Reliable journalist says Ange Postecoglou must get Tottenham back to the Champions League this season
Ange Postecoglou made a big impact in his first season in English football after swapping Celtic for Tottenham Hotspur last year.
The Greek-Australian employed an aggressive, pressing and attacking style of football at White Hart Lane in real quick time, winning eight of his first 10 games in charge of the Lilywhites. However, setbacks came along the way in the form of injuries and suspensions which derailed Spurs’ campaign.
As a result, Tottenham narrowly missed out on Champions League qualification, finishing just two points outside of the top four with Aston Villa beating them to the spot. All Ange Postecoglou and Co. could muster is a fifth-place finish and subsequent Europa League qualification—an impressive achievement nonetheless for a manager in his first season in English football.
-> Tottenham’s 5 best PL opening day wins
After a fine 2023/24 season, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has backed Big Ange extremely well in the recently concluded summer transfer window. The north London club spent big on transfers, bringing Dominic Solanke, Archie Gray, Wilson Odobert and Lucas Bergvall to N17 for sizeable fees, whilst South Korean talent Yang Min-hyeok was signed from Gangwon FC before heading back to the club for the rest of the season.
However, with big spending on transfers comes the added responsibility to deliver results on the pitch, and the Daily Mirror journalist John Cross feels there will be pressure on Big Ange to get the club back into the Champions League this season, or secure another Europa League finish, at worst.
“What I would say is, having spent again – and you know, big time this summer – I would think it’s a fair assumption to say that he’s probably under pressure to get back into the Champions League places next season,” John Cross told the Sky Sports Back Pages podcast.
“But what I do find really interesting was that you can’t knock Tottenham’s ambition, and Daniel Levy who is really going for it, trying to get Spurs back up there and with a team to match the stadium.
“But you quickly forget the kind of Solanke’s, Maddison, Romero, you know – Brennan Johnson was a lot of money. They have spent a lot of money in that squad and within that team, and it’s now, I think, time for them to kind of push on and ensure they finish in the top four, possibly fifth.”
Renowned over the years for penny-pinching and being a notorious negotiator, Daniel Levy has wholeheartedly backed Postecoglou in the past three transfer windows as well as spent big to develop the new stadium.
Dominic Solanke became Tottenham’s record-signing for a fee in the region of £65million in August, while the likes of James Maddison, Brennan Johnson, Micky van de Ven and Radu Dragusin have all arrived at the club for big sums.
-> Tottenham Hotspur confirmed signings, transfers in, out, loan exits, releases for 2024/25
Following a poor start to the 2024/25 season which has seen Spurs pick up just four points from a possible nine, even though we deserved more at Leicester and Newcastle, pressure has been put on Big Ange from media outlets and various agencies. The 59-year-old would have been livid with the results against Leicester and Newcastle but there’s no better game than the north London derby to get the season back on track after the international break.
