“Who cares about the league?” – Postecoglou boasts best European record at Spurs in 17 years

Ange’s Redemption 

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Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou didn’t waste much time in revelling in his team’s success on Thursday night, before turning to address the criticism that he has faced at the North London club this season. Spurs beat Norwegian side Bodø/Glimt 2-0 in the second leg of their semi-final clash, winning the tie 5-1 on aggregate to set them up for a tantalising Europa League final against Manchester United. And the Australian manager clearly felt the success was proof that he knows what he’s doing at Tottenham. 

“It’s going to upset a lot of people isn’t it,” Postecoglou said after the game in regards to Tottenham and Man Utd reaching the final, despite their dreadful domestic form this season. “The debate’s now raging. The latest one is that neither of us will be able to get a trophy if we win, they’re just going to take a team photo because we’re not worthy. I mean, who cares if we’re struggling in the league? It’s a separate thing. It’s got nothing to do with league form. I couldn’t care less who’s struggling and who’s not. I think both us and Manchester United have earned the right to be there.”

Indeed, despite sitting 16th in the Premier League table, Tottenham fans will be ecstatic at the thought of the club winning its first piece of European silverware in 41 years, when Spurs beat Anderlecht to win the UEFA Cup. Prior to this coming final, Tottenham’s last trophy came in 2008, when they beat Chelsea to win the English League Cup, which means the North London side have only won one piece of silverware in the last 24 years. As such, Postecoglou has not only gone some way to redeeming his reputation among many Spurs fans, but his team’s form in Europe this season has been somewhat unprecedented from a Tottenham point of view. 

Postecoglou’s impressive European form

Although Tottenham have a storied history of challenging for the top four in the Premier League, the club’s record on the continent is far more patchy. As previously noted, the club haven’t reached the final of the Europa League/UEFA Cup since winning it in 1984, and while they did make a startling run to the Champions League final in 2019, that was only the second time that they’ve ever gotten beyond the Last 16 of the competitions. In no uncertain terms, Tottenham’s record in Europe has left a lot to be desired and Postecoglou’s dash towards this season’s final is somewhat unprecedented. 

For example, when we take a look at Postecoglou’s record since making the move to Tottenham, we can see just how much of an outlier his team’s form in Europe has been. In the Premier League Tottenham have averaged just 1.42 points per game and in the FA Cup and League Cup Spurs haven’t been much better with just 1.50 points per game. However, when it comes to Europe the Tottenham manager can call upon a very impressive 2.14 points per game. And when we compare that to his predecessors it once again underlines how impressive this season’s run has been. 

As we can see in the graphic above, not only has Postecoglou improved dramatically on Tottenham’s last manager in Antonio Conte who managed just 1.5 points per game in European competition, but he also outranks all over Spurs bosses going all the way back to Harry Redknapp. Remarkably, Postecoglou has a better record in Europe than heavyweights like José Mourinho (2.00 points per game) and André Villas-Boas (2.10), as well as even Mauricio Pochettino, who took Tottenham to the Champions League final. Of course, this data needs to be prefixed by the fact that many of these managers were competing in the tougher Champions League, but it shouldn’t take away from Tottenham’s impressive form in Europe under their Australian tactician this season.