Tottenham have issues, but mentality isn’t one of them. That’s according to their head coach Ange Postecoglou.
It’s been a rollercoaster for Spurs fans since the start of this season. Thumping statement victories at Manchester United and against Champions League rivals Aston Villa have been punctured by miserable losses to lowly Crystal Palace and Ipswich – handing both clubs their first Premier League wins in the process.
Spurs’ consistency this season lies in their inconsistency. It’s never dull. They either win or they lose. Five league wins have been paired with five league defeats since their opening-weekend draw at promoted Leicester City.
But whilst Postecoglou understands the question marks around the psychological state of his squad, he doesn’t buy into the narrative.
“I don’t worry about the mentality of the squad or the other areas that people tend to focus on,” he tells Sky Sports ahead of Saturday’s trip to Manchester City. “What I’m looking at is how we grow from our experiences. And those experiences – as painful as they were and are – I still think we’ll get growth out of them”.
Saturday 23rd November 5:00pm
Kick off 5:30pm
Growth is a recurring theme as the Australian sits down with Sky Sports News ahead of his 50th Premier League match in charge – a meeting with the champions Manchester City at the Etihad.
In November last year, Tottenham sat on top of the Premier League table after his first 10 games in charge. Yet a damaging defeat to Chelsea, with red cards and injuries hitting his squad, was the starting point for a see-saw campaign. A dramatic decline in spring ended any hopes of Champions League qualification. Spurs now sit 10th heading into a busy programme of fixtures.
But Postecoglou is bullish about what has been achieved over the course of his previous 49 league games.
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“From where we started, I think the first 50 games, if you think of it as a totality, I think we’ve made really, really good progress considering our starting point, which was finishing eighth in the league,” he said. “That was our starting point. I didn’t come to a club that finished first.
“I think we have shown we’ve made progress and it’s also shown we’ve still got a long way to go.”
Perhaps context is therefore required. Postecoglou took over a club who were reeling following Antonio Conte’s exit – with the Italian taking a swipe at the club’s ownership and overall direction over the previous 20 years before then departing.
However, the ‘Spursy’ tag continues to be levelled at this group. It’s a label they can’t seem to shake. It will take another 50 Premier League matches and maybe more for Postecoglou to ensure his side are looked at through a different prism than a team who, despite highs of a Champions League final and regular top-four finishes, have failed to win silverware since 2008.
His target is to separate the past and the future. Yet criticism has been unavoidable since the 2-1 home defeat to promoted Ipswich just before the international break. And the issue of inconsistency is a difficult one to explain or to solve.
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“Some of it is where we are at as a club at the moment,” he said. “We’re still learning to deal with certain things. It’s just part of our growth. The results aside – because the results can disguise things – the reality is that our performances have been inconsistent which is the thing we need to address.
“We’ve been really good this year when we have been good. And we’ve been really poor when we haven’t. We need to make sure we always get a consistent level.”
Despite injury concerns at the back, Tottenham have the perfect stage to respond at the home of the champions this weekend. Spurs have already dumped Manchester City out of the Carabao Cup this season – the first defeat in a run of four for Pep Guardiola’s side.
Tottenham have enjoyed success at The Etihad in the past, but Guardiola’s contract extension, confirmed this week, seems an inevitable catalyst to guide the Citizens out of their challenging patch.
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Guardiola’s new deal will most likely see him complete 11 years in sky blue. And whilst Postecoglou isn’t looking that far ahead, his mindset is to remain in north London to oversee a period of “sustained success” in the future.
“It’s unlikely I’ll be here for a decade, but I think you have to think that way,” he said. “I think it’s the only way you get on a road where you understand exactly how you’re going to get to that destination of sustained success, which is what we all want – particularly for a club like this which hasn’t had a great deal of it.
“You don’t want to a peak, you want a sustained period. So that takes time and that’s what we are trying to build.
“Certainly every decision I’ve made is on the back of what’s going to give us that platform to say that over a period of X years, we’re going to be in a position to challenge for everything”.
Watch Manchester City vs Tottenham live on Sky Sports Premier League from 5pm on Saturday, kick-off 5.30pm.
