No team in English professional football has played fewer games than Tottenham this season and with only a dozen Premier League games in almost four months, the process has been particularly tedious since the start of the year.
Now it all ends with a run of six games in three weeks, starting with Sunday’s derby against Arsenal, and a reckoning of sorts to determine how Ange Postecoglou’s first year will go down in history.
No trophies. Nothing new there. More style, big tick from the faithful. But can they qualify for the Champions League? Will they disappear in the Europa League? Or worse? And how much satisfaction can they get if they manage to sabotage Arsenal’s title bid?
That’s certainly not Postecoglou’s style. “I want to win and I understand the importance of winning against your traditional rival,” said the Spurs manager. “I come from Glasgow and I have a clear idea of what derbies mean to the fans, but I never believe that the motivation should revolve around the disappearance of another person.
‘Your motivation should be about yourself. I want to win because I want us to achieve something. I want us to progress. I want us to be in a position to fight for the title. That’s what drives me, not disappearance.
Tottenham is the team that has played the fewest games in the four main English football leagues this season.
How Ange Postecoglou’s first campaign at the club will be evaluated will be determined over the next three weeks.
“If that’s your kind of measure, always looking over the back fence to see what your neighbor is building, you both might have the worst houses on the street.”
Tottenham is fifth with the same points (60) and only five fewer goals (65) than in all of last season, when it finished eighth. “I would be disappointed,” Postecoglou said when asked if he would have been happy with that result at the start of the season.
“At the beginning of the year I wouldn’t have settled for fifth place. I would have tried to win it all.
‘Where we are is a true reflection of our season. We’ve been pretty good, but inconsistent. We’ve had some challenges and I don’t think anyone would say we’re in a false position. We have earned where we are from both a good and a not-so-good perspective.”
They got off to a bright start, winning with arrogant swagger. And that was important. Postecoglou injected fun into a club where she had been scarce under her immediate predecessors.
However, fun versus trophies is a sliding scale. There will come a time when the Spurs, with their brilliant but distant past, will demand silverware.
For now, there is an air of satisfaction. Most believe the latest manager has put them back on track, and much of that is down to the first 10 league games, when they picked up 26 points despite selling Harry Kane, the club’s top scorer, on the eve of the game. inaugural. in Brentford.
The former Celtic boss admitted his team has been plagued by inconsistency this season
“You’re starting a season and the most important person in this club has just left,” Postecoglou said. ‘I made a real conscious effort to be like the old duck that looks really elegant on the water. And if there is panic, make sure it’s underwater, where no one can see it, especially the players. The players didn’t even blink. And you could do it because you can see what Harry has done at Bayern, it has been incredible.
“The one who has left is an important player and he hasn’t been mentioned as much as he would have been if we weren’t successful.” And if we hadn’t scored goals, his name would have been heard a lot more.
“That’s a credit to the group of players and all these things we’ve been through will help us in the medium and long term because they eliminate any excuse we have for next year.” We are not going to lose another Harry Kane. With a little luck we will have fewer injuries.”
Postecoglou has promised to review his training regimen at the end of the season to see if anything can be changed that will help.
Defender Destiny Udogie is the latest victim, having damaged her thigh during training. Udogie has had surgery and should be ready for next season, but will miss Euro 2024 with Italy.
Injuries to new signings Mickey van de Ven and James Maddison abruptly ended a good start to November; They failed with Son Heung-min, Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr absent due to international commitments and never regained the same rhythm.
Injuries to several key players cut short what was an excellent start to the campaign for Spurs.
“It seems like a really disrupted season,” Postecoglou said. ‘That’s where I feel like it’s hardest for me to evaluate because there’s not a huge amount of work. It’s like I’m taking samples from everywhere. “But we have six games to reaffirm our idea of where we are.”
After Arsenal comes another London derby against Chelsea on Thursday, and then a trip to Liverpool. A date with Manchester City lurks between the games against Burnley and Sheffield United.
“Six big ones,” Postecoglou said. ‘If you are in a big club and your ambition is to fight for honours, you have to be prepared to face the big games. That is the reality. You cannot ignore it.’