Manager Watch: Ange Postecoglou

[RJR1949]

Alfie, I don't think that you woke up and chose violence. I know where you come from. During that Mourinho/Conte period I was desperate for us to win something under them, irrespective of football style. There were periods under both when we actually played some entertaining stuff. But, after last season, I don't care about winning at all costs. It was the first time I ever had zero desire to watch us play. The forum was more interesting to me than the club itself. I was more into playing Fantasy Football than what was happening at Spurs. I never thought it possible, but I even enjoyed international breaks because it was a break from the painful footie on the pitch.

It was awful to behold Spurs. I would much rather us play an attacking brand of footie and give it a go that way. Ange has expressed the desire to give it a real go, not just to make up the Top 4 numbers.

I look forward to watching us play again and I'm back to hating the International Break. And I have this strange feeling that we'll genuinely win something with Ange at the helm.

I’ve watched football with great pleasure my whole life but last season I was so depressed by Conte while I dutifully went to every home game I hardly watched any football on TV.

Now I’m enjoying the game again.

 

[fletch82]

If we can't realistically compete at the top level, focus on winning other trophies we might have a better shout at.

For me, the competing whilst enjoying the football along the way smacks of just looking to finish in the top 4 and qualifying for the CL to maximise revenue for the club. Levy will pretend we are competing for the top honours when in reality we are just worried about qualifying for the CL for the money.

If you are happy with that then fair enough but for me, I don't see any glory in just making up the numbers and the vague promise of 'progress'.

OK so I have had a little chuckle at this toing and froing but I cant really resist a little bite here
What feckin trophies aren't city Chelsea psg real Madrid already buying every year ?

Maybe we can have a go at the Johnstone shield or what ever it's called
Maybe the sussex County cup
We can't compete with a oil state that thinks of money like its a big bag of fruitella
Or a consortium that spends as much as our entire stadium cost on players in 4 months.
City bought every Cup in our league last season and then the biggest one in Europe as a cherry on the top
I think you just want levy/enic gone (that's fair most of us do)
Or your more concerned with the social media trolls saying bad words to you about your team.
Or your non spurs mates ribbing you either way your points are so far from reality that it's quite funny so feel free to crack on

 

[McFlash]

I don't know, I actually think string characters are asking to be controlled.

They're just a bunch of puppets.

 

[McFlash]

If we can't realistically compete at the top level, focus on winning other trophies we might have a better shout at.

For me, the competing whilst enjoying the football along the way smacks of just looking to finish in the top 4 and qualifying for the CL to maximise revenue for the club. Levy will pretend we are competing for the top honours when in reality we are just worried about qualifying for the CL for the money.

If you are happy with that then fair enough but for me, I don't see any glory in just making up the numbers and the vague promise of 'progress'.

Have you seem what we're up against and the financial clout they carry?
We're always going to be the underdogs but we can at least enjoy the footie along the way.

Buying and bringing through young talent, playing good football and competing as best as we can considering the might we're up against is all we can really ask for.
Nobody is guaranteed trophies because apart from the odd anomaly, they're shared between the usual, big spending clubs.

Can we break the mould? Who knows but it's more fun to enjoy to game along the way.
That's pretty much what Ange was saying.

 

[KirstyG]

I’m still getting used to whether I should be excited to watch us again or not. Been burned so many times. I’m enjoying it but almost can’t let myself get too involved because of how we shoot ourselves in the foot. Give it a few more games though and I may be able to give myself to it again.

 

[DarwinSpur]

What I got from that was there will be a continuation of the same priorities i.e. finish top 4 and the cups aren't important.

Also it seemed to me the most important thing for him was playing exciting football which also put me off. We might as well as become the football equivalent of the Harlem Globetrotters if that's the case.

Top stuff. Genuinely needed a good belly laugh and this was just the tonic

 

[chas vs dave]

@alfie103 this is you in this thread

 

[jbstarr14]

@alfie103 this is you in this thread

View attachment 132010

This is unfair.

Delia’s behaviour that day was nowhere near as attention-seeking or cringe-worthy.

 

[spurs9]

I think Poch, Conte and Mourinho have all said this was the case.

@luRRka

Mauricio Pochettino says trophies only build ego and Tottenham always want to be in top four

Connor Wickham and Andros Townsend seal 2-0 win for Crystal Palace in FA Cup fourth round

www.google.com

Conte believes he deserves to be winning trophies and Spurs gave him no targets

The Tottenham Hotspur head coach has been speaking about his time so far at the club and the difficulties he has faced since arriving in November

www.football.london

Neither of those links is Poch or Conte saying Levy told them to concentrate on the CL above everything else.

The first link Poch says that in his opinion, winning a cup won't take the team to the next level, all it will do is build your ego.

The second link Conte says ""We have to be disappointed because we wanted to go to the next step, also for our minds the FA Cup would be a possible target. Also for our mind's stimulation to give us something to hope for at the end of the season to lift the trophy."

If anything it shows the opposite of any Levy telling them what to do.

 

[Trent Crimm]

I’ve listened to the AP interview. My take away from it is that his pet badger and koala are not allowed in the same area, otherwise bloodbath. He also watches prime suspect and his favorite curry is a goat vindaloo.

 

[fecka]

I’ve listened to the AP interview. My take away from it is that his pet badger and koala are not allowed in the same area, otherwise bloodbath. He also watches prime suspect and his favorite curry is a goat vindaloo.

Won't be having that. Butter chicken is clearly the best one.

 

[dovahkiin]

Spoiler: article

What Ange Postecoglou changed at Spurs in his first 100 days: ‘The mood has been transformed’
By Charlie Eccleshare
59m ago

Today marks 100 days since Ange Postecoglou was appointed as Tottenham Hotspur head coach. And so, borrowing from the tradition of US presidents since Franklin D. Roosevelt publicly reflected on his first 100 days in office in 1933, this feels like an opportune moment to take stock of Postecoglou’s start with Spurs.

He didn’t technically begin in the role until a few weeks later, on July 1, but from the moment Postecoglou was appointed, he has been working tirelessly to oversee a revolution at the north London club. So we’re going with June 6 as our inauguration day.

And continuing the presidential analogy, a big part of Postecoglou’s appeal to Spurs was his suitability as the change candidate.

“Change” has been a word and a theme Postecoglou has returned to again and again since taking charge. Ahead of the game against Bournemouth a few weeks ago, for instance, he said: “If you want to change, you have to change. You can’t keep doing everything the same and expect a different outcome. It’s pretty obvious.

“Unless I change things — personnel or staff or manner of playing — then what am I doing? I’m definitely not that arrogant to think that just me walking in is going to give us success. You have to actually make meaningful change. That’s what the club wanted. By appointing me, I presume they wanted to go in a different direction.”

He later said: “What I tried to do, from the first day they (the players) walked in here, is to show them that it’s a different place and give them the opportunity to see whether that helps them get to a good place in terms of their own confidence and own self-belief.

“Coming into this year, I didn’t want anybody carrying the baggage or the burden of what’s gone on in the past. There’s no point in that. I don’t (do that). I come in with the energy that it’s something new and an exciting opportunity and that’s what I want the players to feel like.”

So, what changes has Postecoglou put in place over these 100 days? And how have they contributed to Tottenham’s excellent start to the 2023-24 Premier League? From tweaks to pre-match preparations, to shorter team meetings and more varied training sessions, this is how the Australian is delivering the changes he was brought in to make.
A cultural shift

One aspect Spurs insiders have picked up on with Postecoglou is that, unlike predecessor Antonio Conte, he is committed to transforming the culture of the club, even if that means ripping things up and starting again.

That stance may lead to some tricky weeks and months, but Postecoglou’s commitment to the project means he is willing to take some short-term hits if doing so results in long-term benefits. The sense with Conte was he was more short-termist in his thinking, believing that to remain as one of Europe’s most sought-after managers he couldn’t afford a bad period or season results-wise at Tottenham.

“Culture” subsequently became one of the main buzzwords during the managerial search that ended with them hiring Postecoglou away from Scottish champions Celtic in June. Having someone who could improve and fundamentally change the culture at Spurs was one of the key things Tottenham were looking for in Conte’s successor. In Postecoglou, they appear to have found the perfect person for this.

It is a term that means different things to different people, so what in this instance do Postecoglou’s cultural changes look like?

One of them is about empowering the players and other staff.

The Spurs dressing room has often been characterised as being filled with people who lack motivation and leadership, and who will always find something to complain about. This was the thrust of Conte’s “excuse, excuse, excuse” rant when he threw the players, along with pretty much everyone else connected with the club, under the bus in his valedictory monologue back in March.

Postecoglou sees things differently, and believes the best way to get the most from this squad is to empower them and give the players more responsibility. For home games, for instance, Postecoglou has tweaked things so that the night before a home match, players and staff get to sleep in their own bed rather than assembling at the training ground to use the on-site accommodation. They then make their way individually to the stadium from their residences.
Spurs players now make their own way to home matches (Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

The idea is to give the players, as well as staff, one less night away from their families, trusting them with preparing the right way and having them feeling more relaxed than they would do staying at the hotel which is part of the training complex’s Lodge.

This tweak is all part of Postecoglou’s desire to empower the players.

One of his key messages to them has been that the dressing room is their space, and that he wants the players to drive the cultural changes needed at the club.

Unless a situation becomes unsalvageable, the new captain Son Heung-min and his deputies James Maddison and Cristian Romero are left to sort any player issues out. And that new leadership group is in itself a major change Postecoglou has instigated — with none of last season’s quartet of Harry Kane (now at Bayern Munich), Eric Dier, Hugo Lloris or Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg part of it.

“A lot of it has to be player-driven,” Postecoglou told UK radio station talkSPORT on Tuesday. “I can sit there and paint the prettiest of pictures but they need to believe in it, they have to buy into it. As I keep saying, it’s their dressing room. They go there every day. I don’t go into the dressing room. And the environment is going to be key to us being successful. It has to be driven by them — they are the people involved — the people, not the players.”

Postecoglou has a similar attitude when it comes to his coaching staff, all of whom are in their thirties and none of whom has worked with him before.

“He’s very good at delegating,” says a dressing-room source speaking anonymously to protect relationships. “He wants to empower people and give them proper responsibility.” For instance Mile Jedinak, who captained Australia’s national team to win the 2015 Asian Cup under Postecoglou, is entrusted with sitting up in the stands with the analysts and then reporting back to him and the rest of the coaches. Conte’s brother Gianluca performed a similar role but was principally an analyst rather than a coach.

Giving his colleagues a sense of ownership and responsibility is a key tenet of Postecoglou’s leadership philosophy, and this extends to other departments as well. Be it masseurs, analysts or any employee, Postecoglou will not interfere, trusting that they know their area of expertise a lot better than he does.

Equally, though, they know he will have their back and not throw them under the bus in public.

“He will have oversight and when it comes to the big decisions, he’ll make them and stick to them,” says another source. Postecoglou has said repeatedly that the ultimate responsibility for whether he is a success at Spurs lies with him.

Many have contrasted this with Conte’s farewell press conference. Though it should be pointed out in among all the criticisms that while Conte’s methods did not ultimately work at Spurs, they have been successful elsewhere, and at Tottenham during his first season in charge. But clearly by the time he left there were many issues for his successor to resolve — one of which was a feeling among some staff that there was not enough regard for their wellbeing.

Medical staff for instance were questioned in public by Conte more than once, while a complaint across the board was that schedules were always liable to change at the last minute so it became difficult for people to have a life away from the club. Part of that is the all-or-nothing nature of working for a big Premier League club, but Postecoglou’s natural empathy has seen him take steps to address this issue.

Staff are now given a schedule for a month at a time, specifying days off and when training will be. Timings may change slightly where necessary, but this is a lot more foresight than there used to be under Conte. And on the pre-season tour to Australia, Thailand and Singapore, staff appreciated the change from last summer’s corresponding trip in South Korea, when timings were always liable to change at the very last minute.

Some of those who work at the training ground have also told The Athletic that Postecoglou has made an effort to introduce himself and speak to them, in a way that none of Mauricio Pochettino’s other three permanent successors — Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Conte — did. “The mood has been transformed,” says one source, while others point to the simple fact that they now enjoy going to work again.

Uniting a fractured club was another of Postecoglou and Spurs’ priorities this summer, and while there is still plenty to do, with issues that go beyond him needing to be resolved, he has made an encouraging start in this regard.

When it comes to the players, Postecoglou holds far fewer team meetings than his predecessor. Now in a six-day week, there tend to be no more than four meetings compared to daily ones under Conte. They are also more concise. Under Conte, they could last for up to an hour; now they are typically 15 to 20 minutes in duration.

Training sessions are similarly shorter, and don’t drag on longer than the allotted time, as happened quite often with Conte in charge.

They are also not as rigid, and less focused on running and tactical drills. Postecoglou likes to vary the exercises the players are put through, and there tends to be a competitive element with intense small-sided games. With Conte, there would be solid blocks of running and defensive shape work, which would often be worked on until he was satisfied it was being done correctly.
Postecoglou with Son Heung-min after the 5-2 win at Burnley (Visionhaus/Getty Images)

Postecoglou’s communication with the players is very different too.

As The Athletic has explored, his skill as an orator is one of the new coach’s great strengths and it is something that has already made a big impression at Spurs. Some at Tottenham say his team talks are the best they’ve ever heard and commend his ability to deliver tactical messages with clarity and authority, and also to be able to connect with the players emotionally when talking about aspects of the game such as attitude or reacting to adversity. It combines to leave them extremely fired up.

Perhaps one of Postecoglou’s biggest differences from his up-and-down predecessor is how he remains on an even keel, and doesn’t get too high or too low. Postecoglou is often characterised as a paternal figure, and something you hear again and again in relation to good parenting is the importance of consistency. This just wasn’t the case under Conte, when players and staff were never quite sure how he would react to a given situation. That volatility ultimately proved to be his undoing.

Postecoglou is much more measured, and also consistent, in how he treats different people. The message ahead of the pre-season tour that began his reign was that everyone was starting with a clean slate, and that he wouldn’t be prejudging anyone. So it has proved, with stalwarts such as Dier marginalised and others, including Ivan Perisic, who appeared to be on their way out reintegrated into the group.

Knowing that every selection is being made only on merit is a good way of ensuring that even if players are disappointed to be dropped, they know there was nothing personal in the decision. Dier is a good example of someone who has not been selected, but is determined to fight for his place.

Postecoglou has also decided that even the players not making matchday squads, like Dier and Lloris, still train with the first team. There has not been a “bomb squad”, unlike under previous managers.
Changes on the pitch

We’re only four games in, so nobody at Spurs is getting too carried away by the encouraging start to the season, but club insiders have been pleasantly surprised by how quickly the players have taken to Postecoglou’s methods.

One theory is that many became so disillusioned towards the end of Conte’s time in charge that they were especially receptive to something different.

And even without that context, those who have played under Postecoglou previously say that having training sessions and a way of playing that is so enjoyable is extremely motivating.

“When you’re part of a team that’s defensive and just wants to defend, that can sort of dim the mood,” says one of his former Australia players, Adam Taggart, now a striker at A-League side Perth Glory and formerly of Fulham and Dundee United. “Likewise, it’s the opposite when you’re with Ange and constantly trying to play attacking football. It just makes it so enjoyable and you’re more willing to put the work in.”

The Tottenham players certainly look like they’re enjoying themselves and putting the work in, and it has been remarkable to see how quickly they’ve adapted to playing in a completely different way from last season: a new formation, a new approach and many new players.

Internally at the club, there’s a lot of satisfaction at how well Spurs are performing in metrics such as total distance covered, high-speed running and sprint distance. The intensity of their football has seen comparisons made with Liverpool in the manic early days under Jurgen Klopp eight years ago.

In the 2-0 win at Bournemouth for instance, their running numbers were said to be exceptionally high, with multiple players covering more than 13 kilometres in the game (typically, an outfielder who plays 90-plus minutes will cover between 10 and 11 kilometres in a Premier League match, according to data from SkillCorner). Tottenham’s deceptive intensity is something to keep an eye on as this season unfolds.

And to have hit the ground running like this has been especially satisfying given the concerns at losing one pre-season friendly to bad weather and having to face Singapore side Lion City Sailors rather than leading Italian club Roma in another; a credit to those short but sharp training sessions.

Again, it is early days and given we’re only talking about four games, we should be wary of making too many direct comparisons between this season and the last one, but it is revealing looking at some of Spurs’ metrics from that dismal campaign.

For example, their average PPDA (passes per defensive action) was 13.8 last season, meaning that they allowed the opposition to make an average of 13.8 passes before attempting to win back the ball. That was only the 14th most active pressing figure of the 20 Premier League teams (the higher the number, the less active the press). This season, it is down to 10.3 (the fourth-most active press), suggesting that Tottenham have been more aggressive off the ball in these opening four games.

Another noticeable aspect is an increased dominance of the ball in advanced areas, which we can see with field tilt — a metric that measures the share of a game’s total passes in the final third that a team make. So, for example, if team A play 80 passes in the final third, and team B 20, team A has a field tilt of 80 per cent for that match.

GO DEEPER

The Athletic’s football analytics glossary: explaining xG, PPDA, field tilt and how to use them

Last season, Spurs’ field tilt was 42.9 per cent (16th in the league), so far this year, it is 60.6 per cent (fifth), showing that they’ve so far been able to consistently take control of their games in a way that was a rarity in 2022-23.

Their pass network from the opening weekend’s 2-2 draw with Brentford (below) helps to illustrate this, and also to show that inverted full-backs can get close to important attacking players and add value to the build-up. All of this has contributed to Tottenham having 17-plus shots in all four games (they averaged 13.6 last season).

In that first game against Brentford, meanwhile, they ended the game with 358 touches in the attacking third — more than in any of their 38 Premier League outings last season, when their highest number was 319.

Postecoglou’s use of two very attacking full-backs in Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie has been symbolic of this more enterprising approach.

It was striking in Singapore to see his reaction when asked whether he could play the pair in the same team. Postecoglou seemed genuinely bemused by why anyone would have any doubts about playing the two together, coming across as excited and privileged by the prospect rather than apprehensive. “If you’re asking me if those two can play at full-back, yeah absolutely,” he replied. “I would love them to play full-back (together).”

Udogie’s selection has also reflected Postecoglou’s belief that age is not a barrier if a player is felt to be good enough.

He has been greatly excited by the clutch of young players in the squad at Spurs and the last three games have seen starts for Udogie (20 years old, with no prior Premier League experience), Pape Matar Sarr (20, two Premier League starts before this season) and Micky van de Ven (22, never played in English football before). And after the sale of Davinson Sanchez and the reduced role of Dier so far, the main backup to centre-backs Romero and Van de Ven is the 18-year-old Ashley Phillips. Spurs’ seven summer signings were all aged between 18 and 26.

Conte’s natural inclination was often to go for the tried and tested, hence the signing of the then 33-year-old Perisic, who he had coached at Inter.

But Postecoglou has always seen things a little differently from most coaches when it comes to how much to trust young players. “Over my time I’d found that the earlier promising players are thrown into the mix, the better for everyone,” Postecoglou wrote in his 2016 book Changing the Game: Football in Australia Through My Eyes. “The better players will really thrive and the strugglers will be found out, and no further resources will be used up on them.”

Postecoglou’s interest in younger players has extended to the Spurs academy, where the junior sides are adopting a similar style to the one used by his first team.

Rediscovering the unity between the seniors and academy that has been lost since the days of Pochettino and former academy head John McDermott was another big part of the Tottenham job spec when they were recruiting a new manager this summer. Especially given how much of a chasm opened up under Conte, with one source telling The Athletic in April that academy players called up to train with the first team were “just there as cones”.

It is early (only 100) days, but so far Postecoglou is delivering on his promise of change. And here’s maybe the most significant alteration: ahead of matches like Saturday’s home fixture against Sheffield United, fans are counting down the minutes until kick-off rather than dreading what they’re about to see.

 

[muppetman]

Spoiler: article

What Ange Postecoglou changed at Spurs in his first 100 days: ‘The mood has been transformed’
By Charlie Eccleshare
59m ago

Today marks 100 days since Ange Postecoglou was appointed as Tottenham Hotspur head coach. And so, borrowing from the tradition of US presidents since Franklin D. Roosevelt publicly reflected on his first 100 days in office in 1933, this feels like an opportune moment to take stock of Postecoglou’s start with Spurs.

He didn’t technically begin in the role until a few weeks later, on July 1, but from the moment Postecoglou was appointed, he has been working tirelessly to oversee a revolution at the north London club. So we’re going with June 6 as our inauguration day.

And continuing the presidential analogy, a big part of Postecoglou’s appeal to Spurs was his suitability as the change candidate.

“Change” has been a word and a theme Postecoglou has returned to again and again since taking charge. Ahead of the game against Bournemouth a few weeks ago, for instance, he said: “If you want to change, you have to change. You can’t keep doing everything the same and expect a different outcome. It’s pretty obvious.

“Unless I change things — personnel or staff or manner of playing — then what am I doing? I’m definitely not that arrogant to think that just me walking in is going to give us success. You have to actually make meaningful change. That’s what the club wanted. By appointing me, I presume they wanted to go in a different direction.”

He later said: “What I tried to do, from the first day they (the players) walked in here, is to show them that it’s a different place and give them the opportunity to see whether that helps them get to a good place in terms of their own confidence and own self-belief.

“Coming into this year, I didn’t want anybody carrying the baggage or the burden of what’s gone on in the past. There’s no point in that. I don’t (do that). I come in with the energy that it’s something new and an exciting opportunity and that’s what I want the players to feel like.”

So, what changes has Postecoglou put in place over these 100 days? And how have they contributed to Tottenham’s excellent start to the 2023-24 Premier League? From tweaks to pre-match preparations, to shorter team meetings and more varied training sessions, this is how the Australian is delivering the changes he was brought in to make.
A cultural shift

One aspect Spurs insiders have picked up on with Postecoglou is that, unlike predecessor Antonio Conte, he is committed to transforming the culture of the club, even if that means ripping things up and starting again.

That stance may lead to some tricky weeks and months, but Postecoglou’s commitment to the project means he is willing to take some short-term hits if doing so results in long-term benefits. The sense with Conte was he was more short-termist in his thinking, believing that to remain as one of Europe’s most sought-after managers he couldn’t afford a bad period or season results-wise at Tottenham.

“Culture” subsequently became one of the main buzzwords during the managerial search that ended with them hiring Postecoglou away from Scottish champions Celtic in June. Having someone who could improve and fundamentally change the culture at Spurs was one of the key things Tottenham were looking for in Conte’s successor. In Postecoglou, they appear to have found the perfect person for this.

It is a term that means different things to different people, so what in this instance do Postecoglou’s cultural changes look like?

One of them is about empowering the players and other staff.

The Spurs dressing room has often been characterised as being filled with people who lack motivation and leadership, and who will always find something to complain about. This was the thrust of Conte’s “excuse, excuse, excuse” rant when he threw the players, along with pretty much everyone else connected with the club, under the bus in his valedictory monologue back in March.

Postecoglou sees things differently, and believes the best way to get the most from this squad is to empower them and give the players more responsibility. For home games, for instance, Postecoglou has tweaked things so that the night before a home match, players and staff get to sleep in their own bed rather than assembling at the training ground to use the on-site accommodation. They then make their way individually to the stadium from their residences.
Spurs players now make their own way to home matches (Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

The idea is to give the players, as well as staff, one less night away from their families, trusting them with preparing the right way and having them feeling more relaxed than they would do staying at the hotel which is part of the training complex’s Lodge.

This tweak is all part of Postecoglou’s desire to empower the players.

One of his key messages to them has been that the dressing room is their space, and that he wants the players to drive the cultural changes needed at the club.

Unless a situation becomes unsalvageable, the new captain Son Heung-min and his deputies James Maddison and Cristian Romero are left to sort any player issues out. And that new leadership group is in itself a major change Postecoglou has instigated — with none of last season’s quartet of Harry Kane (now at Bayern Munich), Eric Dier, Hugo Lloris or Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg part of it.

“A lot of it has to be player-driven,” Postecoglou told UK radio station talkSPORT on Tuesday. “I can sit there and paint the prettiest of pictures but they need to believe in it, they have to buy into it. As I keep saying, it’s their dressing room. They go there every day. I don’t go into the dressing room. And the environment is going to be key to us being successful. It has to be driven by them — they are the people involved — the people, not the players.”

Postecoglou has a similar attitude when it comes to his coaching staff, all of whom are in their thirties and none of whom has worked with him before.

“He’s very good at delegating,” says a dressing-room source speaking anonymously to protect relationships. “He wants to empower people and give them proper responsibility.” For instance Mile Jedinak, who captained Australia’s national team to win the 2015 Asian Cup under Postecoglou, is entrusted with sitting up in the stands with the analysts and then reporting back to him and the rest of the coaches. Conte’s brother Gianluca performed a similar role but was principally an analyst rather than a coach.

Giving his colleagues a sense of ownership and responsibility is a key tenet of Postecoglou’s leadership philosophy, and this extends to other departments as well. Be it masseurs, analysts or any employee, Postecoglou will not interfere, trusting that they know their area of expertise a lot better than he does.

Equally, though, they know he will have their back and not throw them under the bus in public.

“He will have oversight and when it comes to the big decisions, he’ll make them and stick to them,” says another source. Postecoglou has said repeatedly that the ultimate responsibility for whether he is a success at Spurs lies with him.

Many have contrasted this with Conte’s farewell press conference. Though it should be pointed out in among all the criticisms that while Conte’s methods did not ultimately work at Spurs, they have been successful elsewhere, and at Tottenham during his first season in charge. But clearly by the time he left there were many issues for his successor to resolve — one of which was a feeling among some staff that there was not enough regard for their wellbeing.

Medical staff for instance were questioned in public by Conte more than once, while a complaint across the board was that schedules were always liable to change at the last minute so it became difficult for people to have a life away from the club. Part of that is the all-or-nothing nature of working for a big Premier League club, but Postecoglou’s natural empathy has seen him take steps to address this issue.

Staff are now given a schedule for a month at a time, specifying days off and when training will be. Timings may change slightly where necessary, but this is a lot more foresight than there used to be under Conte. And on the pre-season tour to Australia, Thailand and Singapore, staff appreciated the change from last summer’s corresponding trip in South Korea, when timings were always liable to change at the very last minute.

Some of those who work at the training ground have also told The Athletic that Postecoglou has made an effort to introduce himself and speak to them, in a way that none of Mauricio Pochettino’s other three permanent successors — Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Conte — did. “The mood has been transformed,” says one source, while others point to the simple fact that they now enjoy going to work again.

Uniting a fractured club was another of Postecoglou and Spurs’ priorities this summer, and while there is still plenty to do, with issues that go beyond him needing to be resolved, he has made an encouraging start in this regard.

When it comes to the players, Postecoglou holds far fewer team meetings than his predecessor. Now in a six-day week, there tend to be no more than four meetings compared to daily ones under Conte. They are also more concise. Under Conte, they could last for up to an hour; now they are typically 15 to 20 minutes in duration.

Training sessions are similarly shorter, and don’t drag on longer than the allotted time, as happened quite often with Conte in charge.

They are also not as rigid, and less focused on running and tactical drills. Postecoglou likes to vary the exercises the players are put through, and there tends to be a competitive element with intense small-sided games. With Conte, there would be solid blocks of running and defensive shape work, which would often be worked on until he was satisfied it was being done correctly.
Postecoglou with Son Heung-min after the 5-2 win at Burnley (Visionhaus/Getty Images)

Postecoglou’s communication with the players is very different too.

As The Athletic has explored, his skill as an orator is one of the new coach’s great strengths and it is something that has already made a big impression at Spurs. Some at Tottenham say his team talks are the best they’ve ever heard and commend his ability to deliver tactical messages with clarity and authority, and also to be able to connect with the players emotionally when talking about aspects of the game such as attitude or reacting to adversity. It combines to leave them extremely fired up.

Perhaps one of Postecoglou’s biggest differences from his up-and-down predecessor is how he remains on an even keel, and doesn’t get too high or too low. Postecoglou is often characterised as a paternal figure, and something you hear again and again in relation to good parenting is the importance of consistency. This just wasn’t the case under Conte, when players and staff were never quite sure how he would react to a given situation. That volatility ultimately proved to be his undoing.

Postecoglou is much more measured, and also consistent, in how he treats different people. The message ahead of the pre-season tour that began his reign was that everyone was starting with a clean slate, and that he wouldn’t be prejudging anyone. So it has proved, with stalwarts such as Dier marginalised and others, including Ivan Perisic, who appeared to be on their way out reintegrated into the group.

Knowing that every selection is being made only on merit is a good way of ensuring that even if players are disappointed to be dropped, they know there was nothing personal in the decision. Dier is a good example of someone who has not been selected, but is determined to fight for his place.

Postecoglou has also decided that even the players not making matchday squads, like Dier and Lloris, still train with the first team. There has not been a “bomb squad”, unlike under previous managers.
Changes on the pitch

We’re only four games in, so nobody at Spurs is getting too carried away by the encouraging start to the season, but club insiders have been pleasantly surprised by how quickly the players have taken to Postecoglou’s methods.

One theory is that many became so disillusioned towards the end of Conte’s time in charge that they were especially receptive to something different.

And even without that context, those who have played under Postecoglou previously say that having training sessions and a way of playing that is so enjoyable is extremely motivating.

“When you’re part of a team that’s defensive and just wants to defend, that can sort of dim the mood,” says one of his former Australia players, Adam Taggart, now a striker at A-League side Perth Glory and formerly of Fulham and Dundee United. “Likewise, it’s the opposite when you’re with Ange and constantly trying to play attacking football. It just makes it so enjoyable and you’re more willing to put the work in.”

The Tottenham players certainly look like they’re enjoying themselves and putting the work in, and it has been remarkable to see how quickly they’ve adapted to playing in a completely different way from last season: a new formation, a new approach and many new players.

Internally at the club, there’s a lot of satisfaction at how well Spurs are performing in metrics such as total distance covered, high-speed running and sprint distance. The intensity of their football has seen comparisons made with Liverpool in the manic early days under Jurgen Klopp eight years ago.

In the 2-0 win at Bournemouth for instance, their running numbers were said to be exceptionally high, with multiple players covering more than 13 kilometres in the game (typically, an outfielder who plays 90-plus minutes will cover between 10 and 11 kilometres in a Premier League match, according to data from SkillCorner). Tottenham’s deceptive intensity is something to keep an eye on as this season unfolds.

And to have hit the ground running like this has been especially satisfying given the concerns at losing one pre-season friendly to bad weather and having to face Singapore side Lion City Sailors rather than leading Italian club Roma in another; a credit to those short but sharp training sessions.

Again, it is early days and given we’re only talking about four games, we should be wary of making too many direct comparisons between this season and the last one, but it is revealing looking at some of Spurs’ metrics from that dismal campaign.

For example, their average PPDA (passes per defensive action) was 13.8 last season, meaning that they allowed the opposition to make an average of 13.8 passes before attempting to win back the ball. That was only the 14th most active pressing figure of the 20 Premier League teams (the higher the number, the less active the press). This season, it is down to 10.3 (the fourth-most active press), suggesting that Tottenham have been more aggressive off the ball in these opening four games.

Another noticeable aspect is an increased dominance of the ball in advanced areas, which we can see with field tilt — a metric that measures the share of a game’s total passes in the final third that a team make. So, for example, if team A play 80 passes in the final third, and team B 20, team A has a field tilt of 80 per cent for that match.

GO DEEPER

The Athletic’s football analytics glossary: explaining xG, PPDA, field tilt and how to use them

Last season, Spurs’ field tilt was 42.9 per cent (16th in the league), so far this year, it is 60.6 per cent (fifth), showing that they’ve so far been able to consistently take control of their games in a way that was a rarity in 2022-23.

Their pass network from the opening weekend’s 2-2 draw with Brentford (below) helps to illustrate this, and also to show that inverted full-backs can get close to important attacking players and add value to the build-up. All of this has contributed to Tottenham having 17-plus shots in all four games (they averaged 13.6 last season).

In that first game against Brentford, meanwhile, they ended the game with 358 touches in the attacking third — more than in any of their 38 Premier League outings last season, when their highest number was 319.

Postecoglou’s use of two very attacking full-backs in Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie has been symbolic of this more enterprising approach.

It was striking in Singapore to see his reaction when asked whether he could play the pair in the same team. Postecoglou seemed genuinely bemused by why anyone would have any doubts about playing the two together, coming across as excited and privileged by the prospect rather than apprehensive. “If you’re asking me if those two can play at full-back, yeah absolutely,” he replied. “I would love them to play full-back (together).”

Udogie’s selection has also reflected Postecoglou’s belief that age is not a barrier if a player is felt to be good enough.

He has been greatly excited by the clutch of young players in the squad at Spurs and the last three games have seen starts for Udogie (20 years old, with no prior Premier League experience), Pape Matar Sarr (20, two Premier League starts before this season) and Micky van de Ven (22, never played in English football before). And after the sale of Davinson Sanchez and the reduced role of Dier so far, the main backup to centre-backs Romero and Van de Ven is the 18-year-old Ashley Phillips. Spurs’ seven summer signings were all aged between 18 and 26.

Conte’s natural inclination was often to go for the tried and tested, hence the signing of the then 33-year-old Perisic, who he had coached at Inter.

But Postecoglou has always seen things a little differently from most coaches when it comes to how much to trust young players. “Over my time I’d found that the earlier promising players are thrown into the mix, the better for everyone,” Postecoglou wrote in his 2016 book Changing the Game: Football in Australia Through My Eyes. “The better players will really thrive and the strugglers will be found out, and no further resources will be used up on them.”

Postecoglou’s interest in younger players has extended to the Spurs academy, where the junior sides are adopting a similar style to the one used by his first team.

Rediscovering the unity between the seniors and academy that has been lost since the days of Pochettino and former academy head John McDermott was another big part of the Tottenham job spec when they were recruiting a new manager this summer. Especially given how much of a chasm opened up under Conte, with one source telling The Athletic in April that academy players called up to train with the first team were “just there as cones”.

It is early (only 100) days, but so far Postecoglou is delivering on his promise of change. And here’s maybe the most significant alteration: ahead of matches like Saturday’s home fixture against Sheffield United, fans are counting down the minutes until kick-off rather than dreading what they’re about to see.

Well, that's all worryingly positive!

 

[carpediem991]

Haven't heard about Ange since we are linked with him.

Now I think he is the most sympathic head coach there is in football. Such a great guy.

 

[jurgen11]

I dont think youll here this bloke say "We dont have the players" or "The club lacks ambition or a winners mentality" -always tremendous motivational statements for the team

 

[Japhet]

I dont think youll here this bloke say "We dont have the players" or "The club lacks ambition or a winners mentality" -always tremendous motivational statements for the team

Must have been such a massive downer for the players to hear Mourinho and Conte talking like that. Even if that's what you think, you don't say it in public, or even to their faces if you want the best they can give.

 

[SirHarryHotspur]

I dont think youll here this bloke say "We dont have the players" or "The club lacks ambition or a winners mentality" -always tremendous motivational statements for the team

Better drop him a line and advise him never to read anything on this forum, the amount of negativity by some on here would dampen his spirits.

 

[chas vs dave]

Right I'm off to amazon to see if I can buy big anges book

 

[Gassin's finest]

From that Athletic article:

he is committed to transforming the culture of the club, even if that means ripping things up and starting again.

That is very Pochettino era... he came in and said "we need to change the culture of the club".

 

[Gb160]

I'm writing Ange a letter...what's a non-gay way to ask him if he wants to go camping with me?