Postecoglou: Added resilience a big boost for Spurs

Ange Postecoglou believes an added resilience has been a key factor in Tottenham’s recent upturn in results.

Spurs endured a mixed start to the season with defeats to Newcastle and Arsenal, after an opening day draw with Leicester in the Premier League.

But after a late comeback win at Coventry in the Carabao Cup, Spurs, who face Brighton on Super Sunday (live on Sky Sports) haven’t looked back, winning five successive matches in all competitions for the first time since March 2021 under Jose Mourinho.

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In that run, Spurs have faced adversity.

There were the late goals from Djed Spence and Brennan Johnson at Coventry to turn the game on its head with Postecoglou’s side seemingly heading out of the Carabao Cup. They were behind after 22 seconds against Brentford before storming back to win 3-1. There was the dominant win at Man Utd in between a win over Qarabag with 10 men before a team filled with youngsters won at Ferencvaros.

In his relatively short tenure in north London, Postecoglou has imprinted an exciting brand of football, which Sky Sports‘ Gary Neville has admitted he loves to watch. However, Spurs are now not just relying on their all-action attacking football to win football matches.

‘We’re not just relying on our football anymore’

“I’ve actually said to the lads, if you look at our results, it’s five wins from five, but they are all very different wins,” Postecoglou said in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports.

“At Coventry we had to score really late to stay alive in the competition. Against Brentford we conceded in the first 20 seconds. Then against Qarabag we had somebody sent off in the first eight minutes. So, we’ve had to deal with all kinds of different situations, and I think that’s important as well because it’s not just wins on the back of dominant performances.

“It’s wins playing well, but also dealing with circumstances and obviously, the Coventry game, we didn’t play well, but we had to fight and battle to stay in the Carabao Cup. We had the belief to score late, and I think that helps as well because it’s not just relying on us playing well or playing our football. It’s also giving evidence about the things that we need in terms of our resilience to deal with things.”

When asked if he can see the character and resilience building in his squad, he added: “You definitely see it and you feel it with the lads.

“To be fair, they’ve been good. Over the last year, we’ve had tough moments. We showed that, but it’s about sort of marrying that up with consistent football performance.

“Last year, at times, we were just relying on that and just relying on the football. It’s got to be a marriage of both. We’ve had a much better level of performance this year and now we’re marrying that up with our resilience, and the ability to get results as well.

“You need both and the more you can overcome situations with both of those as drivers, I think the better place you are in.”

Defensive stability key for Ange and Spurs

Part of that resilience has been Spurs’ defence.

Last season they conceded 61 goals in the league but so far this campaign only Liverpool have let in fewer goals than Postecoglou’s side. Their expected goals conceded of 5.11 is the best in the league.

While the Spurs boss insists the defensive improvement is collective, he puts a lot of it down to the stability provided by the availability of Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie, supported by goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.

“It’s funny how people just don’t totally switch into that,” Postecoglou said. “It’s not just those two [Romero and Van de Ven] either, but it’s Porro, it’s Udogie and it’s Vicario.

“When we had those five on the pitch last year, we were really strong. It’s no coincidence that the fact that they’ve been fit, we’re strong again. But I think we’re a lot better defensively this year from a whole team perspective.

“We’re a lot more disciplined, which is only natural because the focus last year was about changing the style of the game. The biggest change that we needed to make was what we did with the ball because over the previous three or four years before we arrived, this team played a really different kind of style of football.

“So invariably, we concentrated on that. But we don’t want to do it at the expense of defensive solidity. We know that that’s important if you want to be successful.

“But this year, we haven’t conceded many goals. We’re probably top two or three in terms of conceded chances, or chances that we shouldn’t have. But that’s coming from a more collective approach in our defensive play. But also, the fact that we’ve had pretty consistent back four.”

On the combination of Romero and Van de Ven, he added: “It’s a great partnership. For all defensive partnerships, it’s about how they complement each other and they do complement each other well.

“But we’ve also got Radu Dragusin. We’ve got guys like Archie Gray who’ve contributed. We’re going to need those guys. It’s not about just relying on those two.

“However, the attributes they have, Mickey’s left foot and Romero’s experience and his steeliness is a perfect complement to the kind of player that Mickey is.”

‘Much more to come from in-form Johnson’

Another key figure is recent weeks has been Brennan Johnson.

Having joined Spurs in the summer of 2023 in a deal worth more than £45m, Johnson reportedly deactivated his Instagram account because of online criticism after Spurs’ North London derby defeat to Arsenal in September.

However, since then, the 23-year-old has responded with five goal in five games. He is Spurs’ top scorer so far this season and in the space of nine games in all competitions this season, he has already matched his total in 34 games last season.

Despite Johnson’s sparkling form, Postecoglou insists there still so much to come from the forward.

“It’s been brilliant [his form]. But it wasn’t like Brennan wasn’t playing well before that.

“Okay, he didn’t have the goals at the start of this year, but he hit a post a couple of times and he was awfully close a couple of other times. But we’ve all seen how players feed off goals. It’s only natural.

“Now he feels really confident in front of goal and if he gets an opportunity, he’ll make it count.

“But his general play is what we love about Brennan. He works hard for the team, he creates a lot, but he works hard defensively as well. And, again, he’s still a young player, so there’s plenty of improvement. It’ll be exciting to see him get on.”

‘Important for players not to get carried away with bad stuff’

At the time, Postecoglou condemned social media abuse aimed at footballers, saying it was “sad” that abuse on social media has become commonplace.

Speaking about Johnson’s situation, Postecoglou thinks it’s a good reminder of the importance of a player feeling comfortable off the pitch and that things can change quickly in football.

He said: “I think for every footballer, they understand that sometimes we let these things affect us too much because they change very quickly in football.

“At the same time, I’m sure Brennan and the people around him, especially his family, are probably saying to him, listen, let’s just keep doing what you’re doing. Don’t get carried away with the good stuff either.

“You should never get carried away with the bad stuff because ultimately, it’s about your attitude, your willingness to work to improve. I said that at the time. Brennan was coming in every day, working as hard as he possibly could to improve himself. He cared about the club, and he cared about us winning games.

“That’s all you need to see. If that continues, I’m sure he’ll go through other challenges, and all footballers go through challenges. It’s about not letting that overwhelm you to the extent where you think everything’s going bad. It’s about putting that to one side and focusing on supporting.”

When asked about making sure players are right off the field, Postecoglou added: “It’s the key to everything.

“It’s like anything you do in life, whether it’s your occupation or your relationship, it’s the work you put into it. People see the events of the day, obviously on a match day, but if you’re not doing it on a daily basis, and that’s what we see, it’s never going to happen. You’re just hoping for it to happen on the weekend.

“With our players, we consistently say to them, that it is what they do on a daily basis that will showcase itself on the game. You can’t just say you’re going coast through a week and then at the weekend you’re going to turn it on.”

‘We’re doing things differently at Spurs now’

Spurs’ season continues on Sunday, live on Sky Sports, when they look to extend their winning run to six matches when they take on Brighton at the Amex Stadium.

Much was made of Postecoglou’s remarks earlier in the season that he “always wins things” in the second season he is at a club.

So, what is it about those second seasons?

“I just think it’s a consequence of the roles I’ve taken because every role I’ve had has meant a pretty sort of sharp departure from what’s existed,” Postecoglou said.

“So, I haven’t gone in and just had to, in any job I’ve had, and just tick around the edges. I’ve had to go in and rebuild squads, rebuild teams and rebuild the style of play.

“Invariably, the first year is always going to be a bit clunky. It’s only natural.

“Whether that was a Celtic, Yokohama, or Australia, because if you go all the way back, that first year is about building. So by the second year, hopefully you’ve laid down some decent foundations and you’re not making as many changes as you needed to. Then you’re starting to see the team sort of play a bit more cohesively, a bit more consistently.

“But this is a different challenge. This is the Premier League.

“But in terms of what we’ve needed to do in 15 months, we’ve definitely changed the style of play, we’ve definitely brought in new players and we’re definitely doing things differently.”

Watch Brighton vs Tottenham live on Sky Sports Premier League on Sunday; kick off 4.30pm