Ange Postecoglou has admitted his Tottenham Hotspur side still has ‘work to do’ in order to ‘improve in all areas’ ahead of the new Premier League season.
The Australian guided the Lilywhites to fifth in the Premier League in his debut campaign in charge, qualifying them for the Europa League in what was a marked improvement from their eighth-place return in 2022/23.
Spurs have also enjoyed a productive summer, winning five straight friendlies before only losing by a single goal in back-to-back matches against Bayern Munich (2-1 and 3-2), while they also completed the signing of Dominic Solanke on Saturday, finally replacing Harry Kane.
READ: Harry Kane gives verdict on new Spurs signing Dominic Solanke
Nevertheless, Postecoglou believes there are still plenty of improvements needed from his squad if they’re to challenge the likes of Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool this season.
“Pre-season has been good in terms of the work we have done with the players,” Postecoglou told the Tottenham Hotspur official website following Saturday’s Visit Malta Cup loss to Bayern.
“It’s always a bit disjointed until you have everyone together and this is the first week we’ve had everyone in but, in general, they are all in good physical condition, which I think is the main thing and knock on wood, we don’t have any injuries. Hopefully, we got through today alright. Hopefully, we have a whole fit squad for that first game because once the games start, we’re going to need the full squad. So, from that point of view, it has been positive.
“We’ve still got 10 days of training. The games are part of that; they’re just part of pre-season. The idea is we use every game we have, whether it is a game or training, to be ready for the first game and that is the most important thing.
Action from our final pre-season friendly ?
Highlights: Spurs 2-3 FC Bayern ? pic.twitter.com/ATrfH4Cxa8
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) August 10, 2024
“And there always need to be an evolution. We need to be better than we were last year because the competition certainly doesn’t stand still, it’s not like the other teams are going to be where they were last year. We’ve got to improve in all of our areas. We’ve still got some work to do.
“I think the foundations we put in place last year gives us the opportunity to kick on and now we’ve just got to push the players and they have to push themselves to the next level because we had an okay season last year but we know we want to go to another level and bring success to this football club and that’s going to require us being better than we were.”
Spurs will now prepare for their first fixture of the 2024/25 Premier League season away to Leicester City a week on Monday.