…and man,
@jeffbear you could not have been more right about Ange.
the atmosphere he’s created at the club, on and off the pitch has been incredible. One thing to be getting some results early on, but to see the transformation amongst the players in terms of their support for one another, the brotherly camaraderie that’s developed, it’s been a game changer.
such a subtle thing but him completely changing the leadership group from last year and handing the captaincy to Sonny, giving Maddison vice captaincy a few weeks after joining, and Romero on the back end was a quietly brilliant move.
also I don’t know if it’s something he targets in players, but of the guys he targeted to bring in…Van De Ven, Vicario, Maddison (his #1 priority target, but Tottenham did have interest for years), Brennen Johnson, they’ve all had such great attitudes….
Lloris used to blast players anytime he had to make a difficult save, for not having played perfectly…..meanwhile Udogie makes a huge blunder sending Arsenal in all alone, Vicario makes a big save….and immediately gives Udogie a clap & thumbs up, telling him he’s got him.
then there’s quotes like these…
“I love my club. I love my team-mates. I love our fans. I love the stadium. I just love Spurs. Thank God for all this love.” - Yves Bissouma
- James Maddison.
For me as a centre-back, it is OK to imagine I lose the ball one time and a big chance comes from it and the trainer is screaming from the sides: ‘Again, again, again.’ It gives us some trust to build up again and again. Of course it is risky but when you come out in a nice situation you are always like: ‘Oh yeah.’” - Micky Van De Ven
The confidence he instills in the young guys, by hammering it home that it’s on his shoulders if things go sideways, cause he wants them out there being creative, taking risks, if a mistake happens forget about it and try again….and I think it’s why you see so many young guys, Udogie, Sarr, Van De Ven, and Porro all hit the ground running in his system.
every spurs fan alive assumed because of his high octane system, we’d have to play Royal at RB because Porro struggled so much defensively even with just wingback responsibilities…..but in one preseason Postecoglou’s changed him into a vastly more rounded player who has been integral to the success we’ve had…..and again, it’s born out of (a) Ange’s fearlessness playing the most offensive players and (b) instilling in Porro to lean into his creativeness, trust his support to help him cover, and it’s resulted in him being brilliant at both ends of the pitch. (Completely salvaging what many of us thought would be a wasted £40m purchase, because of the change to 4 atb).
Obviously we’ve plenty of bumps in the road to come, but given how good Ange seemingly is at eyeing players that are more than they’re perceived as, if in his system….it’s going to be a damn fun few years with him at the helm.
