Tottenham Hotspur: Ange Postecoglou can end north London club's 16

TNT Sports football expert Peter Crouch feels Ange Postecoglou needs to "change the mentality" at Tottenham Hotspur, but backs the Australian to end the club's 16-year-long trophy drought.

Postecoglou, in his second season in charge of the north London club, has previously said he "always wins" trophies in his second year, but has struggled in a difficult start to the Premier League season - sitting ninth ahead of Spurs' clash with West Ham United live on TNT Sports and discovery+ on Saturday.

Crouch, however, feels there is a heavy "pressure" in the air around the club due to their lack of silverware in recent years, and while he feels there is enough "ability" in the squad to win a cup, he feels a shake-up in mentality is needed.

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"I don't think there's any denying the ability is there, but I think it's the mentality," Crouch said. "Once you get to that stage where everyone is talking about the trophy, the pressure grows season by season.

"The longer it goes the harder it becomes. They have to change the mentality here.

"Ange has come with a proven track record of winning trophies, he's mentioned that in his press conferences before, he just has to deliver now."

Postecoglou has established an expansive style on Spurs' game since his appointment in the summer of 2023.

Spurs' forward-thinking style has seen them display some dazzling attacking performances, but also suffer in defence.

The imbalance was evident in the north London side's 3-2 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion earlier in October, when they let slip a 2-0 first-half lead as the hosts notched three goals inside 18 second-half minutes.

Les Ferdinand, who appeared over 100 times for Spurs, feel the style could bear fruit in a cup competition, but will see the club struggle to maintain a steady push towards Premier League success.

"I think it [the style] can deliver a trophy," Ferdinand said. "On any given day, if you can perform in the way they performed in the first half against Brighton that could have been 4-0 or 5-0 at half time, if you can perform like that you can score enough goals to win that game.

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"So I think in any one-off game the way Tottenham perform they could win a trophy, but if you're talking about getting into that top four and staying there, that's going to be a tougher proposition."

Fellow former Spurs man Glenn Hoddle, meanwhile, feels some form of cup success would be a "stepping stone" to more sustained silverware at Spurs.

But he urged Postecoglou's side to "defend properly", saying the squad is "capable" of winning a cup but is disappointed by their lack of ability to supplement attacking quality with defensive sturdiness.

"There's a stepping stone and I think it would be a cup," Hoddle said. "What Les is saying, getting in that top four consistently, with the Premier League as tough as it is [will be difficult].

"This team is capable of winning a cup. that would be a stepping stone to maybe do something in the future. This team is good enough to do that.

"I just want to see them defend properly. In any sport, you have to defend. If [Joe] Root wants to score 100, he's got to defend properly. Snooker the same, boxing, you've got to have a defence and an attack. There's too many chances being created against them."

Spurs' last trophy came in the form of the League Cup in 2008. Now named the Carabao Cup, Spurs will have their mettle tested in the quarter-final against Manchester City on October 30.

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