MATT BARLOW: Postecoglou faces decisions as Tottenham head on tour

MATT BARLOW: Ange Postecoglu has vowed to reset the culture at Spurs as he embarks on tour… but with Harry Kane’s future unclear and Hugo Lloris’ impending exit leaving a hole in the leadership team, the Aussie has his work cut out

• Ange Postecoglou faces a host of issues as Spurs head for pre-season tour
• There remains uncertainty over the futures of Harry Kane and Hugo Lloris
• Postecoglou must also work out how to get the best out of James Maddison

Tottenham’s quest for the brave new world starts with a preseason voyage Down Under, back home for their new head coach Ange Postecoglou as he vows to reset the culture of the club.

‘Win, score, be exciting and a compelling watch,’ has been the message drummed out by their fifth permanent boss in four turbulent years since Spurs reached the Champions League final.

Postecoglu is committed to attacking and aggressive football. He demands high standards in training and in terms of behaviour and, in his native Australia, he will have the opportunity to understand his players better and shape his plans for the start of the season.

The first of five pre-season friendlies is against West Ham in Perth, on Tuesday. They will also take on Leicester in Bangkok then travel to Singapore, where they are facing a local team called Lion City Sailors because Roma pulled out.

Once back in London, they will take on Shakhtar Donetsk at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before a trip to Spain to play Barcelona.

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou faces a host of issues ahead of the pre-season tour

It has been another summer of upheaval at Spurs. Not only the arrival of Postecoglou with his new coaching staff. Also changes in the executive tier, with the appointment of Scott Munn as chief football officer and the exit of Fabio Paratici, under a FIFA ban, and a shifting of roles inside the academy.

This while uncertainty continues to swirl around the future of some senior players including the captain Hugo Lloris and the talisman and top scorer Harry Kane.

Rodrigo Bentancur (knee), Fraser Forster (back), Bryan Gil (back), Troy Parrott (groin) and Ryan Sessegnon (hamstring) will miss the tour through injury.

Harry Kane

Into the final year of his contract with a lucrative new deal on the table but not likely to be signed any time soon. Kane has kept his counsel since the summer of 2021 when he tried to make a break for Manchester City.

He has shown little inclination to sign another contract at Spurs and there is no reason why that should change at present. Bayern Munich’s early summer interest appears to have lost impetus. Their best bid of £70million did not engage Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy.

Although he is into the last year of his contract, Harry Kane’s future has yet to be resolved

Once out of contract next summer, Kane will be able to take his pick of his next club. He can sign a pre-contract deal overseas in January. Such a move would not depend on how much they can afford by way of transfer fee nor the whims of Levy and the clubs he refuses to deal with.

Tottenham have the time it takes the earth to orbit the sun to convince him to sign that contract.

Hugo Lloris

Lloris has been granted permission not to travel on the tour in order to explore prospective transfer opportunities. 

Tottenham’s captain is, like Kane, into the final year of his contract. Unlike with Kane, however, there is a feeling that time is right for Lloris to leave. 

Long-standing interest from Paris Saint-Germain has yet to evolve into an actual offer but Spurs made their intentions clear when they spent £17m on Italian goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario from Empoli.

Hugo Lloris has been given permission not to travel as he looks to secure a move elsewhere

Vicario is 10 years younger than Lloris and, with Fraser Forster injured, they played a half each in a practice match against Cambridge United, behind closed doors this week. 

For 36-year-old Lloris it was his first action since a thigh injury cut short last season. He came off at half time in the 6-1 defeat at Newcastle, in April, with his team 5-0 down.

New signings

This time last year, Tottenham flew off for a preseason trip to South Korea in high spirits. They had finished the previous season in fine form under Antonio Conte, qualified for the Champions League and made a cluster of early signings.

It quickly unravelled into another season to forget, however, and, on reflection, none of those summer recruits made much of an impression. Postecoglou will hope to tease a little more from Richarlison and Yves Bissouma, and will cast an eye over the Conte bomb squad as they return from various loan spells.

Incoming, are James Maddison, Manor Solomon and Vicario, and, with a few young players, a large squad will travel for the new boss to monitor through in training and friendlies, even if Rodrigo Bentancur, Ryan Sessegnon and Fraser Forster stay behind to receive treatment on injuries.

New signing, goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, will be eager to make an impact in pre-season

Finding balance

Most urgent attention is required at the back. Postecoglou wants to play with a back-four but the Spurs squad has been built for Conte’s 343 system. In all, he will start with eight full-backs or wing-backs and five of them left-sided.

Ivan Perisic will be allowed to leave halfway through his two-year deal if he can find a club and Pedro Porro, signed for £40million after moving on loan in January, may come to be recognised more as a wide attacker than part of the defensive unit. His performances on the right of a back-four at the end of last season laid bare his defensive limitations.

Destiny Udogie could be a useful option for Tottenham on the left side of the defence

Emerson Royal and Ben Davies are solid. Postecoglou, however, likes to throw his full-backs forward in the name of adventure. Destiny Udogie will come into the equation on the left. Udogie, 20, signed from Udinese last summer but stayed there on loan for another year.

Sessegnon is injured, Sergio Reguilon has played often at left-back in a back-four although his strengths are most definitely going forward. Djed Spence will have the chance to make his case on the right. There are a lot of moving parts to consider in conjunction with central defence and defensive midfield.

Central defence

Spurs are in the market for two and possibly three new central defenders. They retain an interest in Clement Lenglet, now back at Barcelona after his season on loan, but Postecolgu wants to inject more pace at the back.

Focus has settled on Micky van der Ven at Wolfsburg and Edmond Tapsoba at Bayer Leverkusen. These two would probably cost a combined £80million. To sign them both would depend on some successful outgoings.

And this in turn will probably determine whether they go back to Lenglet.

Tottenham could re-sign Clement Lenglet if they can’t sign other central-defensive targets

Cull

Easier said than done. Spurs tried to cut free unwanted players last summer. They ended up farming almost all of them on loan (and released Matt Doherty in January to bring in Porro) which is why they face the same issue again.

Unfortunately, as ever, those who appeal to buyers are unlikely to be the ones Postecoglou would like to see go. They could raise money by selling Kane or Heung-min Son but this is out of the question.

Davinson Sanchez, Japhet Tanganga, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Perisic and Lloris are among those who were part of last season’s squad who could leave. Hojbjerg is expected to join Atletico Madrid.

Defender Davinson Sanchez is amongst the players that could leave Tottenham this summer

There would be takers for Sessegnon and this would help clear the glut of wing-backs but those chances have been damaged by his latest hamstring injury.

Then there will be those returning from loans – Tanguy Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso, Bryan Gil, Joe Rodon and Reguilon – who cannot earn a Postecoglou pardon. Lo Celso and Gil will have interest from Spain.

Some might need financial encouragement to leave. Arsenal accelerated their revolution under Mikel Arteta by taking a financial hit to get unwanted players out. Levy’s preferred tactic has usually been to loan-out to the bitter end.

Shape

As he settles on his back-four, Postecoglou will use his pre-season time to examine variations of a 433 formation.

With Hojbjerg likely to leave and Bentancur not yet fit from cruciate knee ligament injury, the midfield demands reinforcement, which is the reason Ndombele, signed from Lyon for £65m in 2019, may yet force his way into the plans.

The 26-year-old, who won the Italian title on loan at Napoli last season, has never looked entirely comfortable with the intensity of English football. Whether Postecoglou can unlock the enigma remains to be seen.

Beyond this, the battle for the midfield places will involve Bissouma, Pape Matar Sarr and Oliver Skipp. Both Skipp and young forward Dane Scarlett have reported straight back to preseason after England duty at the U21 Euros.

Then there is Maddison.

Tanguy Ndombele, back after a loan spell at Napoli, could force his way into Tottenham’s plans

James Maddison

The big summer signing. The answer to a dearth of creativity. Signed to fill the void left by Christian Eriksen’s exit. With his vision, imagination, passing range and goal threat from long range, he adds something Spurs have been missing.

The most intriguing challenge of many in pre-season is how Postecoglpu intends to use him.

Can he get him playing regularly and consistently? Can he squeeze enough off-the-ball work out of Maddison to use him in the midfield three? This worked at times at Leicester, mostly notably when Wilfried Ndidi was at his very best. Spurs don’t really have a tall, athletic and physical screener like peak-Ndidi in the squad.

Can they work around that? Can they flex a defender into midfield like Manchester City? Do they opt for two holding deep in midfield? That tilts them towards a 4231 shape with Maddison free as a classic number 10.

Does Postecoglpu have another plan up his sleeve? There will be more scope when Bentancur is fit. Versatile and tactically astute, perhaps the Uruguayan can forge an understanding with Maddison and one other.

It will be intriguing to see how Postecoglou elects to use high-profile signing James Maddison

Recent Tottenham managers have gone with low-risk options in midfield to protect a flawed defence. If they sign some of their defensive targets and add pace at the back, maybe they can accommodate more risk in the midfield.

That said Maddison could end up as part of the front three. Brendan Rodgers came to use him often from the right of a front three. This is his probably his most natural position in this Spurs team, drifting inside to link up with Kane and thread passes to Son, threatening with his speed from the left. Also, more centrallly in behind Kane and Son as twin strikers. Either way, this knocks Dejan Kulusevski out of the team.

Harsh, because the front three of Kulusevski, Kane and Son has proved destructive. Richarlison and Solomon will supply cover and alternatives. Porro could be dangerous wide on the right adding zip and expert delivery.

Postecolgou has options at this end of the team and this will suit his style. This is the positive element and, in modern football with five subs, offers him the chance to make decisive changes within games.

So improve at the back, find the secret to sprinkling some of the Maddison magic and fix all the other things in between. Can Postecoglou pull all of this together into a cohesive system to be successful in a competition that is entirely new to him – and with less than a month to the opening fixture?

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