Chadder View: Postecoglou is top manager, and that could be an issue for Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy
Matthew Chadder is a lifelong Tottenham fan who grew up just down the road from his beloved club in North London. He’s now putting his passion for Spurs into words with a daily fan view for Tottenham News…
If some Tottenham supporters went back to check their social media posts when Ange Postecoglou was first linked with the club, they would feel rather silly now.
Ever since, in my opinion, the untimely departure of Mauricio Pochettino, Daniel Levy has been chasing a serial winner to manage our football club.
Jose Mourinho had succeeded wherever he managed until he arrived at Tottenham Hotspur. Antonio Conte had succeeded wherever he managed until he arrived at Tottenham Hotspur. So after what is fair to say were two disastrous managerial appointments, Levy finally decided it was time to change his approach. That is where Postecoglou came in.
With Scottish football being his only experience of Europe, albeit a very successful experience to say the least, many supporters, myself included, were sceptical about the arrival of Postecoglou.
‘Why can’t we go for another win now manager’ I thought to myself. After all, we had been linked to the likes of Julian Nagelsmann and Luis Enrique, and while I wasn’t necessarily the biggest fan of the latter, he was still of a much higher profile compared to someone such as Postecoglou.
In truth, I did not know much about the Australian. But after a summer of writing about what he could bring to the club through hours of extensive research, and then watching what he has delivered during his short time in charge so far, I think I can safely say that my mind has been changed, and I take back all of my doubts.
Postecoglou is the real deal, there is no doubt about that.
This is not simply a ‘new manager bounce’ as some rival fans might gleefully point out after our defeats against Chelsea and Wolves. There was nothing Postecoglou could do about those defeats, the blame for those losses in fact lies higher up.
Levy has struck gold with Postecoglou, the question is, what is he willing to do to protect his gold?
You might be reading this and thinking, ‘Why was the defeat against Wolves Levy’s fault?’ The answer is that not enough was done in the summer to prevent the structure and identity of the team from falling apart after one or two injuries.
Taking over a club in transition, low on confidence and losing the best striker in their history just days before the season started, Postecoglou dealt with all of that. What he can’t deal with, as so many managers before him have struggled to deal with, is a squad which lacks depth.
Postecoglou is building a project and an exciting one at that, but he needs backing from above. Everyone knows of his quality now, he is no longer an unknown quantity. How long will it be until a club with more resources comes sniffing around, and why would the Australian turn it down?
Levy has hit the jackpot with Postecoglou, but now he has to back him, otherwise, the noise that was so deafening at the end of last season, and the hundreds of ‘ENIC out’ responses under Tottenham’s tweets will be back, and they will be back louder than ever.
In other Tottenham news, two of the club’s women’s players stood out with their recent performances.