Spurs End On A Small High After A Frustrating Season

It has certainly been a mixed old season for Tottenham Hotspur fans, as despite starting the 2023/24 Premier League campaign in pretty good form under manager Ange Postecoglou (and for a brief period being considered by the wider football media world as potential outside title challengers), we then inevitably fell off a bit of a cliff.

Despite our more inconsistent form as the months went on, securing a Champions League place did remain firmly in our hands until incredibly recently, and given we did have games in hand on Aston Villa, we should have closed the gap on Unai Emery’s team, but we basically threw it away and then we had the complete distraction of the Postecoglou, fans and Arsenal issue dominating the press headlines.

One thing is for sure though, at points this season we would have surpassed and excelled upon the bookie’s promos and odds we were original given, but sadly they would have definitely benefitted from our mishaps. Next season’s odds will be interesting, as most will be expecting more from our gaffer now he knows the league.

Thankfully, with a brace from Dejan Kulusevski and an effort by Pedro Porro, we ended the campaign on a high with a solid 3-0 victory over Sheffield United. Whilst disappointment and frustration will be the main order of the day for most fans for at least the next week, as we reflect on Postecoglou’s first year in charge, finishing in fifth place in the table may not have been what anyone would have hoped for, but on the whole, it is not a bad achievement.

Many may in fact argue that given everything the former Australian gaffer has had to deal with in his first year in charge, finishing in fifth place is to be applauded, as he has now truly set the foundations at the club that he can build on moving forward.

As fans will appreciate, our style of play has somewhat lurched dramatically following on from the succession of managers that we have had in recent years, and naturally our Greek born Aussie has worked hard to implement his own attacking style on the players, and it is not unfair to say that some of the playing squad have significantly struggled with that.

We should not also forget the departure of Harry Kane, or how important and consistent he was for us. The fact he has not been properly replaced yet is one issue, and although the ever loveable Son Heung-Min has had another fantastic season for us, I think most would accept he is not at his best in the role he is now largely asked to fulfil.

But finishing fifth is a clear improvement on last year, and our gaffer will now far better know the capabilities and strengths of the group, and where his priorities should be in the upcoming summer transfer window and then his focus during the pre season campaign, and if he can get that right, then there should be plenty of optimism for the coming year ahead and a real belief that we can improve on our clear failings.

This season would have been a lot more successful and a lot different had it not been for our woeful, winless, November set of form, nor the fact that with Champions League qualification in our hands, we had five defeats in our final seven matches.

Even slight improvement in our consistency would have probably seen us secure a top four spot, but even then, despite our struggles and seriously low moments across the campaign, we were still in and around the mix for large parts – now it is just about building on it and seeing what Ange can do with the groundwork laid.