Analysing Ange Postecoglou’s Time at Tottenham Hotspur

With Ange Postecoglou now well into his second season at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, it’s a fitting time to begin evaluating the Australian’s up-and-down tenure in north London.
‘Big Ange’, as he’s lovingly known by the Spurs supporters, arrived at the club with plenty of fanfare after winning five trophies in two years with Celtic—including a famous treble in his second season in Glasgow.

Postecoglou’s first major challenge presented itself in pre-season, with captain and talisman Harry Kane forcing his way out of the club that he joined in 2004 to join German giants Bayern Munich in pursuit of silverware.

That transfer saga rumbled on for a lot longer than it should have, as Kane’s move to Bavaria was confirmed just days before the start of the 2023-24 campaign despite it becoming clear from early on in the window that both parties were interested.

Spurs failed to bring in a suitable replacement, and the consensus was that they would struggle without their leading goal scorer. However, they hit the ground running under Postecoglou—who won three successive Manager of the Month awards after going unbeaten in nine games.

It was London rivals Chelsea who ended their lengthy streak. In a heated affair in north London, the Blues ran rampant to a 4-1 victory after red cards for Destiny Udogie and Cristian Romero. With the pair’s first meeting of this season approaching, the Tottenham vs Chelsea odds are hard to predict.

Back to last season, the wheels came off for Spurs somewhat after that defeat to Mauricio Pochettino’s side. They failed to win any of their next four games, losing to Wolves, Aston Villa, and West Ham while drawing with Man City.

Spurs followed this with a solid run of 10 wins and just four defeats in their next 17 league games, as they looked to guarantee a place in the top four and secure Champions League football, having missed out on European football entirely the season before.

But as they have done so many times before, Tottenham capitulated. They suffered four successive defeats to Newcastle, Man City, Arsenal, and Liverpool late in the campaign to gift Aston Villa fourth despite rounding off the campaign with wins over relegated sides Burnley and Sheffield United.

There wasn’t much to celebrate in the domestic cups, either. Spurs edged Burnley in the third round of the FA Cup with a 1-0 win at home before suffering a 1-0 defeat to Man City in the next round, while London foes Fulham knocked them out of the League Cup on penalties in the second round.

Despite finding a replacement for Kane in the £65 million signing of Dominic Solanke, Tottenham have been incredibly inconsistent in the first few months of this season—much to the frustration of Postecoglou and the Spurs support.

At the time of writing, the north London side have less than half of their Premier League outings, and Postecoglou will perhaps start to feel the heat in the football betting market for the next manager sacked should he not turn things around over the festive period.

The good news for Spurs fans is that they are still in contention in the cup competitions. While they recently suffered a 3-2 defeat to Galatasaray in the Europa League, Tottenham still look likely to progress to the latter stages of the continent’s secondary club competition.

They are also still going in the League Cup after avenging their defeat to Man City in the competition last year with a 2-1 victory over the defending Premier League champions in the fourth round, although they face Manchester United in the quarter-finals.

Postecoglou’s time at Tottenham promised much in the first few months, but little has ultimately materialised under the Australian. However, there’s still hope that he could end their silverware drought this campaign if they can keep their bottle.