David Moyes has hailed Ange Postecoglou’s “remarkable” impact since arriving in Premier League, claiming that his Tottenham side are as good as any in the division.
Moyes takes his West Ham team to Spurs on Thursday night, with the hosts looking to halt a run of four league matches without a win.
Prior to that spell, in which his side has been decimated by injury, Postecoglou had made a superb start to his reign in north London, taking a squad that looked bedraggled under Antonio Conte and then Ryan Mason last term to the top of the table.
The decision to appoint Postecoglou raised plenty of eyebrows in the summer but Moyes, who came through came through Celtic’s youth ranks as a player, says he expected nothing less having followed the Australian’s success at the Scottish club.
“He’s been remarkable,” Moyes said. “Tottenham are a really, really good side and he’s made a big difference to what they do and how they play. He’s made a big difference to the crowd and the atmosphere.
“I’m a bit surprised that everybody else was surprised after how well he did at Celtic. For anyone who follows it, to manage Celtic Football Club is enormous, the pressure and what comes with the job. Ange was able to cope and deal with it.
“If you’re asking me at the minute, I think Tottenham are as good as any side in the Premier League.”
Tottenham and West Ham each suffered the blow of losing their best player this summer, with Harry Kane sold to Bayern Munich and Declan Rice joining Arsenal in a £105million move.
Both have excelled, with Kane heading up the Bundesliga scoring charts and Rice last night netting a stoppage-time winner at Luton to extend Arsenal’s lead at the top of the Premier League.
However, neither Spurs nor West Ham have allowed the exit of their talisman to derail the new campaign, with Moyes believing players at both clubs have recognised the need to fill the void.
"It’s good when you get someone to step up and Jarrod Bowen has stepped up since we lost Declan, and I have to say that others have as well,” he added. “But I think it’s the same at Tottenham, they’d say the likes of [Heung-min] Son and [Dejan] Kulusevski and many of their players have stepped up since Harry Kane left.”
