“It shows you how quickly things can change if you get in the right manager,” Jamie Redknapp said after Spurs beat Newcastle 4-1. “It’s an unbelievable change in morale and belief in this football club. I know they’ve had this rotten run of late but I have so much belief in this guy.”
Image: Destiny Udogie wheels away to celebrate after giving Spurs the lead
Jamie Redknapp said Ange Postecoglou has transformed Tottenham from the Premier League’s most unwatchable team to its most watchable after their 4-1 thrashing of Newcastle on Sunday.
Spurs ended their five-game winless run in emphatic style thanks to a goal from Destiny Udogie, a double from Richarlison and a late penalty from Heung-Min Son.
The victory sees them move three points clear of Manchester United in fifth place and restores optimism among supporters following the blip which interrupted a stunning start under Postecoglou.
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“Spurs the past few years have been the most unwatchable team in the Premier League,” said Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp.
“But he [Postecoglou] has made them the most watchable with his inverted full-backs and his style.
“It shows you how quickly things can change if you get in the right manager. It’s an unbelievable change in morale and belief in this football club.
“I know they’ve had this rotten run of late but I have so much belief in this guy.
“I hope they look after him and give him what he wants as I think Spurs have got someone very special in place.
“I know he wasn’t their first choice, but what an unbelievable job he’s done so far. He has turned this club around.”
‘Spurs style almost revolutionary’
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FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from the clash between Tottenham and Newcastle
Spurs won eight of Postecoglou’s first 10 Premier League games in charge and Redknapp believes they are capable of achieving a top-four finish this season.
“I don’t think they’re ready to challenge for the title yet. But what they have to do is establish themselves again in the top four. There are so many aspects of their game that I’m loving.”
On Postecoglou’s use of his full-backs, Redknapp added: “It’s quite unique. We’ve seen managers before bring a centre-back into midfield, maybe one full-back comes in. The way they play with both of them coming in, it gives the other team so many problems.
“You don’t know who you’re marking. There’s so much fluidity about how they play, it’s enjoyable, and it’s almost revolutionary.
“I’m loving seeing it. A lot of grassroots managers and young players are looking at that full-back role and he has changed it completely.
“Pep [Guardiola] has done it throughout his career and now you can see what Ange Postecoglou’s doing.
“When he came from Celtic, people did worry if he would be able to replicate his success in Scotland.
“But he’s shown you can change how a team plays within six months.”
‘Romero is going to cost his team’
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Super Sunday’s Jamie Redknapp and Michael Dawson raise concerns about Tottenham defender Cristian Romero who was fortunate to avoid a red card against Newcastle
If there was one negative from a Spurs perspective it was the reckless lunge by Cristian Romero on Callum Wilson for which he was fortunate only to be booked.
“It’s frightful. Some people will say he cares, but it’s just going to cost his team. He can play, he’s good on the ball technically, he reads the game well. But he makes rash decisions all the time. He’s vice captain now so he has to set a good example.
“You can’t keep doing that. It’s a red card all day. I don’t think he’ll learn. He sees red and goes for it. You can’t tame some players. He’s got that aggression in him and it makes him the player he is.
“Every time I watch him, I think he’s either going to give away a goal or cost his team with a sending off.”
“He plays on the edge,” added Michael Dawson on Sky Sports. “I thought it was stupid. There was no need to make the challenge as you’re 3-0 up and in cruise control. You’ve just come back from a suspension and there wasn’t any real needle in the game.
“He just goes over the top. When Chris Kavanagh gets the yellow card out, I was thinking they would go to VAR. If he had got sent off, it would have been four games. He’s such a good player, but it’s not use if you’re going to get sent off all the time.”
Postecoglou: I was probably too hard on the players
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Ange Postecoglou picked out Heung-min Son for praise after the win against Newcastle
Postecoglou acknowledged after the game that he could have been kinder to his players during this difficult spell, which has seen the squad ravaged by injury.
“We are trying to build something here and part of that is, through the tough periods, to not allow the lads too much of an attitude in terms of excuses,” the Spurs boss said.
“But the reality is – and I was probably too hard on them in retrospect – we got decimated after the Chelsea game. It’s no coincidence our form has improved since we got players back.
“It sounds like excuses but that’s the reality of the Premier League. You don’t need too much analysis to see why, in the last few weeks, we haven’t been as conclusive in our results as earlier in the season.”
Postecoglou felt captain Heung-min Son led by example for Spurs, but he also had praise for Richarlison after arguably his best performance for the club.
“Richy was great, really important,” added Postecoglou. Him and Pape [Matar Sarr] coming back in gave us some real energy and we were really going to need that today.
“Richy was important to us at the start of the year too, but he wasn’t fully fit. He was kind of restricted in his movements. At times, we had to play him at wide to get him through games.
“Since he has come back, he feels a lot better physically. It wasn’t just his goals, his general work-rate, his energy and physicality were very good for us.”
On using Richarlison as a striker rather than out wide, he added: “It’s just because Richy is healthy now. I think that’s his best position, through the middle.
“Also, looking at the last few weeks, our best chances have gone to the wide players. Sonny is still or best finisher and I thought getting him back out on the left would give us some more avenues to score goals. He set the tone early on and the lads fed off that.”
‘Spurs could get fourth place’
Image: Tottenham returned to winning ways in style
Sky Sports’ Gary Neville, on the Gary Neville Podcast:
“I’ve been impressed with them all season. We did the game last week at the Etihad, they were very good there. They could have been turned over in the first half but what you can’t deny is the football.
“It sounds simple but football fans love watching exciting football and they’ll forgive a lot if you’re playing football that’s breath-taking. Pochettino’s football here was high energy, front foot, pressing… the technical level we’re watching out there from these Spurs players is fantastic.
“They’re not the best players in the world by the way. They’ve lost one of their world-class players (Harry Kane) and Son is another one. If you said to me at the start of the season Ange Postecoglou would get a team playing like this, I’d have said no chance. I love doing their games.
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“Any time you get your rota, if I see Tottenham there I’m thinking ‘I’m having that because I know it’s going to be a great game and that’s what we all want’. They’ve been beaten up in the last few weeks and I asked the question in the first half last week, at what point does this great football turn into naivety.
“I think it’s right we ask that when they haven’t won for a month. But they have had injuries and it is exciting. As a Tottenham fan, they’re with the players, with the manager. This is what they want. They won’t finish in the top three but they could get that fourth place.
Image: Son embraces Ange Postecoglou at full-time
“They’re sat now a couple of points off fourth and they’ve got to imagine at some point in the season… I think Arsenal Liverpool and City will finish in the top three – those others behind have got to imagine Villa do have that rough patch, they start to have a few injuries and things could go wrong for them and they could wait for them and be there to pounce.
“Get Van de Ven back, get Maddison back… but even without them they’ve played like this. Newcastle are a good side who have built up a lot of trust with how they’ve played.
“We’ve all enjoyed them, they’re a really good side but they’ve been pumped. They’ve not been able to live with the football Spurs have played. It was the worst team for Newcastle to play on Sunday.
“The speed and tempo of the play, the way they run forward and commit. Every time they break the full-backs are running forward, the midfield players are running forward and it does remind me a little bit of the best teams. They don’t care what’s behind them they just go. It’s a brilliant spectacle.”
Sourse: skysports.com
