Arne Slot believes Ange Postecoglou has given back Tottenham’s identity as the Reds prepare to visit north London in the Premier League on Sunday.
Spurs are currently in 10th place after an up-and-down season that has seen them claim impressive wins over the likes of Manchester City, Aston Villa and Manchester United, but also lose seven of their 16 league games so far.
Their inconsistency has prompted some to question Postecoglou’s attacking approach, but Slott, whose Liverpool side are currently top of the Premier League, believes the Australian has them going in the right direction.
Ahead of Sunday’s clash, the Reds boss said: “I really have to give them credit, if I look at Tottenham, I’m from Holland but I watched a lot of today’s game.
“You think of Paul Gascoigne, Glenn Hoddle, Gareth Bale. It’s always been a certain brand of football for me and a certain identity and Ange Postecoglou brings that identity back to them completely.
“Every time they are a joy to watch, every now and then the results go against them, but I think they are one of the teams to beat City.”
We have been drawn with Spurs in his semi-finals @Carabao_Cup 👊 pic.twitter.com/VWgI4rrlRO
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 19, 2024
Tottenham Hotspur’s Carabao Cup draw
Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool will face each other over two legs in the new year after meeting in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.
On the draw, Slot added: “Interesting game but any draw would be interesting because, I don’t know if it’s always the situation in England, but four top teams are still in the draw so it wasn’t easy. “
Slott reiterated his admiration for Postecoglou insisting he hopes the 59-year-old can land Spurs a long-awaited trophy – but says he hopes it won’t be the Carabao Cup.
He said: “I hope, I hope, I hope he wins a trophy. Not the League Cup, but I’m a total fan of his Europa League squad.
“People talk about trophies, trophies, trophies and that’s so important. For me his brand of football is more important and if he can combine that with winning something that would be so good for football in general because then people can stop talking about “is he too aggressive?”
“How on earth can you play very attacking football?”
“Judge the table after 19 games”
Despite having played a game less than their title rivals, Liverpool’s lead at the Premier League summit has been cut to just two points after a 2-2 draw at Fulham last weekend.
And Slot says earlier suggestions that the Merseysiders were set to run away with the title were premature, arguing that they should only be judged when the season reaches the halfway point.
“As I have said in the last three or four months, you judge the table after 19 games because then everyone has played the same opponents.
“We probably had a bit of luck, for example Arsenal had a lot of red cards at the start of the season and that’s why they dropped points.
“Now we have received a red card and lost points. Now we have Tottenham away which Arsenal had at the start of the season, Chelsea were already playing there.
“Don’t look at where you were in the season, it’s where you are at the end of the season.”
Liverpool team news
Slot says Ibrahima Konate and Connor Bradley remain out for the Reds, saying: “Those two are still in the Reds so they’re not training with us at the moment. They are on their way back but are not training with the team yet.
“It’s quite difficult (to predict when they will return). Let’s wait and see, but we have a very good rehab staff here and they’ve done a good job already with Alisson and a few others.
“The main thing is if they come back they are ready to come back and we shouldn’t focus on one, two or three games. It’s more important in the long run that he’s fit afterwards.”
The slot looks like it will have a clean bill of health aside from those two, with Andy Robertson returning from injury.
