London — Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou believes beating Manchester United in next week’s Europa League final would break the cycle of underachievement and mark a turning point in the history of the North London club.
Postecoglou is in the strange position of leading the club to their worst Premier League campaign yet while being one win away from ending the 17-year trophy drought.
The Australian’s future has been the source of constant speculation this season, and Sunday’s 2-0 home defeat by Crystal Palace was their 20th league loss, leaving them in 17th place.
Next Wednesday in Bilbao, however, victory over United would not only deliver the club’s first European silverware for 41 years but also send them into next season’s Champions League.
“My view was that [winning a trophy] is what I’ll get judged on,” Postecoglou said.
“I could have been sitting here fifth last year, fifth this year — maybe people wouldn’t be waiting for the white smoke to see if it’s my last one — but they’d still be saying ‘You know Ange, that’s great but it’s all been done before. Until this club wins something, you haven’t made an impact.’
“I kind of knew throughout my tenure that’s what I was going to be judged on, so now we have an opportunity to do that.”
Tottenham fell just short of the Premier League title twice under Mauricio Pochettino and reached the Champions League final in 2019, which they lost to Liverpool.
There has been a regression since, but Postecoglou’s side have a golden opportunity to refresh the club’s trophy cabinet and the photos of trophy-winning teams of the past that adorn the stadium’s corridor, most of which Postecoglou points out are in black and white.
“When you look at the historical backdrop of this club and what it’s been through over the last 20-odd years, I feel like it could be a turning point in terms of the way the club is perceived, but also more how it perceives itself,” he said.
“We’ve got to break the cycle. That’s the hurdle this club has to overcome because it’ll always be there.
“Until you actually do it, then you are fair game for people to say, ‘you’ve always kind of fluffed it on the big stage'.”
A spate of injuries to the likes of Christian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Guglielmo Vicario, James Maddison and Son Heung-min has not helped Postecoglou in his second season.
Playmaker Maddison and Swedish midfielder Lucas Bergvall will miss the final, and Tottenham are fretting about Dejan Kulusevski, who hobbled off against Palace on Sunday.
Club talisman Son is back after a foot injury and came off the bench against Palace, but Postecoglou admits he will be on tenterhooks in the build-up to Bilbao.
“Against a backdrop of some real difficulties and massive challenges, the group has still found a way to get to the final,” Postecoglou said.
“I’m putting them in cotton wool for 10 days with the way things have gone this year.
“I just hope and pray that the football gods have run out of challenges to throw at us this year.”
Son is on course to be fit for the final as the South Korean aims to emulate his former strike partner, Harry Kane, and win his first career silverware.
The 32-year-old, who formed a lethal partnership with Kane for the best part of a decade at Tottenham, has been struggling with a foot injury but trained on Monday. — Reuters
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