New Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou says his biggest challenge at the club is reprogramming the players to attacking football after nearly four years under Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte.
In his first press conference since starting work last week, Postecoglou promised to impose his “aggressive” and “dominant” style of play on a squad which has been used to soaking up pressure and then counter-punching under their past three managers.
The Australian has been working with a skeleton squad at Hotspur Way since July 1, but the club’s international players are returning throughout this week, with Harry Kane due back on Wednesday, and Postecoglou says he will sell his “vision” for Spurs to the England captain when they sit down for crunch talks.
Asked if he has to reprogramme the squad to play his way, Postecoglou told Standard Sport: “Yeah, absolutely. That will be the biggest challenge and that’s what I’m concentrating on at the moment. It’s about changing that mindset and changing the way the players see the game, and maybe their roles within it, because even with the positions they play, there’s going be adjustments in how I want them to do things.
“I love that, that’s why I’m here. If it was just me rolling up and they’re [already] doing their thing, it wouldn’t excite me. That’s part of the challenge, it will be a shift from the way the club has played for three or four years.”
Summer signings James Maddison and Guglielmo Vicario are due to join with the squad this week, while Spurs close in on completing the free transfer of former Fulham forward Manor Solomon.
Postecoglou says the new additions will help to speed up the transition to attacking football and believes that 26-year-old Maddison, who joined in a £40million deal from relegated Leicester, is ready to become a leader for his new-look side.
“In terms of how quickly the players embrace [my style], the new players coming in will help,” Postecoglou added.
“They’re players who fit the direction I want to go in, which helps. Then it’s about seeing with the existing group how many of them are able to adjust and embrace the way we’re going to play.”
On Maddison, he added: “[I’m] really excited to get him as part of the group. Any manager will tell you that part of the key to being a dominant team is having multiple attacking threats and having a midfielder who can score and create goals. They’re not easy to come by. He’s proven himself as somebody who can do that.
“When you look at Tottenham the last few years, they’ve been really reliant on the front three to get their goals. I thought it was a really good fit for us to look for a player like James — even better if we could get James.
“He’s had the birth of twins, so I don’t know what shape he’ll be in when he gets here! He’s in a stage of his career where it feels like he can be a leader, which is great, because we need players who want to embrace that responsibility, whether it’s their first year in or they’ve been here for ages. We’re going to need leadership on the field and he feels like he can be a player who does that.”
