Ange Postecoglou has accepted that Tottenham are heading into a run of games that could make or break their season – and his own future as head coach.
Tottenham begin a run of nine games in 30 days against Manchester City on Saturday evening, during which they also face Chelsea, Manchester United in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals and Liverpool before Christmas, as well as Europa League matches against Rome. and the Rangers.
Postecoglou’s side are 10th in the Premier League table and could drop to the bottom half if they lose to City. But they also start the weekend just three points behind third-placed Chelsea.
Tottenham will miss centre-backs Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero on Saturday, with Rodrigo Bentancur starting his suspension despite Spurs appealing the length of his seven-match suspension for racism.
“Definitely for us, I think it’s an important period because I think you look at these games and we have the league where we need to improve our position and some important European games that can prepare us for the back half. Also, a Carabao Cup quarter-final,” Postecoglou said.
“At the end of this period we could be in a decent position for a strong second half, so this is an important period for us. You know there are no more international breaks, so all the attention is there, so you can build momentum through that, or if things don’t go well you might find yourself in a bit of a difficult situation. So, for us, this is going to be a really crucial part of the season.
Tottenham lost at home to Ipswich Town before the international break and Postecoglou added: “Obviously the table reflects where we are. Of course. If we’d beaten Ipswich we’d be third and I think this press conference would be a lot different, don’t you think?
“I’m not going to let my life be dictated by one outcome, I’m sorry. I take a broader perspective on these things because I know how fickle it can be. But we certainly need to reconsider our position. And if we’re 10th at Christmas, yeah, it won’t be great, that’s for sure. Rightfully so, there would be a lot of scrutiny and probably a lot of scrutiny around me, which is fair enough, but that’s not where I anticipate us being.
“It could have been much worse”
Saturday’s trip to City will be Postecoglou’s 50th league game in charge of Tottenham and, asked to assess that period, he said: “You have to look at it in the totality of those 50 games, because your question probably would have been phrased differently if we had won the last game it might have been “after 50 games would you expect to be third and still in the Carabao Cup and doing well in Europe?”
“So because of one result, we look at it another way. What I’m trying to do is look at that totality and consider our starting point. And I keep coming back to it because I think people forget where we started. I took over a club which had finished eighth. I didn’t take over a club that finished second, third, fourth, fifth. Finished eighth. No European football. Significant player turnover. Significant. Change in style of play.
“Where did I think we would be after 50 games? God knows. It could have been much worse. But when you look at it through the current prism of our 10th place, you say ‘that doesn’t look good’ and I understand that, and we need to improve that.
“But over the course of 50 games, I think there are enough to show that we are progressing as a team and developing into the team that we want to be. The key is the next 50 games , if they can be totally better than the top 50? Firstly, that means I’m there, but secondly, I think we’ll be in a good space.