When Ange Postecoglou sat down for his first press conference as Tottenham manager last July, he revealed his vision for his new team.
Aside from being “successful”, Postecoglou wanted Tottenham “to be an aggressive team, a dominant team, a team who takes the game to every opposition home and away”.
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With Postecoglou’s debut season as a Premier League manager in the rear-view mirror, it’s hard to argue the Australian hasn’t delivered on his plan, especially the desire to show no fear against Spurs’ opponents.
However, the same pundits who lauded Postecoglou’s bravery and ingenuity for the style of play at the start seemed to turn on him just as quickly once results began to slide.
It was a predictable discourse and one Postecoglou has faced at almost every stop in his managerial career.
However, one game – and one specific moment – proved that no matter what the pundits said, the Australian would not waver from his beliefs.
This is how Postecoglou silenced the doubters, at least for now, and guided Tottenham back to the bright lights of European football, all without the club’s record goal scorer.
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Along with an outline of what he wanted from Tottenham during games, Postecoglou made it abundantly clear it would be no overnight transformation.
But, at the very least, he wanted fans to see the foundations for what was to come.
“We had a massive rebuild at Celtic but at the beginning, even though the results weren’t there, the supporters could see what we were trying to do and get behind us,” Postecoglou said.
“I don’t know whether it’s going to be a rocky start or a good start for us but my hope and desire and what I’m going to try to do is give supporters hope that we’re going to embark on something special.”
What made Postecoglou’s rebuild all the more difficult was the drawn-out transfer saga surrounding superstar striker Harry Kane.
In the 2022-23 campaign, Kane accounted for 43 per cent of Tottenham’s 70 league goals but he was so much more than just a goalscorer. Kane was Tottenham.
Kane was sold to Bayern Munich for $157 million on the eve of Tottenham’s Premier League opener against Brentford, although Postecoglou insisted he planned for the superstar’s exit.
It’s impossible to replace Kane directly, so Postecoglou opted to upgrade several positions across the squad prior to Kane’s departure.
Dejan Kulusevski and Pedro Porro’s temporary deals became permanent while Guglielmo Vicario, James Maddison, Mickey van de Ven and Brennan Johnson all arrived in the summer, with Johnson joining on deadline day.
With the loss of Kane coupled with the squad needing to adapt to Postecoglou’s methods, the Australian was reluctant to set any expectations for the season ahead, at least externally.
“Again, from the outset what’s important is that we try and establish some key principles of who we want to be first of all,” Postecoglou said.
Well, if Postecoglou didn’t want to vocalise any concrete goals, the stunning unbeaten run to start the season gave fans plenty of reason to dream.
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In Postecoglou’s first season at Celtic, a draw and three losses in the first seven league games — including a defeat to bitter rivals Rangers — had some sections of the fanbase already doubting his credentials.
It was the complete opposite at Tottenham.
Postecoglou oversaw a pulsating 2-2 draw against Brentford to start and the results that followed led to a tidal wave of positivity and optimism from Spurs supporters.
Tottenham went on a staggering 10-game unbeaten run featuring victories over Manchester United and Liverpool, albeit the latter result was dripping in controversy as the Reds were wrongly denied a goal.
Not even bitter rivals Arsenal could stop Tottenham as the first north London derby of the season ended 2-2.
Yet the one game in this dizzying run that truly united the fan base was a 2-1 victory over lowly Sheffield United.
The Blades looked set to escape north London with a highly valuable victory and were ahead as late as the 97th minute.
Just 180 seconds later, Kulusevski scored what proved to be the game winner as the stadium erupted in a chorus of joy.
As The Athletic’s Jack Pitt-Brooke wrote, “it felt as if a club that had been so fractured only a few months before had been united overnight” by Postecoglou.
Tottenham sat in first with 26 points from a possible 30, Postecoglou was constantly serenaded to the tune of Robbie Williams’ Angels — with the pop icon even signing the amended version himself — and fans dared to dream of what could be.
But Tottenham supporters were quickly brought crashing back to earth in the club’s 11th game of the season as a reporter’s prediction about how Postecoglou’s first season would unfold came true.
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In early November, Tottenham welcomed a Chelsea team stuck in mid-table having won just three of their opening 10 games.
Postecoglou’s side began brightly as Kulusevski scored in the sixth minute and looked a threat every time they went forward against Chelsea’s fragile backline.
But the contest flipped on its head in the 33rd minute when Tottenham defender Cristian Romero got sent off and Cole Palmer buried the resulting penalty to equalise.
It went from bad to worse for Tottenham when star duo Van de Ven and Maddison were forced off with significant injuries just before half time.
If that wasn’t grim enough, Destiny Udogie’s second yellow in the 55th minute reduced the hosts to just nine men.
Much to the surprise of the wider football community — except those who have followed Postecoglou’s career closely — Tottenham refused to park their nine men behind the ball and continued to pour numbers forward in attack.
Yes, it meant Chelsea’s speedy wingers got behind Tottenham’s defensive line with ease, but it is not the Postecoglou way to simply roll over and accept defeat.
An iconic image emphasised how wedded Postecoglou is to his philosophy and also proved The Athletic’s Charlie Eccleshare correct in his pre-season prediction.
“I think there will be quite a tedious debate,” Eccleshare told The View From The Lane podcast in August.
“The way this will pan out is that Postecoglou will get a lot of plaudits early on because he plays attacking football.
“But there will come a point at which they lose badly to a team they’re expected to beat because they play in this certain way.
“There will be a lot of pundits saying, ‘I’m sorry, I’m all for good football but there comes a time you’ve got to shut up shop. I don’t care who you are, you’ve got to show more respect to the opposition.’”
Those critical pundits came out swinging after the Chelsea defeat.
“I have to say, there was a bit of an arrogance about not changing it,” former Chelsea defender and talkSPORT pundit Jason Cundy said, adding Postecoglou’s stubbornness was “naive”.
Ex-Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson was equally critical.
“I’d never seen anything like it,” Merson told Sky Sports.
“But Ange Postecoglou should have changed tactics. It was very easy. If that was Man City playing Tottenham, it would have been 10-1 at least.”
Even Tottenham legend and former England manager Glenn Hoddle was stunned at Postecoglou’s refusal to adapt.
“If Tottenham keeps playing that high, near the halfway line, then I think it’s footballing suicide with 10 men,” Hoddle told Premier League Productions during the halftime break.
“They had defenders in there that they’ve had it work, but it seems to me they haven’t changed their tactics. They’ve got to change.”
Unsurprisingly, Postecoglou was peppered with questions as to why he did not change his approach with nine men on the park.
“It is just who we are mate,” Postecoglou said in his post-match press conference.
“It is who we are and who we will be for as long as I am here. If we go down to five men, we will have a go.”
Only Postecoglou could have the ability to make Tottenham fans view a 4-1 defeat to a rival team through an optimistic lens.
However, the debate slowly turned against him as results became harder to come by in the second half of the season.
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After the Chelsea defeat, Tottenham failed to win any of their next four games as Postecoglou grappled with a mounting injury list that exposed a worrying lack of depth, especially in defence.
Tottenham ultimately kept just one clean sheet from the Chelsea clash on November 6 through to the 4-0 thrashing of Aston Villa on March 10.
Conceding goals off of set pieces also proved to be problematic, with Tottenham shipping the fifth-most (16) throughout the season.
There were calls from the external world for Postecoglou to appoint a specialist set piece coach to combat the issue but the Aussie refused, insisting his assistant coaches Ryan Mason and Mile Jedinak were well-equipped at the role.
“There are far more important things that we need to concentrate on at the moment in terms of the team we’re building,” Postecoglou said.
Although Tottenham’s form in the second half of the season was patchy, the 4-0 victory over Villa had many believing a top four finish was achievable.
But Postecoglou’s side won just four out of their final 11 games as the Champions League dream slipped further and further away.
Granted, Tottenham had to face Newcastle, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City in their final seven games.
The defeat to City proved to be especially bruising — and eye-opening — for the Aussie boss.
Tottenham had to win if they were to remain in the mix for the Champions League, but victory would have also put Arsenal in the box seat to win the Premier League title.
Lose or draw that match and they could kiss the Champions League goodbye for another season.
Sections of the Tottenham fan base made it clear they weren’t terribly fussed about losing to City, especially if it robbed their bitter rivals of a first league title in 10 years.
When asked before the game about the supporters being okay with defeat, Postecoglou bristled and responded: “I understand rivalry, but I have never, and will never, understand if someone wants their own team to lose.”
Tottenham would lose 2-0 to City amid a subdued atmosphere within the stadium as Postecoglou delivered an explosive post-match press conference where he criticised the club’s “fragile foundations”.
It left The Telegraph’s Matt Law believing either Postecoglou or Tottenham had to fully adapt to the other and could not maintain their stubbornness.
“In many respects Ange Postecoglou and Tottenham Hotspur are a match made in heaven,” Law wrote.
“But if the marriage is not to ultimately end in another messy divorce, then something will have to give.
“Put simply, either Tottenham have to change or Postecoglou does because the last three months have demonstrated that stubbornness from both sides will grow into something much more damaging.”
A few days after the game, the Aussie boss conceded it was “probably the worst experience” he’s had as a manager during a match and “got it wrong” in terms of what he expected the atmosphere and the fans’ sentiments to be.
Postecoglou and Tottenham managed to end the season on a high as a comfortable 3-0 win over Sheffield United ensured a spot in the Europa League for next season.
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Although some may look back on Tottenham’s season wondering what could have been, Postecoglou’s debut Premier League campaign should fill supporters with optimism.
Objectively it was a better season than the 22/23 one: under Postecoglou, Tottenham finished with more points, won more games, scored more and conceded less.
Let’s not forget Postecoglou did all of this without Kane’s goals.
Another cause for a positive outlook is how Postecoglou traditionally fares in his second season at a club.
During his stints with the Brisbane Roar, Yokohama F. Marinos and Celtic, the 58-year-old averaged more points per game in his second season.
The summer window will give Postecoglou another chance to shape the squad further into his mould and ship out those who he does not believe can play his high-octane brand of football.
There could also be a serious vacuum at the top of the ladder which opens the door wide open for Postecoglou and Tottenham to return to the top four.
With Jurgen Klopp no longer at the helm for Liverpool, new boss Arne Slot will hope to avoid the slump attached to those replacing long-term managers.
David Moyes couldn’t do it at Manchester United after he replaced Sir Alex Ferguson and Unai Emery struggled at Arsenal as Arsene Wenger’s successor, so there’s every chance Slot and Liverpool slide down the ladder.
Chelsea will also have a new manager in Enzo Maresca as the Blues parted ways with Mauricio Pochettino despite the latter leading the club to a sixth-place finish.
There’s also a chance Aston Villa take a slight tumble as they contend with the club’s first Champions League campaign in 41 years.
A return to Europe’s elite club competition next season would represent yet another improvement for Postecoglou.
So too would winning a trophy, something Tottenham have not done since 2008.
No matter what, Postecoglou will do it his way.
