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One facet of Postecoglou’s arrival that could help sway Kane to stay is the simple fact that the club is trying something different. The pre-season tour begins in Perth, overlapping with those crucial first days of Kane’s return to the squad.
Postecoglou was unsurprisngly pressed for many answers about Kane’s future when speaking to the press for the first time.
“I haven’t had any assurances (about his future) – and I wouldn’t expect any assurances because again, with these kinds of things, you’re never dealing with definites, or in certainties in anything in life,” he said.
“It’s just my nature that I kind of go along and try and concentrate on the things that I know right now – and what I know right now is that Harry is part of the squad and he’s looking forward to coming back to training, and getting amongst the players back here and we start working together.
“If I spend too much time worrying about the impact that it may have either way, I’m going to miss trying to build a team, because ultimately that’s what is going to make us successful.”
Kane is one of 31 players confirmed to be joining Postecoglou on the Perth tour.
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3. Unleash James Maddison
Postecoglou’s arrival brings with it a shift in formation, and as a result, a return to a system that requires a player with a certain skillset Tottenham has not had on their books since the departure of Christian Eriksen in early 2020.
James Maddison’s arrival through the doors at Hotspur Way was a signal of intent. The England international is a major coup for the club, arriving from relegated Leicester City to provide all the qualities of a genuine number 10 the club has lacked since Eriksen’s exit. Postecoglou says his system is, in essence, a 4-3-3 – albeit that shape will rarely be seen on the park due to the fluid nature of each player’s role in that system.
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But you can guarantee Maddison will spend the majority of his time in a Spurs shirt loitering in and around the number nine, looking to create danger and score goals. Maddison and Kane are England teammates, and nothing would appease the club’s fans – and perhaps Kane himself – more than to see the two of them wreaking havoc together on the pitch in the early days of pre-season.
“The new players coming in will help, because that’s the part we, or I, have control of,” Postecoglou said.
“Really excited to get (Maddison) as part of the group. “I think any manager will tell you that part of the key to trying to be a dominant team is to have multiple attacking threats, and having a midfielder who can score goals, create, they’re not easy to come by – and he’s proven himself at that level in the last few years as somebody who can do that. I
“When you look at Tottenham the last few years, it’s been really reliant on the front three to get most of their goals. I thought it was a really good fit for us to look for a player like James, and even better if we could get James, so we ended up getting James.
“I was really pleased at the fact we got it done early. He’s had a break, he’s had the birth of twins so mate, I don’t know what shape he’ll be in when he gets here. But once we get him in it means he can come on the tour with us – and I know he’s really excited about joining the group.”
4. Assess fringe players
Included in the 31-player travelling squad are a number of players who Spurs fans might not have expected to be joining Postecoglou on the plane to Perth.
As much as Postecoglou’s job is focussed on bringing new players to the club that fit the mould of what he’s trying to build, he also has to shift players out who he determines are surplus to requirements – those decisions will be made through the club’s pre-season tour of Perth, Thailand, Singapore and Barcelona.
Eight players returned to the club from their respective loan spells in the off-season, and six of them make the journey to Perth: Tanguy Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso, Destiny Udogie, Djed Spence, Sergio Reguilon and Joe Rodon.
Ndombele and Lo Celso are interesting inclusions. They were the club’s two significant off-season purchases in the immediate aftermath of Champions League Final defeat to Liverpool in 2019. Ndombele was recruited for the club’s all-time record signing fee. Both he and Lo Celso never got off the ground at the club; together they represent the club’s failure to build off the momentum of the 2018-19 season, and both seemed set to depart Spurs after their respective loans last season.
But under a new coach, anything is possible. Ndombele has long shown glimpses of becoming a phenomenal midfielder, but his fitness and attitude have often come into question under numerous managers.
He could become a Postecoglou project.
At full flight he’s one of the most exciting, unpredictable footballers to watch and he could be given one last chance at Tottenham should he impress the Australian on pre-season duties.
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5. Appoint a new captain
Buried deep in the article on the Tottenham website announcing the 31-player squad travelling to Perth was a line that signified the end of an era: “Hugo Lloris has been granted permission not to travel in order to explore prospective transfer opportunities.”
The French goalkeeper has worn the armband at Spurs since mid-2015; the club’s recruitment of Guglielmo Vicario from Empoli only looked to make Lloris’ imminent departure even more certain, but this was the first official acknowledgement from the club that its long-standing skipper would be heading for the exit.
Postecoglou must now decide who leads his squad into the 2023-24 Premier League campaign.
The obvious choice is Kane. He has donned the armband any time Lloris has been absent through injury in recent seasons and has long been a leader in the dressing room. But his uncertain future makes an early decision on a long-term captain tricky for Postecoglou, who may hold fire until he’s clear on Kane’s path forward.
If Kane stays, he will almost certainly be captain. Should he depart, the prime candidate is Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, Denmark’s Male Player of the Year and Tottenham’s midfield warrior. Højbjerg is a leader in every sense of the word; he has also been linked with a move away from the club in this off-season, with Bayern Munich and Chelsea two clubs with rumoured interest.
In 2021, The Athletic reported a source from inside the Tottenham dressing room had described Højbjerg as “one of the most serious players I’ve ever seen.”
“Unbelievably serious, no wonder he was made captain of Southampton (at 23) — he is a leader and a hard worker…”
Expect Kane to wear the armband should he play from the start against West Ham at Optus Stadium on Tuesday night – but he could share those duties with the Dane who is set to play a key role in Postecoglou’s rebuild should he stick around.
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