Postecoglou has Tottenham soaring at the top of the league, with them unbeaten in their opening nine games and two points ahead of 2nd place currently. However, Spurs have not been safely swimming the shores of the Premier League for the whole year...
The start of the year might feel like it was in another generation to some Spurs fans. Lloris and Kane were still starters for the club and they were still playing in a 5-2-3 formation under Antonio Conte. Conte seemed to be a ticking time bomb which eventually exploded in a post match press conference on the 21st March, 2023 after a 3-3 draw with Southampton. Conte would call his players selfish and also would express his perspective as he felt as if there were 11 individuals on the pitch, in reference to his own team.
That season, Spurs finished 8th, which meant no European qualification for the first time in 15 years. Having sacked Conte promptly after his strong words, Spurs were looking for a manager in the summer, which had become a commonality since Pochettino's untimely departure in the winter of 2019.
In the midst of all of this negativity, Spurs signed Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou, who was an unknown manager to the mainstream football media and had an attack-minded philosophy, which may have brought back fond memories of Pochettino. Despite this, there was still a lot of pessimism surrounding Tottenham and whether they could bounce back into the top 4, especially with the depth of competition at the top of the league.
Postecoglou's recruitment was key to the turnaround however. He signed 27 year old Guglielmo Vicario from Empoli and immediately made him a starter, succeeding Lloris in the process. On top of that, he also signed 26 year old creative midfielder James Maddison from recently relegated Leicester City. This was done so that he could revert Tottenham back to his favoured 4-2-3-1 formation. He also signed 22 year old centre back Mickey Van der Ven, who built a partnership at the back with Cristian Romero.
Postecoglou endeared himself to the fans before he had even put his team out onto the pitch for some fans due to his personality in interviews and press conferences. His witty answers which came across as authentic gave the fans more optimism as their past managers such as Mourinho, Nuno Santos and Conte had seemed pessimistic especially in press conferences.
As mentioned previously, Postecoglou returned Tottenham into their 4-2-3-1 formation and as a result, this meant the return of Tottenham's identity. In spite of the departure of Harry Kane to Bayern Munich, Spurs have scored 2 or more goals in 8 out of their 9 games which has led to some thrilling and entertaining games, even making opposition fans take notice.
Their 2-0 victory on Monday night against Fulham meant that they had started their season unbeaten in 9, which is the best start for a new manager in Premier League history. As well as that, this is the best start to a season for Tottenham Hotspur since the 1960/1961 season; the last time Tottenham won the First Division.
How far the momentum goes for Tottenham and Postecoglou is anyone's guess, but the Spurs are marching ferociously and the fans are once again optimistic about what is up ahead.
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