Ange Postecoglou repeatedly plays it down, but his work at Tottenham is well ahead of schedule.
The Aussie manager keeps saying he has no chart by which to measure progress at a club that needed a total reboot when he took over in the summer, but Spurs have surprised most neutrals by going into the international break still unbeaten and increasingly talked about as genuine Premier League title challengers.
Tottenham’s 1-0 win at Luton took them to the top of the table, and matched their best start to a season since the 1960-61 season, when they won their first 11 games en route to the first League and FA Cup double of the 20th Century.
It should be noted that they made a similarly promising start under Antonio Conte last season, but once the Italian began to show his fractious side and lack of commitment to Tottenham’s future, form and morale evaporated rapidly and Spurs finished eighth.
It is still early days, but Postecoglou does not look like the sort of manager to start rows with his board, the players and supporters – quite the opposite, as the straight-talking Aussie immediately won over fans with his attacking style of football, and it appears the players have bought into his methods.
Saturday’s fixture was a different type of test for Tottenham, who have already beaten Liverpool and Manchester United and drawn at Arsenal. Previous Tottenham teams might have thrown away points at modest opponents, especially after going down to ten men, as they did at Kenilworth Road when Yves Bissouma received two yellow cards before half-time.
But they showed the resilience and stubborness that Postecoglou demands, defended superbly, and left with their sixth win and third clean sheet in eight games.
Micky van de Ven scored the game’s only goal, seven minutes into the second half, but also defended superbly alongside the outstanding Cristian Romero. The World Cup winner was described by his fellow Argentine Lionel Messi as ‘the best defender in the world’ and Postecoglou is not one to argue with the world’s best player. “He’s a great judge!” smiled the Aussie, who made the once hot-headed Romero one of his vice-captains and has seen him grow in stature.
“Maybe it is a bit of maturity and that he feels comfortable with where he is at,” said his manager. “He is someone you definitely want in your team. Yes he does have that physicality about him but he’s a good player as well – his passing range, his ability to position himself well, to stay calm and then just ridiculous bravery to always put his body in there. He’s just an outstanding defender.”
Postecoglou is not getting carried away. He knows there will be sterner tests and slip-ups along the way, and cautions his players against looking at the league table. “I don’t think you can read too much into it.
“They are not silly, they know it’s only October and being top of the league now doesn’t really mean anything tangible apart from the fact that we’ve started the season well. We’ve played some good football and we’ve had all sort of different challenges thrown at us. We’ve been behind in games away from home, we’ve had to score last minute winners.
“It’s not like it’s been smooth sailing. We’ve had to work awfully hard to be in the position we are and from my perspective it’s great that they’re getting rewarded with results, which can only help us grow as a team. But it’s not like they’re sitting in there thinking we’ve achieved anything. We haven’t achieved anything, all we’ve done is lay some really good foundations. Our goals and ambitions lay in improvement. Can we play better? Can we become a better team? And if we do that then we’ll see where that takes us.”
What this good start has done, though, is to take any pressure off Postecoglou and his new signings, who have been able to bed in while borne on a wave of confidence. His change of style requires bravery and buy-in from the players, and that all becomes easier to achieve when they have the confidence that comes from winning.
“I’ve said from day one, I love winning, mate,” added Postecoglou. “It’s all I’ve done my whole career. It gets dismissed because of where I’ve done it. I love winning so the football is not exclusive to us being successful. To get the team to play the way we do and create an environment to create success – that’s what I do. You don’t always get it, you don’t always get it immediately. But we’re playing the football and want to be a team that wins games. That’s our goal, that’s ambition – that’s what I do.
“I said from the start I don’t have some sort of measurement I go by to say this is our progress. Every job I’ve gone into I go in there with an open mind about what we do. This time results are there which is great but that doesn’t change where I think we are in terms of our growth. We’re still at the beginning and we need to push on.”
