Ange Postecoglou will notch up a half century of Premier League video games in control of Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, AEDT, with an important month forward for the Australian.
The 59-year-old led Tottenham to fifth place in his first season on the helm — a stable enchancment on its eighth-placed end the season earlier than.
However after a spectacular begin to his Tottenham reign when the workforce bagged 26 factors from its first 10 Premier League video games, the next interval has been mired in inconsistency.
This season it has gained 5 and misplaced 5 of its first 11 video games, with the most recent setback coming earlier than the worldwide break when it was crushed 2-1 at house by Ipswich City.
His facet are in tenth place within the desk forward of their journey to champions Manchester Metropolis this weekend.
Chatting with reporters on Friday, the previous Celtic and Socceroos supervisor mentioned his workforce had progressed from final season and that judging it so early within the marketing campaign was unfair, though he admits it confronted an important interval with 9 video games in 29 days.
“I believe it may be an actual pivotal a part of the season. If we’re nonetheless tenth at Christmas clearly folks will not be joyful, however we’d not be tenth,” he advised reporters.
“If we had crushed Ipswich we would be third and I reckon this press convention could be rather a lot completely different, would not it? I am not going to let my life be dictated by one end result.
“I take a kind of wider perspective on these items as a result of I understand how fickle it may be.
“However we have to tackle our place for certain.
“If we’re tenth at Christmas, yeah, it will not be nice, for certain. Completely and rightly so there could be quite a lot of scrutiny round me.”
‘The hot button is the subsequent 50 video games’
Postecoglou insists there was progress in his first 50 Premier League video games in cost after inheriting a squad in want of a significant rebuild.
His facet has produced some scintillating soccer at occasions this season in wins towards Manchester United and Aston Villa, and it beat Manchester Metropolis to achieve the quarterfinal of the League Cup.
However there have been slip-ups, together with losses to Ipswich and Crystal Palace.
“I believe I mentioned I’m steadfast and I’m clear on some actually robust rules that I simply will not budge on. However that does not imply I do not really feel at occasions I must adapt in the way in which I ship issues,” he mentioned.
Requested for his evaluation on his half century, Postecoglou mentioned: “The place did I believe we would be after 50 video games? God is aware of, mate. May have been a complete lot worse now, however if you take a look at it within the present prism of tenth, you sort of go, does not look good. I perceive that and now we have to enhance that.
“However over the 50 video games, I believe there’s sufficient there that reveals the place we’re progressing as a workforce, and we’re growing into the workforce we would like.
“The hot button is the subsequent 50 video games. If they are often higher than the primary 50, firstly meaning I am nonetheless right here. However secondly, I believe we’ll be in an excellent area.”
Reuters
