Tottenham ran hard yards on their tour of Asia. First under a burning Japanese sun and then in South Korea’s airless heat. The players were pushed to their limits.
By the tour’s final days, Ange Postecoglou was beginning to wilt, too. When The Athletic meets him, at the top of a hotel that steepled into the clouds above Seoul, his voice is softer and raspier than usual, worn thin by two weeks on the training pitches and in front of the local media. Advertisement “It’s been a good trip,” he says.
“Sometimes they can drag a bit, but everything has run seamlessly. Last year it was chaos. Games were getting cancelled and the training facilities were not great, but this year that stuff’s been good.
It’s been a good camp.” He seems to enjoy the grind and appreciate what it reveals. After all, Postecoglou is a searcher.
In the past, he has palmed away questions about Champions League qualification and the more literal truths of the league table, directing focus back towards the emotional readiness of his squad. Who is really invested? Who has faith in what he is trying to achieve? Those truths are found on the training ground. They tend to reveal themselves especially fast in 35C (95F) heat.
“The way we play is very demanding,” Postecoglou says. “So you’re looking for how much you really have to push players — and the less you feel you need to push them, the more you know they’re actually buying into it. Some of that is just the way they talk and their .