Ange Postecoglou knows the next month will be “significant” for Tottenham, but is confident they will improve and not be mid-table at Christmas.
Spurs travel to Premier League champions Manchester City on Saturday reeling from a disappointing home loss to Ipswich before the international break.
The club’s problems have multiplied during the past fortnight with midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur handed a seven-match domestic ban on Monday and Cristian Romero (toe) joining a lengthy list of absentees.
However, Postecoglou remains bullish about Tottenham’s progress and acutely aware of the scrutiny set to come his way if they stay 10th.
“Christmas is a joyous occasion, irrespective, and I think it should be celebrated. If we’re still 10th then people won’t be happy, I won’t be happy, but we might not be 10th,” Postecoglou pointed out before nine games in 30 days.
“Certainly for us I think it’s a significant period because you look at those games and we’ve got the league where we’ve got to improve our position and a couple of important European fixtures that can set us up for the back half of the year, also a Carabao Cup quarter-final.
“At the end of that period we could be in a decent position for a strong second half of the year, so for us it is an important period.
“You know there’s no more international breaks, so the full focus is here. You can build some momentum through that, or if things don’t go well you could get yourself into a bit of a grind.
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“Of course if we had beaten Ipswich, we’d be third and I reckon this press conference would be much different wouldn’t it?
“I’m not going to let my life be dictated by one result, I’m sorry. I take a wider perspective on these things because I know how fickle it can be, but we need to address our position for sure.
“And if we’re 10th at Christmas, yeah it won’t be great. There’d be a lot of scrutiny and probably a lot of scrutiny around me, which is fair enough, but that’s not where I plan for us to be.”
Tottenham’s immediate efforts to move up the table will require them ending City’s two-year unbeaten home run in the Premier League.
The champions have lost their last four matches in all competitions, but have some key personnel back for Saturday’s clash and will aim to toast Pep Guardiola’s new contract with a victory.
Postecoglou was pleased to see Guardiola commit to a further two seasons in England, adding: “I love the fact that there’s a massive target out there that can seem insurmountable.
“I look at it the other way. I go, ‘imagine if you knock him off, that’d be something’.
“I’m at the stage of my life where I’d rather have the chance of knocking him off than missing that opportunity.
“When greatness is around, you want to be around it. And hopefully it challenges you to be like that as well.”
Saturday’s fixture will be Postecoglou’s 50th league game in charge of Spurs and he knows what is required to bring up three figures.
“I took over a club that finished eighth,” Postecoglou said.
“No European football, significant player turnover, change of playing style. Where did I think we’d be after 50 games? God knows.
“It could have been a whole lot worse, but when you look at it in the current prism of we’re 10th, you’re going ‘it doesn’t look good’ and I understand that and we have to improve that.
“But over the 50 games, I think there’s enough there that shows we are progressing as a team and we are developing into the team we want.
“The key is the next 50 games, if they can be in totality better than the first 50? First, that means I’m here but second, I think we’ll be in a good space.”
