inews

It took Tottenham just one game to provide the most meme-able image of the Premier League season so far.

The sight of Ange Postecoglou crouched on his haunches staring intently at the ground as if trying to laser it open so he could vanish from sight after a late Richarlison miss was the defining image of Spurs’ 1-1 draw against Leicester on Monday.

It summed up what was an incredibly frustrating evening for Postecoglou, his players and the club’s supporters, in which two familiar flaws from last season resurfaced.

The first, as Postecoglou alluded to after the game, was a lack of efficiency in the penalty area. Spurs had 12 shots in the box, the joint second-highest total across the opening weekend, and hit the target seven times but only scored once.

Spurs finished sixth in the Premier League’s big chances missed table and were the lowest-scoring team in the top seven in Postecoglou’s debut campaign.

“We have to be stronger in our mindset in the front third,” he said. “To be that wasteful is disappointing. We just weren’t clinical. To get results you need to be a lot more ruthless in the final third. If we don’t, we won’t get the rewards our football should get.”

The second was the concession of an avoidable goal, the ultimate punishment for the profligacy at the other end. Cristian Romero followed the ball like an enthusiastic puppy, leaving Jamie Vardy completely free to nod in the equaliser at the back post.

At 1-0, Spurs are always walking a tightrope having developed a severe allergy to keeping clean sheets. They have only kept two in their last 22 league matches. They let in 61 goals in total in 2023-24, more than double Arsenal’s total.

The lack of cutting edge is undoubtedly an issue but it is one that Postecoglou hopes can be alleviated by Dominic Solanke, who scored 19 goals for Bournemouth last season. He fared well on his debut, although missed a couple of big chances.

The defensive problems are arguably more glaring, though, and amplified given the individual quality of the back five.

Guglielmo Vicario has proven to be a more than capable replacement for the long-serving Hugo Lloris. Pedro Porro is one of the best attacking full-backs in the league and Destiny Udogie is equally influential on the other side. Romero has been a pillar of Argentina’s recent trophy successes. Micky van de Ven’s pace makes him a counter-attack cheat code. Radu Dragusin was one of the best centre-backs of Euro 2024.

And yet Spurs look in danger of conceding a goal anytime the opposition ventures into their half, let alone inside their own box. There will always be a fine balance between Postecoglou’s risk vs reward approach that requires the back four to squeeze up to the halfway line, leaving oceans of space behind them.

The issue is not so much the skyscraper high line, but the ease with which teams can bypass their midfield and advance on the defence. Poor individual decision-making in defence, like Romero’s against Leicester, will cost Spurs, but structural faults higher up are leading to the back five being overworked. They really struggle in defensive transitions.

While offering protection is not just the job of one player – Postecoglou expects all of his front six to press with intensity and aggression – it is obvious that the defensive midfield position has been a problem during the Angeball era.

Yves Bissouma is too inconsistent, a world-beater one moment and a liability the next. Rodrigo Bentancur, who started at the base on Monday before going off with a horror head injury, is better suited to a box-to-box role. Both are excellent players but neither have fully convinced under Postecoglou. They have both made serious lapses in judgement in recent months too.

The squad spaces vacated by Oliver Skipp and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s moves to Leicester and Marseille respectively have been partly filled by the additions of Archie Gray from Leeds and Lucas Bergvall from Djurgardens, but they are both are 18 and untested at the highest level. Superstars of the future perhaps, but not yet the present.

They need an established No 6 to push on from last season and links to Wolves’ Brazilian ball-winner Joao Gomes this week appear to make a great deal of sense.

At 23-years-old and with a season-and-a-half of Premier League football under his belt, Gomes hits the Spurs sweet spot of being both young enough to develop and experienced enough to slot into the starting XI right away.

He is a tenacious, energetic midfielder, who you’d think would be the ideal candidate to take Angeball up a gear.

Joao Palhinha, formerly of Fulham and now of Bayern Munich, was the only player to attempt more tackles than Gomes in the Premier League last season. He also ranked fifth in the league for tackles and interceptions combined.

His ability to sniff out danger and disrupt opposition attacks is precisely what Spurs need. Too often Romero and Van de Ven are required to backpedal furiously cartoon style as a swarm of attackers descend on Vicario’s goal. It is too easy to play through the Spurs midfield.

“Ange Postecoglou has taken Tottenham back to what we always associated with Tottenham and a lot of that is good – attacking play, great on the eye,” Jamie Carragher said on Monday Night Football. “But you always feel like they can let you down and concede a goal.”

The accusation that Spurs are a soft touch is a long-established one, rolled out fairly and otherwise, whenever they cede a winning position. But the defensive numbers since Postecoglou took charge do not lie. Unless Spurs can fortify their midfield, they risk another season of frustration.

When Ange Postecoglou guided Brisbane Roar to a second successive A-League title in 2012, Nick Montgomery was packing his bags and heading down under.

His 15 years at Sheffield United had ended and he joined the Central Coast Mariners, helping them to Grand Final glory in his first season as a player before repeating the feat as their manager in 2022-23.

Montgomery’s title success – with the youngest team and smallest budget in the competition – saw him headhunted by Hibernian last September after turning down offers elsewhere.

Although his Hibs tenure turned sour, Postecoglou appointed the 42-year-old Yorkshireman as an assistant coach at Tottenham Hotspur in June after Chris Davies left to take over at Birmingham City.

It rekindled a long-standing acquaintance as Montgomery tells i: “In my first year in Australia, I won the league with the Mariners as a player, but Ange’s Brisbane Roar had been champions in the previous two seasons.

“That was Ange’s first big job and I always enjoyed watching how his teams played and their attacking philosophy.

“He had a lot of success and from there he moved to Melbourne Victory before taking charge of Australia and then succeeding in Japan and at Celtic prior to joining Tottenham last season.

“After I retired and moved into coaching with the Mariners, Ange was one of the first people to congratulate me when we won the A-League Grand Final last year.

“He had kept an eye on the competition because he’s Australian and started out there, so I know how much he valued what I had achieved.

“Ange is a great guy, a big family man, and has an aura and discipline about him.

“He’s very clear how he wants to play and it’s down to us as coaches to plan and create training sessions which allow the team to develop how he wants to play in his attacking, possession-based style.

“Ange is a world-class manager, he gives confidence to his players and staff and has delivered success everywhere he’s been.

“You can see the culture he’s building here at Tottenham; there’s a real collective desire with all the players and staff pulling in the same direction which is so important.

“Ange is very big on that, he puts a lot of trust in his staff, and I’m learning every day.

“He doesn’t speak a lot but when he does, everyone listens. That’s a very powerful thing for a manager.”

Montgomery was on the books of his hometown club Leeds United before breaking through at Bramall Lane and helping Neil Warnock’s side to reach the Premier League in 2006.

“I always believed I could get there as a player and be on Match of the Day,” Montgomery adds.

“I remember watching it and thinking ‘that’s exactly what I’ve been working for’.

“I was never the most talented player, but with hard work, honesty and staying humble you can achieve anything in life.

“When we won the A-League with the Mariners in 2023, Neil Warnock rang to congratulate me.

“I learnt a lot from playing under him for many years at Sheffield United as well as many other managers I worked under.

“I loved my time playing and then managing in Australia. My wife and our three daughters had built a whole new life there.”

Montgomery’s work on the sun-kissed New South Wales coast certainly earned him plenty of admiring glances.

He rebuilt the Mariners’ academy, nurturing plenty of talents who were routinely sold to clubs throughout Europe and Asia and developed into internationals at youth and senior level.

After thriving in the top job, Montgomery, who won two Scotland Under-21 caps, was appointed by Hibernian last autumn on a three-year deal.

He took over at a time of crisis with the club winless and in the SPFL relegation zone having sacked Lee Johnson.

“When I accepted the Hibs job, Ange once again messaged me, saying ‘good luck’ because he had only recently left Celtic to take over at Tottenham,” Montgomery explains.

“He knew what a tough challenge it was and respected me for that because Hibs had endured a dreadful start to the season and been through several managers.

“Having rejected several offers from elsewhere, I was brave enough to take on the job knowing the issues that Hibs had.”

Montgomery was sacked in May after just eight months in charge, continuing a revolving door at which left Hibs searching for their sixth manager in four years.

“The project was supposed to be centred on rebuilding the following summer with a clear direction moving forward,” Montgomery says.

“I’d had the youngest team in the A-League with the Mariners but Hibs had the oldest squad in the SPFL.

“They promised they would allow me to rebuild the team in the summer and reduce the average age of the team.

“I gave 16-year-old Rory Whittaker his debut, took them to a League Cup semi-final, Scottish Cup quarter-final and just missed out on the top six.

“I lost players to the Africa Cup of Nations and the Asia Cup in January and, whereas the previous manager spent heavily, I only brought in a few loans but I signed Myziane Maolida and he scored 11 goals in 18 games.

“The club’s recruitment strategy didn’t align with mine and what we had spoken about when I accepted the job, so we parted ways.

“Nevertheless, we came very close to achieving all the targets despite facing so many challenges. I remain very proud of my time at Hibernian and wish the club well.”

Montgomery is loving life under Postecoglou after joining Spurs with Sergio Raimundo, his assistant at the Mariners and Hibs.

“I was getting offered other jobs when I left Hibs, but when Ange contacted me it was perfect timing,” Montgomery explains.

Postecoglou’s team toured South Korea and Japan in pre-season as they bid to improve on last term’s fifth-placed finish and win a first trophy since 2008.

Montgomery says: “It’s a strong squad and Son Heung-min, our captain, is one of the most humble and genuine guys you’ll ever meet.

“Around him are some really good characters and leaders, plus we’ve signed some fantastic young players and developing them is something I’ve always been passionate about.

“Ange has already blooded teenagers like Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall into the first team, which shows how brave he is as a manager.”

Ambition pulses loudly at Spurs heading into the new season and Montgomery says: “The fanbase, the training ground and the stadium are unbelievable.

“Ange wants to win everything and that mentality is something I’m embracing.”

Does Montgomery harbour a desire to become a manager again?

“Right now, that’s not even on my mind as I’m loving being back in the Premier League and working under Ange in a good environment – I’ll embrace every moment,” he adds with a smile.

Tottenham Hotspur remain locked in negotiations with Bournemouth over Dominic Solanke – but want to do a deal below his £65m release clause.

i understands talks are continuing over a move that would see Solanke join Spurs even in the wake of Richarlison turning down a lucrative offer from Saudi Arabia.

Solanke has been identified as Tottenham’s preferred striker option but the prospect of a swift deal for the 26-year-old seems unlikely at this point.

It is understood the two sides remain apart on a valuation after talks this week.

Bournemouth are understandably reluctant to part with Solanke but the forward is keen on the move and the club could cash in if the price was right.

Solanke has three years left on his contract so his value is high and this would likely be the best time for the Cherries – who lost one of their prime assets Lloyd Kelly to Newcastle United for no fee after his contract expired earlier this summer – to cash out.

He scored 21 goals across all competitions last season, the best return of his Premier League career, and has aspirations of breaking into the England set-up before the World Cup in 2026.

Bournemouth’s situation is complicated by the need to source a replacement for their top scorer in a remarkably flat transfer market.

The almost universal feeling among Premier League executives and agents is that clubs are reluctant or unable to spend as freely as previous summers.

The market for Brentford’s Ivan Toney – valued close to £100m last summer and having enhanced his reputation with telling contributions at Euro 2024 for England – remains fairly flat with no bids having been tabled yet.

He has been linked with Spurs too but it appears as if Solanke is the preferred option for a position that Ange Postecoglou is desperate to strengthen.

Tottenham will be active before the transfer deadline but want to extract value from the market, which means that negotiations with Bournemouth have been difficult.

They will not have money from a Richarlison sale to play with either after he decided not to make a lucrative move to Saudi Arabia, with one club having tabled a bid for him.

“There has been an offer but my dream of playing for the Brazilian Selecao and in the Premier League speaks louder,” Richarlison told ESPN Brazil on Thursday.

Ipswich Town are preparing a bid to sign the Sunderland winger Jack Clarke.

The 23-year-old is valued in the region of £18m and continues Kieran McKenna’s policy of targeting young, English-bred footballers following Ipswich’s promotion to the Premier League.

Thus far, the Ipswich manager has signed winger Omari Hutchinson, centre-back Jason Greaves and forward Liam Delap. All are between 20-23 years old and learned their football at Chelsea, Hull City and Manchester City. Goalkeeper Arijanet Muric, signed from Burnley for £8m, is slightly older at 25 but is a graduate of the City academy.

Since joining from Tottenham Hotspur in 2022 for an undisclosed fee, Clarke has become the jewel in a Sunderland side that threatened to break into the play-off positions until the dismissal of Tony Mowbray as manager in December.

However, Sunderland will not see the full value of the transfer as Tottenham negotiated a 40 per cent sell-on fee when they sold Clarke in 2022.

If a deal for Clarke goes through, it will take Ipswich’s summer spending to around £70m, comfortably more than either of the other promoted clubs, Leicester City and Southampton.

Ipswich’s owners, American investment firm ORG, have been prepared to underwrite heavy spending in pursuit of success. When Ipswich won promotion from League One in 2023 they recorded an £18.2m loss.

In March this year, Bright Path Sports Partners, an American private equity firm, invested £105m in the club, funds which are now being aggressively and imaginatively to try to ensure Ipswich survive in the Premier League after a 22-year absence.

McKenna had been hoping to sign the Hull forward, Jaden Philogene, for around £18m, only to see the 22-year-old rejoin his former club Aston Villa with the promise he would be part of their Champions League squad. It was then that Ipswich’s attention turned to the North East.

Clarke, a product of the Leeds United academy who can play on either flank or as a forward, flourished under Marcelo Bielsa, whose protege Mauricio Pochettino paid £10m to take him to Spurs in 2019.

Tottenham Hotspur’s attempts to assemble a wonderkid super squad continue to gather pace following the acquisition of Archie Gray from Leeds United.

Spurs have paid £40m for the versatile 18-year-old who made 52 appearances for Leeds last season and was named Young Player of the Year in the Championship. He has signed a six-year contract and will wear the number 14 shirt for his new club.

It’s a significant fee for a player of his age and experience but Gray, already an England U21 international, is regarded as one of the country’s top up-and-coming prospects and first began training with Leeds’ first team aged 15. The Championship club have taken the unusual step of admitting they are “heartbroken” by his exit.

Although Gray has only one season of senior football behind him, he is expected to challenge for a place in Ange Postecoglou’s first-team squad straight away as Tottenham seek to build on a promising, if inconsistent, start to the Australian’s tenure in north London.

First-team opportunities should be plentiful given Spurs will play in the expanded Europa League next season courtesy of finishing 5th in the Premier League.

It’s an expensive transfer – Tottenham have spent as much on Gray as they did to buy James Maddison from Leicester City last summer – but it’s one that could solve multiple issues.

For starters, central midfield has been a problem position for Postecoglou. Maddison and Pape Matar Sarr were brilliant last autumn but unable to sustain that level of form post-Christmas, while neither Yves Bissouma nor Rodrigo Bentancur convinced as play-building No 6s beyond a game or two.

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Giovani Lo Celso are expected to be sold.

A lack of cohesion in that area of the pitch contributed to Spurs conceding 61 league goals, their fourth-worst record in a Premier League campaign.

Gray doesn’t shirk his defensive responsibilities. He made 97 tackles for Leeds last season, at least 20 more than any teammate and a total that placed him in the top 15 players in the Championship for that metric.

He reads the game exceptionally well for a novice and snaps into duels when the ball is there to be won.

Those attributes saw Gray utilised as a defensive midfielder on occasion for Leeds, but his ball-winning ability, tight close control, powerful driving runs and pressing off the ball could be better served by playing in a more advanced role. As a technically gifted scrapper he should, in theory, be custom-made for “Angeball”, a strategy that places a premium on both craft and graft.

He will know what to expect from his new boss having watched his daring Celtic team with keen interest. Although an England youth international, Gray hails from a family of Celtic fans. His father Andy, grandfather Frank, and great-uncle Eddie all represented Scotland at senior level.

“I’m not going to lie, I’m a massive Celtic fan, so I love him [Postecoglou]! My whole family loves him,” Gray said in his first in-house interview with Spurs.

“He’s a massive factor [in joining]. Playing under a really good manager is really important for me. I’ve got loads to learn because I’m only 18.”

Initially, though, Spurs may use him as Leeds tended to: as an inverted right-back. Unlike the middle of the park, that isn’t an obvious issue of weakness for Tottenham. After some teething issues and OTT pundit criticism at the start, Pedro Porro adapted to a more nuanced full-back role from the flying wing-back position he was initially bought to fill.

Porro’s puzzling omission from Spain’s Euro 2024 squad will benefit his club, but he can’t be expected to play every game. Spurs only played 41 matches in all competitions last season, but that number will increase to at least 48 in 2024-25. With the club doing all they can to shift Emerson Royal on, cover for Porro will be required and Gray has the skillset to fill in.

There is also a less glamorous need that Gray fills in the Tottenham squad: that of the “homegrown” player.

Spurs have had issues filling their quotas in recent years. Premier League and Uefa rules dictate that clubs must have a minimum of eight players classified as homegrown – that is developed at an English club – including four from their own academy, in their 25-man first-team squads. Tottenham only just met the minimum threshold for 2023-24 and Ryan Sessegnon has since left following the expiration of his contract.

Assuming that Gray remains at Spurs for the next three years, he will also be regarded as a club-trained player by the start of the 2027-28 season, despite being on Leeds’ books from the age of eight to 18. That’s because players who have spent three consecutive years at the same club from the age of 18 fit that criteria.

Considering Oliver Skipp and backup goalkeepers Brandon Austin and Alfie Whiteman are currently the only senior club-trained assets in Tottenham’s first-team squad, that could prove to be very handy indeed.

That being said, Spurs would regard it as a failure if none of their academy jewels end up glistening for the seniors over the next few years.

Tottenham’s U21s won the Premier League 2 title in 2023-24 and internally there is plenty of hope over the prospects of midfielder Tyrese Hall (18), playmaker Jamie Donley (19), centre-back Alfie Dorrington (19), and especially the winger Mikey Moore (16) who became the club’s youngest-ever appearance maker in the Premier League in May. Dane Scarlett (20) and Alfie Devine (19) are also highly regarded.

Gray’s signing is further evidence of Spurs’ renewed focus on buying the best prospects domestically and from abroad.

Since the summer transfer window in 2022, the club has bought Micky van de Ven (23), Brennan Johnson (23), Radu Dragusin (22), Destiny Udogie (21), Alejo Veliz (20), Will Lankshear (19), Ashley Phillips (19), Lucas Bergvall (18) and Luka Vuskovic (17).

The grand masterplan appears to be investing in youth now to build toward a brighter future. Continue on his current trajectory and Gray will be a pivotal part of the project.

There was a moment in the opening 15 minutes of Romania’s final group game against England’s nearly-conquerers Slovakia when thousands of yellow-shirted fans rose as one and bellowed out the same chant in unison: “Dragusin, Dragusin, Dragusin!”

It sounded intimidating, like a battle cry from Games of Thrones. With his tall, wiry physique and immaculately sculpted top knot – which impressively withstood a thunderstorm and torrential downpour to remain fixed in position in Frankfurt – and full-blooded commitment to battle, Radu Dragusin wouldn’t look out of place on the HBO hit show either.

With the possible exception of the now-defeated Georgians, Romania have been Euro 2024’s big overachievers. Not only have they reached the last-16 of a European Championship for the first time since 2000 but they managed it by pipping Belgium to first place. Dragusin has contributed considerably to their achievements to date.

Despite being only 22, the Tottenham Hotspur defender has marshalled the Romanian’s backline expertly, standing firm against wave after wave of attacks. Only two players made more clearances than him during the group stage – it was from a timely intervention that his name was first sung by fans during the game last Wednesday – and he has only been dribbled past once.

The hectic, end-to-end nature of most games at this Euros has forced defenders to be in a constant state of alertness. They have had to be poised to spring into duels in front of them while being prepared to race back and deal with any danger behind.

In testing conditions – in more ways than one – and in his first major tournament, Dragusin has passed the challenges with flying colours. He has been both proactive and reactive and been one of the tournament’s standout centre-backs.

Given his excellent form, it is easy to see why Romanian fans – the thousands out in Germany and millions more back home – hold him in such esteem.

“His popularity is growing. Because he didn’t play in Romania before moving to Italy there was probably a lack of connection between him and the public because he isn’t connected to any fans of [Bucharest clubs] Steaua, Dinamo or Rapid,” Romanian journalist Emanuel Rosu explains.

“It took a while for him to become popular but now people are talking about him. A lot of kids see him as an idol. He moved to Spurs which helped his personal branding a lot. I think he is the hottest Romanian football player at the moment given his international status. He ticks all the boxes to become a Romanian football star.”

Romania have not had a genuine world-class talent for well over a decade and fans naturally venerate the icons of their golden generation, who reached the knockout rounds of three World Cups in the 1990s and the last eight of Euro 2000, more than those who have pulled on the shirt in more barren times.

There is a lack of star power in Edward Iordanescu’s squad with Dragusin one of only a handful currently playing in one of Europe’s top five leagues. But what they lack in quality they more than make up for in spirit.

They have earned the trust and respect of their fanatical followers. After the draw against Slovakia which confirmed them as group winners, scores of Romanian fans stuck around for hours to celebrate with their new heroes in the concourse around the Frankfurt Arena. It made for quite a sight, a cluster of grown-up minions bopping up and down in childlike excitement.

Iordanescu and his squad will not be overawed by facing the Netherlands in Munich on Tuesday.

“They are very close, there’s a lot of unity. Each of them can assume a role of a leader. That’s the kind of group that we have now,” says Rosu.

Despite his youthfulness, Dragusin is already an authority figure and a “leader among leaders” within the group. He will be expected to help usher in a new golden era for Romanian football after their time in Germany is concluded.

Tottenham can only stand to benefit from Dragusin’s ascension to Romanian football’s poster boy. He has made a slow start to his Premier League career, making only four starts in his first five months after joining for £26m from Genoa in January and endured a torrid full debut at Craven Cottage in March.

He also faces a fight to dislodge the Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven axis at the heart of Ange Postecoglou’s defence, but Rosu is confident he can make his mark and become an “important player” for his club next season.

“Even when Juventus sent him to Salernitana, Sampdoria and Genoa, he always fought for his position and for me it was obvious that he wasn’t going to play that much [at Spurs] in the beginning. I really believe that it’s not the best version of him that you’ve seen at Spurs up until now,” Rosu says.

“I’m sure he’s happy with how he has settled at Spurs. From what I know he likes it there, he’s very close and connected with the rest of his teammates.

“He’s very impressed by the way he was received by the team, the guys in the locker room and also by the staff and the manager. I think he’s on the right track and has all the right weapons to succeed.”

The 2024-25 campaign is shaping up to be a defining one for Dragusin at club level but his sights will be set on denying the Dutch and driving Romania into the quarter-finals first. For now, the hopes of a nation rest on his shoulders.

But regardless of whether Romania continue to defy the odds in Germany or bow out, it has been a potentially transformative experience for Dragusin who has thrived as a big player on the big stage.

He will hope to use it as fuel to make a fast start to next season. Repeat his Euro 2024 heroics in north London and he may even hear his chant echo around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before long.

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