Ange Postecoglou has been leading training sessions for over a month now and us Tottenham Hotspur supporters have come to see how quickly he has imprinted his ideas on the squad.
In the first friendly against West Ham, we dominated the ball and the run of play only to lose out because our London adversaries deposited three of their four shots in the back of the net. Fair play to them but fair play to us as well.
We then continued to tour in southeast Asia and made the most of difficult circumstances (monsoon’s and Roma cancelling their participation) to wash Lion City Sailors up and down the pitch.
What stood out was more than the massive shot totals we created, or the leaky goals we conceded, was our style of play. Players were pressing high, moving the ball quickly, and making themselves available as outlets. Even though they are friendlies, it had been a long time since supporters had seen this type of intent from our squad. In a short period of time, he got the players playing with the ball and with the intent to attack, full stop. The most cynical among us have found hope in what we’ve seen.
That is not to say, however, that the last month has been easy. Questions about a bloated squad, incoming signings—center backs, specifically—and Harry Kane’s* future persist. Spurs fans have a common interest and love for the club, but they do not agree on how it should be run. So a common theme this last week among podcasts and friends has been “how do you feel about Spurs?” I have come to answer that question like this: I feel good about Ange. Spurs? I really don’t know.
What line of reasoning has brought me to this point? Well, look at our new manager’s record. It is well documented at this point that football people in Australia fight for the spotlight and resources in a way most of the world cannot understand. Maybe only the United States, the cricket powerhouses of south Asia, and Canada are similar. The fight for public interest is connected to funding, accessibility, and facilities. So make no mistake, Ange has arrived in N17 by sheer force of will.
And if you look at his record, he has done a lot of winning. Whether that was in the now rebranded Australian league, Japan’s J-League, or Scotland. Hell, he even won an international tournament, Australia’s men’s team only trophy. Because of where he has done his work, he has been positioned by the press, and frankly himself, as an underdog, but I see it differently.
While his beginnings and nationality have always made him an unlikely success in the world of football, his CV screams serial winner. This cringe-worthy (I shudder a bit writing it, to be honest) descriptor has been attached to two of our latest managers. Those managers were seen as bigger than our club. Men that, if given exactly what they want, would succeed regardless of context. What do we have to show for their presence at the club, though? We did play good football in the spring of 2022, but is that what we signed up for? No matter who fans blame for the continuing fiasco of the last few years, nobody can say that’s why we hired those managers. To end up here.
But I do not think for a minute anyone will ever stop calling them serial winners.
Which makes it so interesting to me that the guy brought in to clean the mess these serials winners created, throwing all their toys out of the pram when they saw fit, is seen as some type of ideological salve instead of the gritty, determined winner that he is.
Tradition runs deep in football. That’s one of the reasons we love it; it’s something to hold on to, to compare what we see and what we feel. But tradition can also skew the way we think. About players, clubs, and managers. Ange may not have managed in a competition equal to the Premier League but he has managed professionally for a long time, and he has always succeeded. And despite all of those winner’s medals weighing down his neck, isn’t it interesting that his appointment is often presented as a thought experiment more than a pathway to glory?
So, if ever we stumble into each other’s paths these next months and the question to “how do you feel about Spurs?” comes up, now you know my the basis of my answer.
*Quite interesting that the underdog of underdogs, a man who idolizes Tom Brady—once the starting QB at Michigan and drafted into the NFL—as an “underdog” is unwilling to commit his lot to Ange’s project.