Premier League leaders Tottenham recovered from a sluggish first half to win 2-1 at Crystal Palace and extend their lead at the summit to five points.
Ange Postecoglou’s side found life tough at Selhurst Park initially, but moved through the gears in the second period and went ahead when Joel Ward put through his own net in the 53rd minute following James Maddison’s centre.
Captain Son Heung-min made the points safe 13 minutes later with a close-range finish for his eighth goal this season to ensure high-flying Spurs extended their unbeaten top-flight start to 10 matches.
Jordan Ayew struck late on for Palace, but victory moved Tottenham five points clear of Manchester City, who visit rivals Manchester United on Sunday, and while that gap is unlikely to remain come the end of the weekend, this latest test passed by Postecoglou’s new-look team will only increase the optimism growing in N17.
The Australian made two changes from Monday night with left-back Destiny Udogie unavailable due to muscle tightness, which resulted in Ben Davies making his first league start this term, while Yves Bissouma returned to the starting line-up following his one-match ban.
Spurs were poor during the opening exchanges against a Palace side eager to respond to their 4-0 thrashing at Newcastle with Guglielmo Vicario twice called into action early on.
Vicario first denied Ayew’s low effort in the sixth-minute before he produced a smart save to thwart the snapshot of Odsonne Edouard, who was leading the line for the hosts.
Hodgson would have been pleased with the response to Palace’s thrashing in the North East after Will Hughes and Joel Ward snapped into tackles with Micky van de Ven and Maddison.
Maddison’s influence had been limited, but he sliced a tough half-volley chance into the Holmesdale Stand before Richarlison dragged wide from outside the area.
The opening half an hour in south London had been stop-start, which suited Palace who forced four corners in a row towards the end of the first 45, but Tottenham survived to walk off at half-time level.
Postecoglou had lambasted the second half showing against Fulham and would have been equally frustrated with this display after Spurs failed to have a shot on target despite more than 70 per cent possession.
He reacted with Emerson Royal introduced for Davies and while the visitors’ wait for a first shot on target continued, they still managed to break the deadlock in the 53rd minute.
Tottenham’s goal came from their right side with Pedro Porro playing in Pape Sarr, who cut back for Maddison and his smashed effort across goal bounced off Ward and into the Palace net.
It was tough on Palace but Hodgson’s side immediately searched for an equaliser and Edouard had a shot deflected over by Cristian Romero.
Marc Guehi headed wide from the resulting corner before Postecoglou made further changes with Brennan Johnson and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg brought on.
Johnson needed barely two minutes to make his mark with a first assist for the club since a £45million deadline day move from Nottingham Forest.
The substitute started the move with a cushioned header into Maddison, who passed back into Johnson and he smartly recycled the ball to Son and the Spurs captain rifled home from close-range in the 66th minute.
After Tottenham switched off at 2-0 up against Fulham, there was little chance of a repeat and Postecoglou sent on Rodrigo Bentancur for his first appearance since he suffered anterior cruciate ligament damage to his left knee in February.
Bentancur’s arrival on the pitch was met with big cheers by the away fans, but the travelling support endured a nervy finale.
Ayew reduced the deficit four minutes into stoppage time when he controlled Joachim Anderson’s cross and fired beyond Vicario, which was eventually awarded after a lengthy VAR check.
Palace pushed for a last-gasp leveller and forced several set-pieces before substitute Matheus Franca sliced wide under pressure from Porro to confirm a fourth consecutive win for leaders Spurs.
Ange Postecoglou has scoffed at talk Tottenham are a better team without Harry Kane, but admitted the departure of the club’s record goalscorer has allowed other individuals to flourish.
Kane left Spurs on the eve of the season to join Bayern Munich in a deal that could rise to £120million in add-ons and which had been expected to derail a club that only managed to finish eighth in the Premier League last term.
The opposite has occurred with Postecoglou able to mastermind an unbeaten start in the top flight that has sent Tottenham to the summit and posed the question are the north London club better without their ex-talisman Kane, who scored 278 times in 430 appearances for his boyhood team.
Postecoglou cited Kane’s final outing in Lilywhite – a four-goal salvo in a friendly against Shakhtar Donetsk on August 6 – as evidence against the aforementioned rhetoric, although acknowledged the sale of the England captain has changed the dynamic of his attack, which is now led by the likes of Son Heung-min, Richarlison, Dejan Kulusevski and new signing Brennan Johnson.
“What I’ve been trying to explain is that individuals change the way you play,” the Spurs boss said ahead of a Friday night clash at Crystal Palace.
“I’m not into this commentary that we’re a better team without Harry because the last game Harry played for us, he did alright in our system when he scored four goals.
“It’s fair to say we would have been able to squeeze him in somewhere – and I’m being sarcastic there – but him not being there just allows us to bring different individuals into the team and they change the dynamic.
“Again, while the way I want my teams to play has a really clear structure, what I try to do is create a balanced squad where individuals can change the dynamics of it.
“Having Sonny as our nine is different from having Harry or even Richy as our nine. Having Deki as a winger or having Brennan Johnson as a winger changes it even if the structure is the same.
“Not having Harry there does change us as a team because we’re using different individuals, but if Harry was still here the structure would be the same and we’d have the same fundamentals of trying to dominate opposition, press the opposition, all those kind of things would still be there.
“Ultimately, I don’t want to suppress the qualities they have, I want to bring out the best of them within the structure we have.”
Tottenham captain Son has shouldered the burden in Kane’s absence with seven goals, while new number 10 James Maddison has immediately hit the ground running in N17.
Maddison scored for the third time on Monday night against Fulham and has also provided five assists to quickly become the team’s fulcrum.
Postecoglou said of the former Leicester playmaker: “He’s very intuitive around the game and at understanding the game.
“For all the players we try to provide a framework of education where we give them information to improve them as individuals, but some of them take them in a more broader concept of the team aspect and Madders is one of those.
“He takes the information but not just from an individual aspect but how it can help the team. The goal he scored the other night came not from his individual ability but just from him working hard.
“He pressed two or three times. That’s a conscious thing he has to do. That’s not just about him being a good footballer, that’s him as an individual saying I need to do this because I think the team will benefit and ultimately, he benefitted from it because he scored the goal.
“But if he didn’t someone else would have, like we did for Sonny’s goal, so I think he’s one of these players that looks at it from a broader perspective, not just how it can help him as an individual but how it can help the team evolve into the team we want to be.”
Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou is loving his time at the Premier League leaders, but is bullish about what expectations should be despite the club’s lengthy trophy drought.
Spurs have not won silverware since 2008, although fans are dreaming of challenging for the title after winning 23 points from a possible 27 so far this season.
It has taken Tottenham to the top-flight summit and they could move five points clear of Manchester City and Arsenal with victory at Crystal Palace on Friday, ahead of the weekend fixtures.
Postecoglou has relished his dream start to life in England, but eager to point out his new club should be competing for trophies every year.
The former Celtic boss said: “I didn’t come here to not be successful. This club has all the fundamentals to be successful. The expectations should be there.
“Part of the reason why there’s been this real desperation for a trophy is because they feel that’s the space they should be in. That is the expectation, that’s the reality, but what drives me isn’t raising or trying to dampen expectations.
“What drives me is trying to build something that will realise the ambitions that this club has at this particular moment. People’s perceptions don’t concern me too much. This is a big club and should be in a position to challenge for trophies every season in my opinion.
“At Celtic we were on top for a very long time but at the beginning when we weren’t on top, I don’t think people saw anything different in my demeanour. I don’t think they will (here).
“It is one thing I do. It’s not about staying kind of level-headed or getting carried away with either thing. It’s just that, my role in that context is to be the one thing that people can rely upon to be consistent.
“In that I have one objective all the time: how can we be better? When that is your objective, it doesn’t really matter where you are on the table or kind of what the outside noise may or may not be doing.
“It is about the players and the staff and everyone involved with the football club, looking at me. The one thing I do is I come in every day, I am buzzing about doing what I am doing. You know, that’s the kind of demeanour I have consistently.
“It’s just the way I am. I get so much satisfaction from what I do. I really enjoy what I do, on a daily basis. There isn’t a day I don’t get up and I’m not looking forward to the day ahead.
“There’s no other levels of satisfaction in me to get. That’s it. I’m buzzing to do what I do.
“Within that context I also understand that I have a real big responsibility to lead an organisation, players, staff, people to what I hope will be a successful place.
“There’s got to be some reliability there in what they see and what they feel with me so some of it is conscious but the other bits, I’m not skipping about the place but I’m really happy. I love what I do. Just the way I am. I’m very, very happy.”
Postecoglou’s happiness did not extend into the dressing room on Monday night after he criticised his players for a poor second half against Fulham.
It failed to stop the team blaring out Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers’ classic from the 1980s’ of ‘Islands in the Stream’ following the 2-0 win.
But Postecoglou joked: “I stay out of the dressing room partly because of the music choices of the players.
“Most clubs want to turn their grounds into a fortress – ours is becoming a nightclub, mate. I’m all for it, whatever makes people happy that’s my thing.”
Spurs will assess Destiny Udogie ahead of the trip to south London after the left-back struggled with muscle tightness during the victory over Fulham.
Ange Postecoglou has played down the significance of Tottenham potentially moving five points clear at the Premier League summit with victory at Crystal Palace on Friday.
Spurs returned to top spot on Monday with a 2-0 win at home to Fulham and play before Arsenal and Manchester City this weekend.
Postecoglou insisted his primary focus is on improving the team after he was critical of their second-half display against Fulham.
“It doesn’t really add any significance because whatever happens Friday night there’s still a full round of Premier League fixtures to be played and nothing of any real significance comes of that,” he said.
“We’re in a good space at the moment but again we’ve still got plenty of work to do to make sure what we do now is sustainable. That’s the main thing.
“It’s not about making a short-term impact, it’s about building something which hopefully brings sustained opportunities of success for the club.
“There is a really good reason no manager will talk about winning a title in October or November because we know there’s a long way to go.”
Tottenham’s ascent to first position has seen them score 20 goals in nine matches, but Postecoglou feels attack is the area where they can improve the most.
He added: “We still have to grow in every area. There are areas where we are already very good, particularly around the defensive side of the game. I think we’ve been excellent there – really consistent.
“I still think our main growth will come in the attacking side of the game. I still think particularly in the front third, a lot of our movements are still not natural and fluent like we want them to be, which isn’t surprising.
“But what is getting us the goals is that we have great quality up there, which is contributing to that. I still think the biggest growth for us will be in our attacking side of the game.”
Spurs will have to assess Destiny Udogie for the Selhurst Park clash after the left-back was withdrawn in the 56th minute of Monday’s win with muscle tightness.
Pape Sarr (illness) and Ben Davies (knock) are fit and Yves Bissouma is also available after he served a one-match ban for his recent red card at Luton, but Postecoglou was coy over his team after Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg impressed against Fulham.
“It’s no different to any other week. They’re not really dilemmas, just choices that people in my position have to make and I’ve always made those decisions pretty simply and cleanly about what I think we need,” the Australian coach explained.
“Tomorrow night we’ll start with a certain group of players and finish with another and it’s about trying to get the job done. When that games done, we’ll look to the next one.
“It’s good to have Biss available, he’s been a big part of what we’re doing. The team did well the other night so that should make us stronger.”
Postecoglou also heaped praise on opposite number Roy Hodgson ahead of their second meeting.
The Spurs boss faced Hodgson back in 2016 when they were in charge of Australia and England respectively in a friendly at the Stadium of Light.
Asked if he still expects to manage at 76, Postecoglou replied: “Who knows. That’s not the plan. Seventy-six? Somewhere on a Greek island, lying back watching football from around the world, maybe doing some punditry and becoming an expert overnight. That’s the plan but you never know in life, mate.
“I coached against Roy up in Sunderland so I have had the pleasure of coaching him at international level.
“He is an outstanding manager, he’s an absolute gentleman and whenever I have come across him people always talk about the kind of person he is and I love his career, for someone like me with a different journey I have so much admiration for the career he has had.”
Harry Redknapp was appointed Tottenham manager following the sacking of Juande Ramos, on this day in 2008.
Ramos, who had lifted the League Cup just eight months previously, was dismissed following a dismal start to the season, with Spurs rock bottom of the Premier League table with just two points from eight games.
Chairman Daniel Levy paid £5million in compensation to Portsmouth to secure the release of Redknapp, who had won the FA Cup with Pompey the previous season.
Sporting director Damien Comolli was also sacked along with Ramos as Levy oversaw an overhaul of player recruitment.
Redknapp’s tenure began with a 2-0 victory over Bolton – the team’s first win in the league that season – on the day he was appointed.
When discussing his motivation for the move, Redknapp said: “I just thought maybe it was time to move on and Tottenham are a big, big club.
“I thought, ‘Let’s just give it a go before it is too late’.”
Tottenham are enjoying their best start to an English top-flight season since 1960-61, following Monday’s 2-0 win over Fulham.
Ange Postecoglou’s side are unbeaten in nine matches and sit two points clear of Manchester City and Arsenal at the top of the Premier League.
Here, the PA news agency looks at the data behind Spurs’ strong start.
Dare to dream
Tottenham’s return of 23 points from their opening nine matches is the second highest in their top-flight history (all records calculated with three points being awarded for a win).
Only the 1960-61 double-winning side had a superior record at the same stage, having taken maximum points on their way to 11 victories from their first 11 games under Bill Nicholson.
Three other Spurs teams have gone unbeaten over the same period, with each of the 1959-60, 1990-91 and 2016-17 sides recording five wins and four draws in their first nine fixtures.
Tottenham ended as runners-up in the latter campaign – their highest Premier League finish to date – but they never topped the table ahead of champions Leicester.
Having already reached the summit during the recent international break, a win against Crystal Palace on Friday would see Postecoglou’s men set a new club record for most days spent at the top of the Premier League in a single season, which currently stands at 23 in 2020-21.
Ange-ball
As well as putting together a promising set of early results, Postecoglou has overseen a remarkable transformation in Tottenham’s playing style.
Spurs rank top of the Premier League for shots fired at their opponents’ goal this season, having racked up a total of 168 at an average of 18.7 per game.
They were seventh according to the same metric in 2022-23, with an average of 13.6 efforts per match.
Tottenham have also improved defensively after conceding 63 goals last season – their highest tally in a 38-game Premier League campaign.
Postecoglou’s side have faced an average of 12.4 shots per game compared with 13.6 last term.
Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario has outperformed his predecessor Hugo Lloris, with a save rate of 84.2 per cent – the best in the Premier League – compared with the Frenchman’s 67.5 per cent in 2022-23.
Son steps up
Tottenham’s unbeaten run is all the more impressive given the departure of Harry Kane to Bayern Munich on the eve of the campaign.
The club’s all-time record scorer netted 30 Premier League goals last season, which accounted for 42.9 per cent of the team’s total (70).
This was the highest percentage of any player in the division, ahead of Erling Haaland who scored 38.3 per cent of Manchester City’s tally (36 out of 94).
Tottenham’s over-reliance on Kane in 2022-23 coincided with a dip in the form of Son Heung-min, who endured his worst scoring campaign in a Spurs shirt.
However, the South Korean has rediscovered his best under Postecoglou, with seven goals in nine appearances so far at an average of 0.89 per 90 minutes.
That is up from 0.31 per 90 last season and 0.69 in 2021-22 – the season in which he scored 23 goals and shared the Golden Boot with Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah.
Dejan Kulusevski has acknowledged Tottenham have an advantage over their rivals with no European football this year and feels it could make the difference come the end of the season.
Spurs returned to the Premier League summit on Monday night with a 2-0 win over Fulham courtesy of goals from Son Heung-min and James Maddison.
Ange Postecoglou’s resurgent side are next in action on Friday at Crystal Palace, where they could go five points clear at the top with a victory and while Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool have European fixtures to contend with this week, Tottenham can focus purely on league action.
“Honestly, it helps a lot. Physically, I remember last season was very hard playing three games a week,” Kulusevski said.
“You feel very tired in the warm-ups. Also, mentally not having to travel to Spain or Italy to play games helps. You are at home, with your family. You have a good rest mentally, so it is a huge thing that we have and we have to take advantage of that this year.
“You can feel the difference and hopefully you will see even more at the end of the season.
“It is early because we will see what happens. Everything can change every day so we don’t need to talk about (title), but we must live for the day with a smile, train hard and not forget who we are. We must try to get better every day.
“It is not important what people say. The important thing is to work hard, be humble, listen to the coach and keep the smiles on faces. Then at the end of the season we will see where we are.”
Tottenham’s young side produced a mature display against Fulham, creating early chances before Son broke the deadlock in the 36th minute.
Calvin Bassey’s misplaced pass under pressure from Spurs’ press was latched onto by Micky van de Ven, touched into Richarlison where he recycled the ball for Son, who dribbled past Tim Ream and curled superbly into the top corner for his seventh goal of the campaign.
Son turned provider nine minutes after half-time when Bassey again gave away the ball and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg fizzed possession into Son, who played in Maddison for his first home goal as a Tottenham player.
The hosts took their foot off the gas during the final exchanges with Fulham wasteful late on, which led to Postecoglou lambasting his team for taking “liberties” post-match.
Kulusevski added: “Number one, we have to keep playing football and that is why we are winning. We have to get back to playing the way we can and be ready for Friday.”
Spurs were without the suspended Yves Bissouma for the visit of Fulham, but Hojbjerg slotted in to good effect on his first league start of the season.
The Danish midfielder expressed his delight at starting and urged his team-mates to “live with the pressure” amid talk of a potential title challenge.
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“Honestly it felt amazing to play. It was really nice to play. It felt really good,” Hojbjerg said.
“First half I thought we played some good football. I think we had to score more than the one and second half we lost a bit of intensity. We let Fulham back into it but especially first half I thought was strong.
“It is up to the coach to analyse (second half) now and to show us a bit what we needed. Personally, I felt the quality on the ball dropped a bit, but again we always know the first game back from the internationals is always a challenge.
“I think it is game by game and it is important to try to improve. Improve every single week and try to see where we can take it. I think you have to live with the pressure, assume the pressure but again it is about improving and looking at yourself week in, week out.”
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou credited his side’s 2-0 win over Fulham to their “outstanding” pressing after they returned to the top of the Premier League.
Goals from Son Heung-min and James Maddison confirmed the three points for the hosts at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Postecoglou also praised the contribution of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who started in place of the suspended Yves Bissouma.
“I thought our pressing was outstanding the whole game and maybe in the first half we could have got one or two more to put the game to bed,” Postecoglou said.
“I thought Pierre was good and he’s been good in every game he’s played for us and he’s been put in some difficult situations and handled them well, he’s very experienced.
“I thought in the first half in particular we stayed calm on the ball and had some good tempo. Like I said I thought our pressing was outstanding all game and I thought he was a big part of that.
“He made interceptions for both goals and yeah it was important to have him in there, his experience coming in because Bissouma has been very important for us and in such a crucial role but I thought he was excellent.”
Spurs took their foot off the gas after their second goal, which invited pressure from Fulham, who had their chances to score late on.
And the former Australia manager was “disappointed” with his side’s second-half efforts.
He added: “I’m really disappointed with the second half, we were nowhere near the levels we have been all year and we have got to make sure we stay disciplined in our approach because the keeper made a couple of great saves to keep the clean sheet and within the context we should have had a much better control of the game.
“I’m not trying to make a point, it’s just what I saw. I thought we were really wasteful with the ball in the second half. We took some liberties with taking extra touches.
“I’ve been around long enough to know if you try to take liberties, you’ll get dragged down pretty quickly.
“I’m not going to let the fact that we’ve won the game disguise the opportunity there for us to improve.
“In the second half, with the ball we weren’t anywhere near the levels we’ve already shown this year and there was no real reason for it. It wasn’t as if the opposition did anything different. It was more self-inflicted.
“My role in that was to give feedback to the players. That’s what they want. They want to get better, they want to improve, I’ve got some stuff there to show them.”
Centre-back Calvin Bassey gave the ball away in the 54th minute and Tottenham punished the mistake through Maddison, doubling his side’s lead.
And Marco Silva admitted he was disappointed with the manner in which Fulham conceded the second goal.
He said: “We were punished by the mistakes that we made.
“What disappointed me was the second goal. At half-time we spoke and we conceded a similar goal in the second half. We were punished again with the same type of goal.”
Goals from key duo Son Heung-min and James Maddison sent Tottenham back to the Premier League summit with a professional 2-0 win over Fulham.
Spurs had claimed top spot before the international break, but watched rivals Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool all leapfrog them across the weekend to raise the stakes of Monday’s London derby.
Fulham proved no match for Ange Postecoglou’s resurgent team and after Son grabbed his seventh goal of an impressive season in the 36th minute, he turned provider after half-time with an assist for partner in crime Maddison.
It was the latest example of the pair combining and a further nod to the present with Son’s once-famed partnership with Harry Kane, now of Bayern Munich, fast becoming a distant memory.
Next up for Postecoglou’s pace-setters is a trip to Crystal Palace on Friday where they could extend their lead at the top to five points with another win.
This was Spurs’ first home match since the Israel-Hamas conflict started and a moment’s silence occurred before kick-off for the innocent civilians killed, during which several Israeli flags were held up by supporters in different areas of the stadium.
Tottenham were without the suspended Yves Bissouma, which meant Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg earned his second start of the season.
Hojbjerg’s other start was the Carabao Cup shoot-out defeat to Fulham in August, but the hosts quickly set about correcting the only blot on Postecoglou’s near-perfect copybook in N17.
Visiting goalkeeper Bernd Leno was alert in the second minute to deny Son after a trademark Maddison through ball before Micky van de Ven hooked over from a free-kick soon after.
While Spurs’ ascent to first had seen them score 18 times in eight matches, they had also tightened up defensively and summer recruit Guglielmo Vicario demonstrated his class with a crucial stop in the 11th minute.
A corner from Andreas Pereira picked out Joao Palhinha, but his towering header was brilliantly tipped away by Vicario’s left glove.
One-time Tottenham loanee Carlos Vinicius sent a header wide not long after before Postecoglou’s men started to turn the screw.
Richarlison curled wide from 20 yards following a lightning-quick counter-attack, but the breakthrough did arrive in the 36th minute through Son’s seventh goal of the season.
Van de Ven was first to the loose ball after a poor Calvin Bassey pass and touched into Richarlison, who recycled into Son’s path and Spurs’ number seven turned away from Tim Ream before he produced a sumptuous finish into the top corner.
It was a deserved opener and it could have been 2-0 moments later with Bassey first heading away with Son ready to pounce before the Tottenham captain back-heeled to Destiny Udogie, but his shot was blocked.
There was still time for another opening when Cristian Romero played in Dejan Kulusevski, although the Swedish attacker tried to tee up Richarlison when the goal was at his mercy and Fulham survived.
Fulham boss Marco Silva made a double substitution at the break with Raul Jimenez and Alex Iwobi introduced, but the second for Spurs arrived in the 54th minute.
It was a carbon copy of the opener with Bassey’s pass out from the back intercepted by the excellent Hojbjerg and Son played through to Maddison, who coolly angled beyond Leno for his third goal of the term.
With the result almost already assured, Udogie and Pape Sarr did limp off in a concern for Postecoglou before Maddison almost made it 3-0.
Maddison led the press brilliantly and forced another error from Bassey by winning back possession, but Ream came across to block his effort.
And another strong stop by Vicario from Jimenez late on secured a fourth clean sheet this season for the early leaders.
Ange Postecoglou has talked up the professionalism of Tottenham midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg ahead of his anticipated first Premier League start of the season.
Hojbjerg is expected to be drafted into the Spurs line-up for the visit of Fulham on Monday due to Yves Bissouma’s one-match ban for his red card at Luton.
Denmark international Hojbjerg was heavily linked with a move away from Tottenham this summer and Fulham registered an interest in the 28-year-old on transfer deadline day, but no switch to the London club or Atletico Madrid materialised.
While Hojbjerg has only started once this season in the Carabao Cup, he has been introduced in seven of Spurs’ eight league fixtures and become a key figure off the bench for his new head coach.
“I don’t think there was any time during the transfer window where I thought Pierre would move,” Postecoglou insisted.
“The discussions I had with him were that he was here and wanted to contribute, he wanted to be part of what we were building.
“It is obvious someone that has played regularly would have wanted to play more but ultimately our performances have been strong and he has had to bide his time.
“He has also been very important in a lot of the games that we’ve won late or had to shore up late. He has been one of the people who has helped us and it is not like he hasn’t contributed at all. He’s been a really important part for us.
“We wouldn’t be in this position if we were just reliant on our starting XI.
“It is something we impress on all of the guys that as disappointed as you are at not starting, it doesn’t mean you are not playing. You are still playing at some point and what you do with those minutes will help us be successful and push your own cause.
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“With Pierre, he is a professional and very determined to win a spot in the team. He presents himself well every day and over a 38-game season all of these guys will get an opportunity at some point. What they do with that is up to them.
“In the meantime, what is important is if they want to keep getting opportunities, they have to train well and when they do play, whether they start or not, they contribute to the team.”
Hojbjerg continues to be linked with a move away from Tottenham, but could earn further opportunities in the coming months.
Spurs will lose Pape Sarr of Senegal and Mali international Bissouma at the start of 2024 for the Africa Cup of Nations, which runs between January 13 and February 11.
That is a problem for Postecoglou to worry about in the future, but his immediate concern is facing Marco Silva’s Fulham without Bissouma, one of Tottenham’s players of the season.
He added: “(I’m) realistic enough to know you’re not going to run with the same XI and every week you wrestle with what the best sort of line up is going to be for you; fitness, form, the way they’re training, the opposition.
“With Bissouma missing out this game, we had to adjust without him at Luton which I thought we did awfully well with 10-men.
“We’ve got some options. Certainly Pierre is a ready-made replacement.
“He’s been training really hard, he’s obviously probably wanted to be playing more because he’s pretty much been a constant for the last two to three years, but when he has come on for us he’s done really well.
“For me he’s the logical one to come in but we’ve got some sessions left.”
Ange Postecoglou has hinted opportunities for his fringe players could be on the horizon ahead of a busy week for Tottenham.
Spurs return to action after the international break with a Monday night clash at home to Fulham and face a quick turnaround with a trip to Crystal Palace four days later.
Yves Bissouma is suspended for the visit of Fulham, which should see Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg earn a first Premier League start this season, and Postecoglou has also urged fit-again Giovani Lo Celso, Bryan Gil and Brennan Johnson to be ready if called upon.
“We’ve got a Monday night game and then we back it up with a Friday night game, so we’ll probably need a good deal of the squad to do those two games,” the Spurs boss explained.
“As good as we’ve been, there are still a few players like Brennan, (Rodrigo) Bentancur, Gil and Lo Celso who haven’t really played at all for us yet.
“Having them back, even in terms of training and raising the level, they are the things that will give us the focus to maintain and keep improving the performances.
“When there is competitiveness around the squad in training and playing, that guards against any complacency or anyone feeling comfortable about things.”
Bentancur is still “weeks” away from returning to first-team action after his anterior cruciate ligament injury in February, but Lo Celso will aim to make an impact over the next week.
Lo Celso was linked with a move away from Tottenham at the start of the summer before Postecoglou made clear his desire to keep the Argentinian, who then sustained a muscle issue in his only start of the campaign at Fulham in the Carabao Cup in August.
The midfielder is fit again now and made substitute appearances for Argentina against Paraguay and Peru during the international break.
Postecoglou said: “He is obviously very highly regarded within the Argentinian set-up because they always call him up and he played in both games.
“He didn’t play significant minutes but he played in both and played 15 to 20 in the second game. It is great for him and his confidence.
“Unfortunately he had a disrupted early part of the season but again another player we haven’t had a contribution from and that’s a pleasing thing for us.”
Postecoglou will hope to see Gil begin to contribute too following his return to full fitness after surgery on his groin in August.
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The Australian admitted Gil’s influence is even more critical with Ivan Perisic (ACL) and Manor Solomon (knee) out until 2024.
“Bryan can be really important for us,” Postecoglou insisted.
“It has been great to have him just working really hard at training. He’s missed all of this season so far and it’s well chronicled that we lost Ivan and Manor, who play in that left-wing position.
“Having Bryan fit and available again is great for us. He’s, I guess, in the same boat as everyone else because at some point he’ll be afforded an opportunity and then it’s up to him.
“He certainly has all the criteria and credentials to play in that position for us and, like I said, his training is getting stronger now, he’s part of the group and I’m sure he’ll get an opportunity.”
Tottenham midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur has returned to full training but is still weeks away from being in contention to play first-team football.
Bentancur saw his fine 2022-23 campaign cut short in February when he suffered anterior cruciate ligament damage to his left knee during a 4-1 defeat to Leicester.
The ex-Juventus midfielder had been one of Spurs’ best performers, scoring six times in 26 appearances last season and after eight months out he is close to a return, but will not be in the squad for Monday’s visit of Fulham.
“No, he won’t be in the squad,” Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou confirmed.
“We’ll be careful with him. Now he’s sort of fully training, so that means he’s into the whole session. We’ve drip-fed him into training the last month and he’s coped pretty well with that.
“Now he’s into full training. We’ve got to be mindful that he’s missed a fair bit of football, but I think the more he trains with the first team over the next few weeks, we’ll sort of pick our moment.
“He’s looking good at training and it was great to have him for the last couple of weeks fully integrated with the guys who are here and we’re looking forward to having him back.”
Joint-leaders Spurs will have vice-captain Cristian Romero and skipper Son Heung-min available for the London derby.
Romero suffered a whack to his ankle in Argentina’s 2-0 win over Peru earlier this week, while Son was visibly in discomfort during South Korea’s 6-0 victory against Vietnam, although did play the whole match and score in the friendly.
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No issues have been reported since the duo returned to Hotspur Way this week.
Postecoglou added: “It has been a pretty positive international break. In terms of availability I’ll start with the internationals first and everybody is back.
“The medical reports seem good so no real issue around the guys from a fitness perspective.
“Playing on a Monday night helps and all the international players should be fine but Brennan (Johnson) we will need to see.”
Johnson has not played for Tottenham since the north London derby at Arsenal on September 24 after he sustained a minor hamstring strain.
The Wales international is training again and set to be in the squad against Fulham, but Spurs will be without Yves Bissouma after he was sent off for two bookable offences at Luton a fortnight ago.
Postecoglou also revealed Dejan Kulusevski is fine after speaking with the winger who was involved in Sweden’s Euro 2024 qualifier at Belgium on Monday, which was abandoned at half-time following confirmation that two Swedish supporters had been killed in a shooting three miles from the stadium in Brussels.
“No, he is fine. I had a chat with him,” Postecoglou explained.
“Like everyone else we shake our heads at these things where you go to a football game and these kind of things happen.
“It is sad and kind of confronting how close it comes to your own world, but Deki is fine. He trained yesterday with the team and is ready to go.”
VARs Darren England and Daniel Cook will return to Premier League duty this weekend following their error in last month’s fixture between Tottenham and Liverpool.
England and Cook were the VAR and VAR assistant respectively when Liverpool forward Luis Diaz’s goal was incorrectly ruled out for offside in Tottenham’s 2-1 home win.
Both officials were stood down the following week, but England will be back as the fourth official for Brentford’s home game against Burnley on Saturday and Cook will return as assistant referee for Sheffield United’s home match against Manchester United.
Miscommunication between VAR England and referee Simon Hooper led to Diaz’s goal being wrongly ruled out on September 30, with the incident later described by referees’ chief Howard Webb as “a clear error”.
Hooper is the designated VAR for Newcastle’s home game against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
New VAR guidelines were introduced in the wake of the Diaz disallowed goal controversy, while audio of the incident was later released.
England mistakenly thought the on-field officials had ruled Diaz to be onside, which meant that when he told them ‘check complete’ they believed he had upheld their on-field decision and restarted play with a free-kick.
Once play had restarted, there was nothing the VARs could do to revisit the decision under existing protocols.
Referees’ body Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) said it would develop a new VAR communication protocol in an effort to avoid similar mistakes being made in future.
PGMOL said the protocol would “enhance the clarity of communication between the referee and the VAR team in relation to on-field decisions”.
VARs will now also confirm the outcome of the checking process with the assistant VAR before confirming the final decision to the on-field officials.
One of the talking points from the latest round of fixtures was referee Michael Oliver’s decision not to send off Manchester City’s Mateo Kovacic for a challenge on Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard.
The City midfielder was shown a yellow card before avoiding another shortly afterwards and Webb later admitted Kovacic was “fortunate” to stay on the pitch.
Oliver will referee Sheffield United’s home game against Manchester United on Saturday.
Australia play England at Wembley on Friday night but former national team head coach Ange Postecoglou does not envisage football truly taking off in his home country like it dominates in his current residence.
Postecoglou has enjoyed an excellent start at Tottenham and they are joint-leaders of the Premier League after eight matches going into this month’s international break.
Optimism is rife at Spurs but their 58-year-old manager remains pessimistic about the state of football in Australia, despite his nation co-hosting a successful Women’s World Cup this summer where the Matildas finished fourth.
Postecoglou spent four years in charge of the Socceroos and – despite achieving plenty – he has given up hope of the sport cracking life Down Under with subtle digs aimed at governing body Football Australia ahead of Friday’s friendly clash in London.
Asked about his Asian Cup win on home soil in 2015, Postecoglou replied: “It didn’t make an impact back there and that was kind of my frustration.
“I don’t think that anything they can achieve… when you look at what the Matildas did at the World Cup, unbelievable but you still won’t see an influx of resources to the game. You won’t. I guarantee it.
“They’ll build stadiums and other codes will use them. I just don’t think the nation as a whole has that inside them to understand you can make an impact on the world of football but it requires a kind of nationalistic approach that I just don’t think Australians – at their core – are really interested in.
“There’s a couple of things. One of them is obviously the sporting landscape, where there’s some pretty strong codes there that have generationally dominated the landscape.
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“There’s Aussie Rules, that’s the indigenous sport of Australia. It’s kind of unique to them and they take great pride in protecting as their code. The rugby codes dominate.
“It’s very hard for football to make an impact in that space and I guess then the flipside of that is just how global the sport of football is.
“If I can compare that to a country like Japan, who also have the tyranny of distance and baseball’s pretty strong, they plant a lot of resources into football and you can see that’s making an impact. I don’t see Australia down that road.”
Japan was Postecoglou’s next destination when he walked away from the Socceroos job after he helped his country qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
The ex-Yokohama boss had managed Australia at the 2014 edition, but his departure seven months out from the global showpiece was a surprise and at the time he described the job as “taking a toll” both personally and professionally.
Postecoglou has been involved in coaching since 1996 and while he has taken the Premier League by storm so far, he does not expect his time at Tottenham to change the landscape of football in Australia.
“I don’t. I don’t know and maybe that’s just me, not being cynical, but I gave up that fight,” he explained.
“It’s a much easier space for me to live in because I was so frustrated for so long. It was my biggest frustration. One of my major drivers for doing what I did was to do that – to change football in Australia and that’s the reason I left.
“I felt I hadn’t made an impact at all. That’s easier for me to deal with than to think maybe I still can now with what I’m doing. I just think I’d be disappointed, so I’d prefer to think it’s not going to happen.
“I walked away from a World Cup. We qualified and I walked away. The reason I walked away was I just didn’t enjoy what I was doing.
“It’s not just doing the job and winning games of football, it’s got to be a higher purpose. My higher purpose in Australia was to change the game. I just don’t think that will happen.
“It was the right decision for me (to leave), it was the right decision for where I saw the next stage of my career and if I didn’t make that decision at that time, if I had waited until after the World Cup, I’ve got no doubt I wouldn’t be sitting here now.”
Postecoglou replied no when asked if he would manage Australia again and laughed off talk of replacing England chief Gareth Southgate.
He added: “England? Oh, come on mate. They’ve got a fantastic manager and I’m eight games into a Tottenham career. That’s how I think.”
Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham has raised the prospect of the game’s lawmakers examining whether audio between referees and VARs should be available live.
Miscommunication between VAR Darren England and referee Simon Hooper led to a Luis Diaz goal for Liverpool at Tottenham being wrongly disallowed last month, leading to further calls for such conversations to be played out in real time.
The incident caused huge controversy, with Reds manager Jurgen Klopp even calling for the match to be replayed.
Broadcasting the conversations between on-field officials and VARs live is currently prohibited under football’s laws.
Bullingham, who is a director at the International Football Association Board (IFAB) which has the power to change the game’s laws, said the organisation had discussed the subject but added: “Generally there is a split in the room over that, and quite often it is between the marketing and commercial people and the referees.
“Our point of view, from the marketing and commercial perspective, would normally be that transparency is a really good thing, and we want fans to have the maximum experience.”
Bullingham said an ongoing FIFA trial where referees announce and explain the outcome of an on-field review is a “step in the right direction” but added: “My personal point of view is I do think (live audio) will continue to be a question over time, because the greater transparency shows how difficult the referee’s job is, and it has worked in other sport.
“There is an understandable nervousness from others that the referee’s job is hard enough as it is. In a tournament you have referees with multiple languages, so it is not as straightforward as some might suggest.
“So I think we are taking a step in the right direction with announcing the decision and explaining why it has been reached. Let’s see if that leads to further progression.”
Bullingham’s Irish FA counterpart and fellow IFAB director Patrick Nelson spoke more cautiously on the VAR decision-making process, adding: “We just need to see more evidence on this at the moment.
“It’s interesting when we look at recent examples but we still need to remember that VAR as an entire concept is relatively in its infancy compared to the game of football and compared to IFAB. There is still more that we can learn.”
The PA news agency understands the IFAB is set to open up the trial of in-stadium announcements by referees beyond FIFA events to other interested competitions.
The IFAB may also look again at the wording of Principle 10 in the VAR protocol, which currently prevents VARs from revisiting a decision once play has restarted and meant the officials could not call play back after the Diaz error.
It could be updated to allow a decision to be revisited where a clear mistake has occurred, and where no significant action has taken place since play restarted.
Bullingham also said he was aware IFAB had been asked to consider widening the scope of VAR to rule on decisions such as corner kick and free-kick awards.
“I think we would be really reluctant to have a game that was stopped a lot more than it currently is, but that will be a proper discussion,” he added.
VAR interventions are currently limited to goals, penalties, straight red cards and mistaken identity.
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