Ange Postecoglou’s tenure at Tottenham has divided opinion – but how good a job has the Australian coach done if you zoom out and look at the bigger picture?
Spurs have fluctuated between excellent and disastrous runs of form since Postecoglou was appointed as Antonio Conte’s permanent successor in the summer of 2023.
It’s easy to forget now that the 59-year-old actually made the best start of any coach in Premier League history last season, having led Spurs to eight wins and two draws from his first 10 matches at the helm.
But it would be an understatement to say that Postecoglou’s Spurs struggled to maintain that early title-worthy form. They picked up just one point from 15 available immediately after that strong start and later lost five of the last seven matches of last season.
The combination ultimately levelled out at Spurs ending up fifth in the Premier League table, which can probably be considered about par when you consider their transfer spending, the loss of talisman Harry Kane, and wage bill.
On the one hand, they did well to finish ahead of Chelsea and Manchester United – both of whom spend considerably more in terms of transfers and wages – but on the other hand they can consider it a missed opportunity to be pipped to Champions League qualification by Aston Villa after two of their immediate rivals dramatically underperformed.
Having made moves in the transfer market to further shape the squad in Postecoglou’s image in the summer, Spurs have continued to oscillate between impressive and underwhelming.
They’ve been superb in big wins over Everton, Manchester United and West Ham but hapless in defeats to Newcastle and Brighton and disappointingly flat as they were defeated 1-0 by Arsenal in the North London derby.
Despite the mixed record, the man himself is bullish and has reiterated he fully believes that he’s got what it takes to deliver success for Tottenham.
“In my 26 years of managing I’ve had success and most of that has come in the second year, not all of it. Sometimes it’s happened in the first year, sometimes in the third year,” Postecoglou told reporters in the wake of Spurs’ early season defeat at home to Arsenal.
“I don’t see why that puts extra pressure. It doesn’t put extra pressure on me because I love the fact that I’ve done that. It’s what I want to do here.
“I’d like to think that just saying the truth is the way to go forward but I think sometimes that’s too confronting for people, they’d much rather I didn’t.
“I’ve made it pretty clear what my expectations are. But that doesn’t mean that I stop, that just fuels the fire of ‘why didn’t I do it?’
“There’s no chance in any universe I could have got here from Australia and be sitting here answering questions at one of the biggest clubs in the world and the best competition in the world if I didn’t have some sort of self-belief based on something of substance.
“I was never going to get here with my charm and good looks.”
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Here’s how the Premier League table stacks up if you go back to the start of last season, after Postecoglou was appointed by Tottenham that summer.
As they were last season, Spurs remain fifth over Postecoglou’s entire reign so far, which is a surprisingly respectable position given some of the low points and criticism that the manager has faced. There’s only a small gap behind Aston Villa, suggesting that the club can challenge for Champions League qualification with a little more consistency this season.
Note: all teams have played 45 matches unless otherwise specified. We’ve also only included the 17 teams that have been in the Premier League throughout, excluding last season’s relegated sides and this year’s newly-promoted trio.