Home is evidently where the heart of Ange Postecoglou’s success lies as he celebrates the completion of a remarkable unbeaten half-century at his latest fortress in Tottenham.
The Australian who’s made such a striking impact after just over a month in the English top-flight was left to enjoy the extraordinary landmark of 50 home matches without tasting defeat when Spurs produced the latest winning comeback in Premier League annals on Saturday.
After 49 unbeaten matches in a sequence stretching back nearly three years in three different countries – Japan, Scotland and now England – with Yokohama F. Marinos, Celtic and Spurs, it looked as if ‘Fortress Ange’ was at last about to crack.
But one down to Sheffield United at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium eight minutes into stoppage time, a goal from substitute Richarlison saved the day before Dejan Kulusevski sent the home fans into raptures with a winner timed at 100 minutes.
The most unlikely fightback meant a fourth win in five unbeaten league games for Postecoglou’s developing side, who are just two points behind champions Manchester City in their best start to a top-flight season since 1965.
And as the Spurs faithful departed, increasingly believing Postecoglou can do no wrong, the manager made it clear why he felt a home win like this was so valuable.
He hasn’t lost a home league game since November 2020 when Yokohama lost 3-2 to Kashima Antlers.
Since then, he’s gone on to enjoy an amazing two years at Celtic’s Parkhead fortress where the Scottish champs were rarely threatened in his popular reign.
And Postecoglou made it clear it’s no coincidence that his sides should seem to thrive on their own patch, having won 42 of those last 50 matches while piling up 142 goals.
“I do put a big emphasis on that wherever I’ve been because ultimately for your supporters, as much as you enjoy the away wins because you’ve got to earn every one of them, it’s when they come to their home ground that you want to really reward them,” explained Postecoglou to reporters in his post-match briefing.
“I’ve been very fortunate that at the last three clubs I’ve had, even in Japan we had 30,000 to 40,000 fans and at Celtic they’re always sold out and it creates an atmosphere which you can see helps the team.
“That helps you as a club if you’re really strong at home, so, yeah it’s something I’m proud of.”
Source: AAP