"Usually in my second season I win things."
Ange Postecoglou's words will be music to the ears of Tottenham fans, who have been starved of silverware for more than 16 years.
The Australian's hopes of winning Spurs' first trophy since 2008 appear to have been significantly heightened following the club-record signing of Dominic Solanke.
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His £65m arrival from Bournemouth finally fills the Harry Kane void and gives Postecoglou the No 9 he sought to move the team forward.
Speaking exclusively to Sky Sports two days before Solanke's signing, Postecoglou was already in an optimistic mood ahead of his second season in charge as he discussed how his team can improve from their fifth-placed finish, James Maddison's form and the summer transfer window...
What did you get from this pre-season?
"Definitely a growth in the players. Their understanding and their embracing of the way we train and the way we do things. It was all very new to them last year, it's fair to say. It was a fairly drastic departure from what they'd been used to.
"Whenever you have that change, there's always a little bit of uncertainty. They look more comfortable this year in embracing what we're going to do and what we have been doing. Again, that's good for me and the other coaches because it allows us to say we've now got to challenge them and ourselves to make sure what we're delivering is at a bigger level than it was last year."
How do you feel about your second season in charge?
"I guess I'm not the shiny new thing anymore, so there's other new managers. People can go off and discover them and their childhood and not have to speak about mine anymore.
"Usually in my second season I win things. That's the whole idea. First year is about establishing principles and creating a foundation. Hopefully the second year is going onto win things. Of course it's easier said than done, particularly in the Premier League and the competition we're in. That's always the way I've looked at it, is that the second year you should be in a position where you can push on, depending on how the first year has gone.
"Last year we had some really good moments, obviously we had some tough moments. I think we learnt as much from the tough moments as we did from the good stuff and hopefully that means we're in a good place. We're definitely a better-prepared team than we were last year."
What's the next step for this team?
"What we really found last year, and it was no surprise, was that whenever we had disruptions, whether that was injuries or suspensions, we lacked some discipline, we really struggled to maintain the levels of football that we established when everyone was up and running.
"Invariably in any year you're going to have some challenges. It's about coping with that better. Having a better squad hopefully copes with that. A better understanding of, through that time, what we need to focus on. That means to me that we're better prepared for the challenges that are always there.
"It doesn't matter which team you are or how you did last year, every team will go into this season knowing there's going to be a challenging period for them. And hopefully with what we went through last year, what we learnt and the development of players... because we're still a very young group and a lot of them it was their first year in the Premier League or their first year at Tottenham. When you're looking at a benchmark I think most of them left a pretty decent one last year, so if we can improve on that that will put us in a pretty good space."
Which specific aspects do you think need some polishing?
"I think in all aspects. The first thing is, have I got a group of players who believe in what we're trying to do? I really do believe that. That's the first part of any sort of process. We've bought into the way we want to play because it's challenging. You've got to be brave. You've got to be able to do things a little bit differently, positionally, or in the way we approach games. You've got to have an open mind about that. The first year is about trying to get people to believe in that.
"Probably because we got off to such a great start, that there wasn't too much resistance. The players bought into it, they enjoyed it and they wanted more of it. But now it's about doing that on a more consistent basis and not allowing, whether that's oppositions or outside influences, to take us off the road we're on. I thought it happened too often last year where there was an opposition tactic, or something we did self-inflicted - whether that was a lack of discipline or we had injuries and we had to shuffle the team around. We didn't stay as consistent in our approach. But I think for the most part, the players still tried to do what we wanted them to do. Hopefully we execute better."
After James Maddison's England omission for Euro 2024, did you have a chance to speak to him about it?
"I haven't had an extensive chat with him. But again, I think that's part of a footballer's journey. I've often said that I think sometimes we see things in such a linear sort of way where we think that everything is going to be great and it never is. You could be the greatest at something but there's going to be challenges, there's going to be stumbles along the way and it's how you react to them, what you do about them. How you embrace the next challenge that comes along.
"For Madders I'm sure he was enormously disappointed in missing out because he'd been a part of that team that went on that journey. But he's still got plenty of football in him and there's still challenges there for him. It's how you deal with that. Do you kind of just write it off or do you use it as motivation moving forward? Do you use it as maybe a time of self-reflection to say, well, could I have done anything better? When you're honest with yourself and ask those questions, you might find that, no, actually I'm still on the right path. But you need to do that and use that moving forward.
"He's been great since we got back. His season last year kind of reflected ours. He was unbelievable when he was up and going and then he had injuries. It was a bit of a grind when he did get back and that was kind of us as a team, so hopefully the way we've learned as a team he's learned about as an individual - because he's a big part of our side. We've got a very young team and he's one that has that experience, has that quality and one we'll be looking for to guide us through it."
How much do you rely on signings to visualise a new season?
"It's an important part of the process and I think it comes back to what I've often said - part of recruiting is understanding you're not recruiting footballers, you're recruiting people. What kind of person are they? Why do they want to come to Tottenham? Are they ambitious? Do they have an open mind? Are they prepared to take on the enormous challenge of creating something special at the club that has that success? All these kinds of things, and hopefully the stuff that they've already identified so that when they come here they feel like it's the right place for them.
"Hopefully they walk into a dressing room of like-minded individuals who all have that kind of mindset. That helps them then visualise what we're trying to build. It's probably an easier process for guys, new players coming in this year because they walk into a dressing room and the guys will have absolute clarity and give them absolute clarity of what they're all trying to do. Whereas last year it was more about me trying to create that environment, me trying to paint those pictures to everyone, not just the players and staff, but everyone at the football club.
"Hopefully this year, for the guys we've brought in so far, they walk into a dressing room and they can feel exactly what we're trying to do."
In technical terms, what do you look specifically at in an attacking player?
"Whether it's an attacking player or any player, what I think people have hopefully understood is that we have a real identity to how we play our football. You kind of know when Tottenham plays, we're going to have two wingers out there, we're going to be very, very good at taking players on, being really aggressive with their play, being able to press.
"If I'm looking for a left winger, they're the kind of attributes that are pretty clear that we need to see in them because ultimately there's fantastic footballers all over the world. You can pick any one of them and they'd be unbelievable, but I've got to see them in my team in the way we want to play. They've got to have those attributes.
"In one way that makes the process easier, but it's also challenging because it's a much smaller field that you're looking at. In today's market, it's not easy to get that squad of players when it's so competitive. For me, whether that's an attacking player or any player, it's do I see them in our team tomorrow with the attributes they have? Obviously we've got to coach them and help them through the process. Do they have those qualities that I see them playing in our team? If they tick that box, then that's a big part of us saying, 'Well okay, I think you'll be a good fit'."
What can you say to those fans who are anxious during the summer transfer window? (Speaking before Spurs announced the signings of Dominic Solanke and Wilson Odobert)
"I understand that anxiety because every transfer window is your only opportunity to improve your playing personnel and your squad.
"I like to think in every window so far we have strengthened. Certainly last year we brought in some fantastic footballers. In January, we brought in Radu Dragusin and Timo Werner. We've brought in two young guys - Archie Gray, who's a fantastic young talent, and Lucas (Bergvall) joins us, even though we signed him in January, but we still have work to do. There's no doubt about that. That's the nature of the transfer market.
"For me, I have just as much anxiety because it's the part of the year I have least control over. It would be great if I had total control over everything, including what other clubs did, but that doesn't happen.
"I understand where the fans sit with it. My role within that is to try and stay calm, stay disciplined and make sure that come the end of the window, which is the most important time, we've had another positive window in that we've made our squad and our team stronger."
