Chris Sutton has leapt to the defence of new Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou, believing he has been underestimated by high-profile media contemporaries Roy Keane and Gary Neville – despite his impressive start.
The Australian’s arrival was met with some trepidation but he has already made an instant impact in north London by steering the club to an impressive 2-0 home win over Manchester United alongside picking up four points from a possible six at visits to Brentford and Bournemouth.
Unbeaten Tottenham sit third in the Premier League on seven points, just two points off champions Manchester City – who are the only side left boasting a 100 per cent record.
Spurs are mirroring their results with an impressive style of football, something Postecoglou is renowned for as he endears himself to the club’s fanbase.
Neville and Keane had expressed their concerns about Postecoglou’s tactics previously, but Sutton believes the 58-year-old deserves more respect – as he told Mail Sport football editor Ian Ladyman on the brand new podcast ‘It’s All Kicking Off’.
Ange Postecoglou has enjoyed a strong start in the Premier League as Tottenham manager
Chris Sutton told It’s All Kicking podcast that other pundits haven’t analysed Postecoglou’s past success closely enough
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Former Premier League winner and co-host, Sutton, insists some of the 58-year-old’s critics haven’t analysed his impressive track record at other clubs deeply enough before drawing judgement.
‘I think the media in general haven’t [disrespected Postecoglou] but was there not a “No to Postecoglou” campaign from Spurs fans?,’ said Sutton.
‘I think there was a similar thing at Celtic when Ange Postecoglou came over to Celtic because I think a large part of it was because he is Australian and people view Australia as not a footballing country, with the greatest respect, and people didn’t really scratch beneath the surface.
‘If you look at every club he’s been, he’s had 25 successful years in coaching and he turns clubs around. He did well with Brisbane in Australia, he went to Yokohama who were struggling in the in the J-League, turned them around into J-League champions. He came to Celtic, took over one hell of a mess and turned them around – winning five out of six trophies, two league titles,’ he added.
‘But it wasn’t just that, it was about style of play, brand of football and then going to Tottenham, that was the biggest thing for me. He would tick that box majorly.
‘It’s interesting. Pundits who I respect, Gary Neville, Roy Keane, Glenn Hoddle, have all been slightly critical of him in the way that Tottenham play,’ said Sutton.
Ladyman then questioned whether harsh views from former professionals on the Tottenham boss can be classed as ‘snobbery’.
Sutton added: ‘I don’t know whether it’s snobbery. They [have] great football brains, they have their opinions.
‘What I do think is that they don’t understand or haven’t looked into Postecoglou deeply enough in his coaching career and the brand of football which he plays, I’ve spoken to him many times, read a lot of stuff about him.
Spurs earned consecutive Premier League wins with victory over Bournemouth on Saturday
Postecoglou is unbeaten in three matches as Spurs manager since taking over in the summer
‘He wants to play this attacking brand of football and it’s worked for him for a 25-year period. So he’s come to Tottenham and he’s saying, “why am I going to change? It’s been successful for me”. And I actually thought that Tottenham would be a bit more of a slow burner, if I’m honest. Maybe around October, November they really hit the straps.
‘I think that in many respects, we may be getting a little bit overexcited because I’m still pretty sure they will have some tough weeks and they will concede some goals playing the way that they’re playing and getting counter-attacked. Then we’ll get “Postecoglou’s naive with the way he plays”.
‘But with a guy who has his track record in management, maybe not in as fashionable a league as a lot of English fans would want, I think he’s going to do good things. Remember, when Arsene Wenger came to these shores and everybody wrote him off. What happened next?’
Tottenham will be hoping to keep their inspiring start to the new season going when they take on Fulham in the second round of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday before travelling to face Vincent Kompany’s Burnley on Saturday.