Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has been speaking about the early days of Mikel Arteta’s tenure at Arsenal.
The Spurs boss is enduring a tough run of form at the moment having suffered four consecutive Premier League defeats.
Tottenham look all but set to miss out on Champions League football, with Aston Villa currently seven points out in front having played a game more.
Nevertheless, the underlying numbers suggest it has been an encouraging debut campaign for the Aussie. Indeed, Postecoglou has picked up 60 points in his first 35 league games as Spurs boss.
To put that into perspective, Mikel Arteta managed 50 in the same number of games, while Jurgen Klopp picked up 58 at Liverpool.
Now, Postecoglou has reacted to that statistic and claimed that Arteta was ‘under a lot of heat’ during the early stages of his Arsenal tenure.
Postecoglou makes claim about Arteta
Speaking to Mark Schwarzer on the Optus Sport Football Podcast, Postecoglou was asked if he’d seen the stat comparing his first 35 games to Arteta and Klopp’s.
“But people kind of dismiss that and I remember at the time, as you will, people weren’t certain on Jürgen, they weren’t certain on Mikel, they were coming for them,” the Tottenham boss said.
“So the fact people are questioning me is no surprise because we all go through that. I shouldn’t be absolved from that because that’s just the nature of the Premier League, there is so much interest, so much scrutiny that they’re not going to give you a pass and say ‘actually, you’re going well compared to these guys’. No. We’re going to put you under the same heat we put those guys under because they did.
“I remember Mikel was under a lot of heat for a lot of time, so was Jurgen at the beginning. I shouldn’t be absolved from that but you’re right in terms of where I think we’re at.
“I think we’re in a decent space for progress. We’ve created a good foundation in our first year. Am I happy with the way we’ve finished? No I’m not. But in terms of what we’re trying to build, I firmly believe we’re on the right track.”
Spurs must learn from their north London rivals
It’s no secret that Arteta was under huge amounts of pressure off the back of consecutive eighth-place finishes in his first two seasons.
Arsenal also kicked off his third campaign in charge with three defeats but the north London club stuck by the Spaniard and are now reaping the rewards.
Of course, there is no guarantee that Postecoglou will be able to steer Tottenham to similar heights. But Spurs have bounced between managers since Mauricio Pochettino’s departure to no benefit.
They would certainly benefit from sticking by Postecoglou and giving him the necessary time to build a squad in his image.
