LONDON (AP) — Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou has urged the club to show ambition after ending its 17-year trophy drought as he awaits a decision on whether he will stay on for a third season at the English team.
Tottenham claimed its first piece of major silverware since 2008 by beating Manchester United 1-0 in the Europa League final last month, earning in the process a spot in next season’s Champions League.
Postecoglou remains in the dark about his future, though, with his status affected by Tottenham’s 17th-placed finish — its lowest since the Premier League was founded in 1992.
In an interview with Australian Broadcasting Corp. — published Monday — while on a family holiday in Greece, Postecoglou said he hasn’t wanted to let the club “just enjoy the moment” because he “wanted us to think about what’s next.”
“Don’t settle for this,” he tells ABC’s Australian Story. “We’ve got a taste of it now. My players have got a taste for it. The club’s got a taste for it. Well, let’s make sure we’re back here again.”
Those comments explain why, during Tottenham’s trophy parade, the 59-year-old Australian declared in front of tens of thousands of fans in north London: “Season three is always better than season two.”
However, away from winning the Europa League, Tottenham has been on a downward trajectory in the Premier League since the team’s strong start to Postecoglou’s first season in charge.
This season, he clearly made Europa League success the priority over results in the Premier League, rotating heavily and protecting the fitness of various key players.
Tottenham lost 22 of its 38 league games and that woeful record has increased the scrutiny and pressure on Postecoglou.
“That was when the laser focus came in,” Postecoglou said in Australian Story when explaining why he essentially sacrificed the league. “Every decision I made was around, ‘Well, how do we navigate this to get to where we want to?’”
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The Associated Press
