Despite a relatively rocky start to the 2024-25 Premier League season, former longtime Tottenham player Ledley King still believes Ange Postecoglou is the “right man” to lead the club forward.
Tottenham entered the international break in ninth place after losing three of their last five games, a disappointing beginning to a campaign that follows the club’s fifth-place finish in Postecoglou’s first year as manager in North London.
Yet King is not panicking yet as he sees positivity in the way Postecoglou has set the team up to play, telling Seaman Says, brought to you by Betway, that the Aussie manager’s style should eventually lead to improved results.
“I think it’s been a breath of fresh air in terms of just going out there trying to win games,” King said. “I’ve always felt with Tottenham that we’ve always had good enough players to win any game of football. It’s obviously not always happened, but there’s not been one game where I didn’t believe we were going to win because we have players that are capable of doing that.
“I think that’s where Ange is at – if we play our game and we play it well, we can win the game, and that’s his thought. Playing well and trying to be entertaining while you’re doing it. It’s just his style. People will probably read too much into it in terms of how you’re best going to win games. There are going to be ups and downs because of the style that he wants to play.”
For King, Postecoglou has earned the right to struggle through some unwanted results based on how the club fared last season. It takes time to build a winning culture, and King believes Postecoglou has Spurs on the right track.
“Ange needs time,” he said. “Last season, finishing fifth was good for me. You lose Harry Kane [to Bayern Munich] before the start of the season, a new manager comes in and we still got fifth position. Now, we want to see a progression on that, obviously, but I believe in him. If you give him time, I believe that he’s the right man.
“We’re in every competition still, so there’s a chance [of winning something]. I’ve always believed that our best chance of winning anything is by being ourselves and just playing, players expressing themselves, going for it. I look back to the team when I won the League Cup in 2008, and it was a team that played against a very good Chelsea side on the day, but we just played our game. That’s always going to be the best chance for me, rather than thinking too much. Being free to play, I think, is Tottenham’s best way of actually getting over the line and winning the trophy.”
The Lilywhites are back at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this weekend, with West Ham the guests. Spurs will be looking to bounce back from that woeful defeat to Brighton, while the Hammers will simply want to improve on their dismal eight points from seven games.
Tottenham vs West Ham United
We believe that Guglielmo Vicario will start between the sticks for Tottenham, fresh off the back of his competitive debut for Italy in the international break.
At right-back, Pedro Porro returns to action after a successful recall to the Spain national team.
At left-back, Destiny Udogie retains his spot despite putting in his worst Tottenham performance to date against Brighton last time out.
In the centre of defence, Cristian Romero and Micky Van de Ven continue to be the go-to partnership for Ange Postecoglou, despite Radu Dragusin’s superb performance for Romania this week.
Rodrigo Bentancur starts in the pivot role, aided by the fact he has been training with Postecoglou at Hotspur Way all week rather than jetting off around the world.
Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison line up in the more attacking and creative midfield positions.
On the right of attack, Brennan Johnson will be hoping to make it eight goals in eight games for club and country across all competitions.
On the left, Heung-min Son finally returns from injury to captain the side.
Up front, Dominic Solanke leads the line following his first minutes for England in over seven years.
Micky Van de Ven retains starting berth but Netherlands suffer defeat
Mon 14 October 2024, 22:00
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Tottenham Hotspur
Micky van de Ven kept his place in the Netherlands starting XI on Monday night but suffered defeat as his nation fell 1-0 to Germany in the UEFA Nations League.
For the first time in his international career, Micky started for a second consecutive game for the Oranje as their Nations League campaign continued in Munich on Monday.
Starting for the first time at centre back, the defender partnered Stefan de Vrij and played the full 90 minutes as a Jamie Leweling strike on 64 minutes was enough to give the Germans all three points and control of League A Group 3. They now sit two points clear of the Dutch.
The game saw Micky earn his 10th international cap.
