What Son did after Tottenham's Villa win as former player admits Ange Postecoglou 'blew my mind'

"It got loud. Probably as loud as I've heard it as an away player," Aston Villa's shell-shocked captain John McGinn admitted after the referee blew his whistle on Spurs' 4-1 victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Spurs and their fans responded to a first half which was often fragmented by the visitors and had ended with a smattering of boos after Morgan Rogers' goal from a corner - only the second set piece goal Tottenham have conceded this season.

Those boos became roars as the hosts began to find ways through Villa's tightly-packed defence while containing their counter attacking threat.

First the returning Son Heung-min swung in a beautiful low ball for Brennan Johnson to slam home his seventh goal of the season. Then Dominic Solanke was finally provided with the ball and did what a £65million striker will do with it, dinking a delightful chipped effort over the recently-crowned world's best goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.

Solanke soon added another, smashing in Richarlison's pinpoint low ball across the box and then James Maddison provided the perfect response to being left out of the previous two starting line-ups with a curling free-kick into the top right corner in added time to place a cherry on top of Spurs' cake.

Villa had only lost one Premier League game going into this encounter but Spurs ensured another match rests in that column now and they eventually swept aside Unai Emery's side in some style.

READ MORE: Tottenham player ratings vs Aston Villa - Dominic Solanke at the double as Sarr shines

READ MORE: Every word Ange Postecoglou said on Solanke, Son sub reaction plus Romero and Richarlison injuries

Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham Hotspur are the Premier League's top scorers and at the other end of the pitch, only three teams have conceded fewer than them in the competition this season.

The Australian's side have now won nine of their past 11 matches in all competitions, triumphing in every single one of their cup matches and the response to the turgid display at Crystal Palace has been to beat Manchester City and Aston Villa in the space of four-and-a-half days.

This Tottenham team has character and a belief in themselves even when they concede. They have scored 32 goals across 15 matches in all competitions so they know they're unlikely to be kept at bay, with only two sides managing it this season.

On Sunday, they equalled the Premier League record for home wins when conceding first in a single year with what was their eighth comeback. In total, they have claimed 24 points at home from losing positions in 2024, 10 more than the second-placed team in the stat - Manchester City.

Spurs' energy levels are there for all to see. Aston Villa had changed most of their team in midweek for the defeat to Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup. Postecoglou made just three changes to face Emery's side from the one that took on and beat Manchester City in a draining match on Wednesday night.

Much was made of City's youthful line-up that evening, even if the average age of Spurs' starting XI was 24.8 compared to the visitors' 26. Tottenham had to do plenty of chasing and running that night, yet they were by far the stronger, fitter side as Sunday's game against a fresher Villa side went on.

Tottenham won the ball back 11 times in the final third while Villa could not even manage it a single time during the encounter at the other end of the pitch, such was Spurs' passing around them. In all the hosts ran a combined 110.5km to Villa's 104.4km despite their extra midweek efforts.

"You're playing a top team and you know with Villa that they're always going to have a really strong performance because they're very, very consistent. They rarely have off days and you've got to be ready for that," said Postecoglou.

"I thought we had to match it with them in the first half. We had to draw on their energy and make them work really hard. Obviously we conceded a goal, but I still felt like we made them work really hard in that first half.

"And, you know, the thing with us is we've got another gear in us, two or three gears and we keep going and we felt like we could really break them open in the second half if we just really stayed focused on making sure the football was up tempo and there was intensity in the game and credit to the players after a massive effort on Wednesday night, at least they know that physically they did it again."

The Spurs boss used an answer to football.london about Pape Matar Sarr's excellent performance to mark an emotional day for the club and one of his coaches in particular.

For Sunday was the birthday of Ugo Ehiogu, the former England international and Aston Villa defender, who became a big part of life at Tottenham as U21s manager. The popular 44-year-old had worked at the club for three years in the role - having worked part-time in the academy beforehand - when he suffered a cardiac arrest at Hotspur Way on April 20, 2017 and died the following morning.

It left the club in shock and nobody there more so than his assistant manager in the U21s, Matt Wells. The 36-year-old is now assistant to Postecoglou in the first team set-up and the Tottenham boss explained that during this week Wells left his mark on the players as he spoke to them about Ehiogu.

"I'm really proud of the lads. It was an important day for us today, because it's also the birthday of the late Ugo Ehiogu and he had a big influence on Matty Wells here at the club," said Postecoglou.

"I know he played for Villa but he was obviously a coach at our football club. Matty spoke really strongly about him. When you hear things like that, and how people affect your life, it helps give clarity to the players about what we're trying to do here.

"Obviously for his wife and his son probably a tough day, but hopefully they get a little bit of cheer from the fact Wellsy made it a really important point, that he may be gone but he's not forgotten."

On Wells' talk to the players he added: "He just spoke about it during the week. We mentioned him today because it was his birthday today. Like I said, you don't dismiss those kind of things, because he was with our football club when he sadly passed away. So it's important that the memory lives on."

It was a fitting way to commemorate the day both on and off the field with a performance that everyone was proud of.

Solanke and Johnson run away with it

If you wanted the perfect example of selfless players who got their rewards on Sunday, look no further than Dominic Solanke and Brennan Johnson.

The duo ended up as Tottenham's two top ranked players during the match on the stats-based website WhoScored, Solanke with 8.76 out of 10 and Johnson 7.8. They managed that despite being the two players who touched the ball the fewest times out of Spurs' starting XI with Johnson touching it 36 times and Solanke only 19.

That's because the duo worked so hard off the ball. In the first half Johnson chased down every lost cause and got his reward just four minutes into the second half when he took up the position that Postecoglou and the coaching staff have constantly drilled into him, smashing home Son's delicious ball into the box.

After that run of scoring in seven consecutive games for club and country - six for Spurs - Johnson has had to wait three Premier League games for the next goal to arrive.

"Especially in the last few games and most of the season, I've been getting good chances, which which makes me happy, because it means I'm in the right areas," he said in his club interview. "But today I had to be a bit patient. Not too many chances in the first half, but you have to stay in the right positions.

"That's what [Villa] do (breaking up the game). They're a real quality side. I think it shows how they've been getting on this season, especially last year as well. So we knew we were up against it. We weren't up against any old team, they're a proper team, so naturally, they're going to have moments where they frustrate us and kind of work their game plan better than we do ours.

"But the second half was just about kind of kicking on, staying positive, staying clear-headed and showing our quality."

It was the Wales international's seventh goal of the season in all competitions and he immediately grabbed the ball and ran back up the pitch to place it on the centre circle rather than celebrating.

"It's easy to want to get a rest and reset and go again, but that's just not how we play. To be honest, it's get the ball down and go again, and especially when we score goals," he said. "It was so early on in the first half, we've still got 40 minutes to to kick on now and once it was 1-1, we knew the game had just got started. It wasn't that we clawed it back, we knew we wanted to go and win this now."

Johnson did not stop running, admitting after the game that he was exhausted when the fourth official held up a sign showing 10 minutes of added time. He still kept bursting up the right flank with important runs though.

"I'm loving playing for this team, playing under the staff and the manager and I think as a team, we're at a good point at the minute," he said. "I think everyone's really working hard for each other, and it feels like more and more of a family, to be honest.

"We're all a year stronger into this experience with the manager, and I feel like games like today just show how far we've come on."

The fans were singing his chant during the match and when asked about it, the 23-year-old smiled after his tough times earlier this season and said: "Yeah, I am [enjoying it] to be honest. It's been a while since they've sung it, but yeah, it's nice.

"It's top when they sing and especially shooting in front of that [south] stand. Once the momentum gets up, it's a real special place to be. So massive thanks to all the fans and long may it continue hopefully."

For Solanke, he's been feeding off scraps in recent weeks with precious little service. That should not be the case for a Postecoglou striker but for one reason or another, his team-mates have just not been supplying him with chances.

That has not stopped him from working incredibly hard for them though. He presses, hassles and harries from the first whistle until they drag him off the pitch. Much of the space Spurs' other attacking players and midfielders have been getting is because of Solanke dragging defenders around with him and holding up the ball so well before releasing them.

Solanke got his reward on Sunday as the Spurs players finally decided to repay him. Destiny Udogie found him after the striker took a clever step back into space only for his deflected half-volley to be saved by Martinez.

Then Dejan Kulusevski played a perfect reverse ball into his path and, having worked back to try to win the ball back, Solanke ghosted back into the Villa box to clip a sumptuous effort over the Argentine goalkeeper and into the net. Minutes later Richarlison's low cross was just too good to pass up as he made it a double.

"We're all buzzing for Dom because it kind of goes under the radar, how hard Dom works for us," said Johnson "We're so thankful for how hard he works and the pressing he does and then on the ball, not just goals, but he can hold it up, he can dribble, he's quick, he's strong, he's powerful. He's such a good player.

"We pass around a lot but when we do go a little bit longer, it's more of a pass. It's not really a long ball and he can hold it. But then when the ball goes into the box, he's a fox in the box as well, so I really think he showed everything today and I'm buzzing for him to get two goals."

READ MORE: Son reaction to sub, Richarlison injury agony - 5 things spotted in Tottenham vs Aston Villa

READ MORE: Archie Gray makes Tottenham position stance clear as he names the two players helping his game

Solanke's first brace for Tottenham means he has now contributed seven goal involvements in his first 10 starts for the club with five goals and two assists. Bearing in mind the lack of service in recent weeks, that's a fruitful start from the England international and he's only going to get better. He had the crowd singing his name as many realised just how good he actually is.

"I like to to work hard for the team. We need to do whatever we can individually to help the team win. Obviously, being a striker it's nice to to get those goals to add to the performances. It was a few games without one, so I'm delighted to get two," Solanke said afterwards.

"I think these days everyone sees the the data and stuff and how hard I work. People always tell me, I'm thankful for everyone noticing, but yeah, like I said, getting the goals is always nice as well."

On the assists for his goals, Solanke added: "They were both set up perfectly. Deki's having a great season, we know that he's got the quality to do that. It was a good play from Brennan as well, to get the ball into Deki. I trusted him then to to find me, and he found me perfectly and set it up.

"And the second one from Richy, Pape won the ball back really well, which we love doing as a team. He slipped in Richy and he laid it on a plate for me. He went off injured after that and hopefully he's alright."

Postecoglou is a big fan of Solanke and swatted away the suggestion that these goals underlined his faith in the 27-year-old.

"No, it had nothing to do with that as I said during the week. I just think the enormous effort he put in on Wednesday night to help us win a game of football, not just physically but mentally and his capacity to help the team in every way he can," he said.

"To back that up today with such a massive effort again against a pretty difficult team to play against in that sense, it's just unbelievable. Yeah, the goals are great and of course as a striker I am sure he loves the fact he can score a couple of goals, but even if he didn't, again I can't speak highly enough of what he is contributing to our team at the moment. And long may it continue because with him playing that way, it just makes us a better team."

Postecoglou has built a team of skilful, hard-working runners and Solanke typifies that, but he needs some rest from time to time. That is going to become harder with yet another injury for Richarlison. The Brazilian clutched his hamstring immediately after hitting the low ball for Solanke to score his second.

It summed up Richarlison's contribution at Spurs in one moment. He makes an impact, then suffers an injury. It's a pattern that has dogged his three seasons at the club.

The 27-year-old would have been starting in midweek in Istanbul but now that job could fall to teenage striker Will Lankshear as Solanke needs to get some rest at some point.

If the Spurs boss can keep Solanke fit and fresh then he's got one hell of a focal point for this Tottenham team - the missing piece last season in the Postecoglou puzzle.

That Son reaction

The second half brought the Son Heung-min moment that got people talking. The Spurs captain was back in action following his recent absence, which came after his return against West Ham following his hamstring injury.

Son was quiet and understandably a touch rusty in the first half against Villa, not taking on his man as much as he normally would, not helped by the compact defending from the visitors which often left him with two players to get past so forced him inside.

However, he came alive in the second half with that beautiful whipped in left-footed low ball to Johnson to score Tottenham's equaliser.

After that Son went on a couple of jinking runs that suggested he was back in the groove. Then abruptly six minutes after his assist, Postecoglou made two substitutions and it was Son and Bentancur who were the players to make way.

At first the Tottenham skipper looked like he was heading off on the opposite side of the pitch but it soon became clear he did not realise he was coming off, looking surprised, pointing at himself and double-checking it was really him coming off.

When he eventually sat in his seat, the South Korean looked utterly despondent and appeared to bellow words into the air a couple of times.

Postecoglou made it clear after the game that it had always been his intention to take his captain off to ensure there was no repeat of what happened to him against West Ham.

"He was never going to play more than that today because obviously he had an injury, came back and last time it was around the 60 minute mark where he kind of got fatigued last time," said the Spurs boss. "So he was never going to play more than sort of 55/60 minutes irrespective of how the game was going.

"The great thing was that he made a pretty important contribution, before that, the great ball in for our first goal and we got our equaliser. So, you know, again, we've got more battles ahead and we're going to need him. So he was never going to play more than that."

When questioned about Son's disappointed reaction to his removal from the game, Postecoglou said with a smile: "No, no, no, I didn't see any difference in Sonny. I'd be surprised if any player likes coming off and they're feeling all right. But no, no, I didn't need to discuss it with him. And you know, like I said, for us, what's more important is the overall picture."

Hindsight proved Postecoglou's decision to be exactly the right one as Son got the assist and then others took on the job with aplomb as the 32-year-old was protected on the sideline.

Richarlison's injury only proved how important it is to ensure the captain's return is carefully managed as he's still going to play plenty of minutes in the weeks ahead.

Son's disappointment had already dissipated by the time the game finished. He could be seen sticking his tongue out playfully at the camera as the Spurs players walked down the corridors inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after the big win.

The club captain is big on team ethic and even if his emotion showed in the moment, he would have soon realised that it was the right decision from Postecoglou for him, Spurs and the bigger picture.

Defenders to the rescue

If you've got problems in defence and it don't look good, who you gonna call? Not the Ghostbusters apparently, but instead Radu Dragusin and Ben Davies.

Postecoglou made it clear at the start of this season that he believed handing out Tottenham's European and Carabao Cup minutes to plenty of the squad would end up being a big factor in their success this time around because players would not be coming into games cold when he needed to rotate or replace injured stars as happened last season.

Two perfect examples of that are Dragusin and Davies. The 22-year-old Romanian was starting his fifth game of the season, which would have been more but for his sending off against Qarabag.

The young centre-back looks sharper and more settled into Premier League life. As the left-sided centre-back he helped Cristian Romero at first marshal Villa's attackers, making one important first half block from Jacob Ramsey, and then when Ben Davies came on, Dragusin switched to the right of the defence and was equally solid.

He is improving all the time with his use of the ball and understanding of what to do with it and he will continue to be exposed to passing at pace under pressure. His presence in the air is well known from his time in Serie A and will continue to help Tottenham's defensive set piece work.

Dragusin was not involved in the Villa goal, which was only Spurs' second set piece goal conceded this season in the Premier League. Last season's figures often get lumped in with this term's by pundits, when a comparison would instead show how much Tottenham have improved with their defending of them.

Villa are the league's top set piece goalscorers but their latest one came about through a touch of misfortune for Spurs. Pedro Porro did win the initial header but sent it spinning backwards into Rodrigo Bentancur. The ball bounced against the Uruguayan and Guglielmo Vicario showed his reflexes in stopping it from crossing the goal line but could only push it to Rogers to slam in from a yard.

Other than an earlier save after Amadou Onana's header had deflected towards him off the right-hand post, Vicario had very little else to do.

Postecoglou explained afterwards that he did not put extra work into Spurs' set piece efforts and he did not seem entirely happy with the jostling going on around Vicario as the corner was swung in with the goalkeeper and Brennan Johnson both being knocked into by Rogers and Pau Torres respectively.

"No [we didn't put extra time into set piece work this week] because I think then you fall into the trap of preparing differently, and I've always said that we prepare the same for every game," he said.

"There's obviously the strengths and areas where they could hurt us. Yeah look we conceded from a set piece. I know I'm on my own on this, I don't like them. To me, I think I mentioned in the TV interview, it looks like a scrum. I just don't think that's what football's about. But it's part of football these days, where you can just drop the ball in the box and people can fight over it.

"So disappointing for us to concede from that, but in general I thought we handled their set pieces really well. They are very good at set pieces. I thought we handled it really well. It was great for us to score another one again from an attacking set piece, we're scoring goals from different areas, that's important."

Spurs coach Nick Montgomery's efforts with the defensive and attacking set plays have been apparent this season and even if there's not much time to work on them between games due to the schedule, he's making an impact.

The experienced Davies again showed his worth, as he did when he came on against Manchester City in midweek for Romero.

This time around, the Welshman's block to stop Ollie Watkins racing through was key in turning over possession to Sarr to set Spurs away for Solanke's first goal which pushed the match in the hosts' favour.

The balance between Dragusin and the left-footed Davies is growing as their familiarity with each other's games improves in the cup matches.

Now the two defenders could get an extended spell together, depending on Romero's foot problem which forced him off in the second half.

Postecoglou has not had much luck when it comes to centre-backs, often losing Romero and Van de Ven at similar periods. Last season that meant Davies and Emerson Royal pairing up. This time around it means the better suited Dragusin and Davies link-up.

When asked about Romero and Richarlison's injuries, Postecoglou also took the chance to praise his defenders.

"Richy obviously felt something in the action of setting the goal up, his hamstring, so we'll see. Romero yeah, it was in that challenge again. He felt his foot was sore. I don't have any sort of further information," he said.

"Obviously, he's a pretty tough cookie. For him to come off, it must be sore, but yeah, look it's not ideal, but again it's another game where we've had to reshuffle our back line.

"Radu has played left centre-back, right centre-back, left centre-back, right centre-back, Ben Davies has had to come in at different times and Destiny midweek and the boys are handling it really well. As I said it's not ideal but hopefully both are not too serious."

After the game, Romero posted on social media: "Great performance today, now to recover and keep it up."

It did not refer to his injury but if he does miss a game or two then Postecoglou can at least trust in Dragusin and Davies to do the job whenever called upon.

Sarr, Postecoglou and the right direction

If you want to look at one of the players growing under Ange Postecoglou, you could simply glance over at Pape Matar Sarr.

You often have to remind yourself that the softly-spoken Senegal midfielder is still just 22-years-old, because he played more than 2,000 minutes of football last season in the Premier League under the Australian, who believes he's going to become something special.

Sarr's second season has been another step in his development in different ways as he's had to make the most of his game time, Postecoglou starting him in only three Premier League matches in the opening 10 rounds of the competition.

Yet Sarr has responded perfectly and when Tottenham need more energy and a box-to-box player in the centre of the park, Postecoglou has turned to the youngster. His second half introduction against West Ham changed that match and again on Sunday he was key against Villa.

Sarr was involved in both Spurs' second and third goals, his pressing creating the latter, and his all-action display pulled the visitors all over the park.

The midfielder managed three goals and three assists last season from 35 appearances and he's nearly matched that already in just 15 games with three goals and two assists. Sarr turns up in big games as well, with assists against Manchester United and West Ham and that stunning, curling strike against Manchester City in midweek.

Postecoglou took slight umbrage at football.london's suggestion that with just three Premier League starts, Sarr was growing with the challenge of fighting his way back into his Tottenham line-up.

"They're never out of my line-up, it's different challenges along the way, but he probably played as much as anyone last year, I rate him so highly," said Postecoglou. "His capacity again to work for the team but also the quality he has in breaking open oppositions with his running with the ball.

"I knew he'd be important today because they've got such a hard-working midfield with Onana, Tielemans, McGinn in there, Rogers. They don't really play with wide players, they work awfully hard in that midfield area and you've got to match that.

"You're never going to break them open unless you do that. He just put in another enormous effort. Along with Rodri and Biss when he came on, and Deki of course."

Dejan Kulusevski again showed his sparkling form this season and has given Postecoglou an important extra lock-picking option to ease the reliance on James Maddison. The Swede's reverse pass through to Solanke for the striker's first goal was inch-perfect and even VAR couldn't find a reason to disallow it.

The 24-year-old's displays this season have often impressed with pre-assists so the headline numbers haven't always made it clear to those who don't watch him in action just how good he's been in the deeper role.

However, the obvious stats are starting to pile up now with seven goal involvements - two goals and five assists - in his opening 15 games, all but one of those involvements coming in his 10 starts.

Maddison is being pushed by the competition and he was not to be overshadowed on the day, even if he was starting his second game on the trot on the bench. The 27-year-old came on for the final 19 minutes, including that 10 minutes of added time mostly coming from Martinez's excruciatingly slow taking of goal kicks.

It would come back to haunt Villa as Maddison used the added time to sweep home a glorious free-kick after Solanke had been fouled on the edge of the box. The Argentine goalkeeper could only stand and watch the ball curl into the top right corner of the net.

Maddison sprinted across the pitch to celebrate in front of his family in his West Stand box at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, making a heart with his fingers towards them.

It was a landmark goal for the midfielder, his 50th in the Premier League and his ninth direct free-kick goal in the competition and it earned a hug and chat from his head coach after the final whistle.

Postecoglou also got good performances from both Rodrigo Bentancur and Yves Bissouma, as they shared the number six load. The Uruguayan was starting to lunge into a few challenges, escaping a yellow card on a couple of occasions, which prompted the switch.

Postecoglou's substitutions all impacted the game and in the second half he had the bulk of the 61,253-strong crowd singing his name.

There's a misconception among some that the Australian's football is simple or one-dimensional. The truth is it's anything but and recent weeks have shown his ability to change the team's approach through personnel and tactical shifts without abandoning the core philosophy.

Former Spurs goalkeeper and Premier League winner Joe Hart worked with some of the biggest managers in the game before retiring in the summer, but on BBC 5 Live this weekend he spoke about his two seasons with Postecoglou at Celtic as being a time like no other in his development, despite being well into his thirties at the time.

"I'll be honest, I feel so lucky I played these last three years. My last three managers in England; David Moyes, Sean Dyche, and Jose Mourinho. All top, top managers in their own right, and they've done incredible things, but they are very much hard work, dedication, learning what you need to do and going out and performing," he said.

"Then I went and had three years at Celtic, two of them with Ange Postecoglou and one of them with Brendan Rodgers. And Ange Postecoglou blew my mind because he really opened me up.

"I actually think I'd be sat here having this conversation and not being able to understand [Enzo] Maresca and what his thought process is, if I hadn't experienced what I did in terms of that specific detail."

He explained further: "I always thought play out from the back, oh my god, does that mean that I need to do Cruyff turns, pick passes? No it doesn't. It means that I need to stand on the ball, I need to make sure that my centre-halves are either side of me, my six is showing, and then if the space is being created, I'm not playing out for the sake of playing out, I'm playing out to score.

"If that full press comes and all I see is opposition players stood next to mine, I'm giving that clarity in my mind that there's a little dinked ball into the striker's chest.

"And all these sort of things come together, it's a totally different game and a totally different thought process. Like I say, I feel truly blessed because I honestly would feel out of my depth if I'd sat in here three years ago trying to have this conversation with you."

The Postecoglou way is starting to click at Tottenham as the players begin to understand the different thought process.

It's still a work in progress. The away results in the Premier League need to improve to match the improved performances on the whole on the road this season, the Palace and second half at Brighton aside.

Some of those lost points when compared to the team's fast start to last season bely the overall improvement in performances. Much was made of Spurs' drop-off last season in displays after those initial 10 games whereas now the structure seems to be in place to make for a move even campaign with the performances and the results are starting to match them.

The youthful nature of the Australian's squad will bring inconsistencies at times but nine wins from 11 matches after a sticky start, in terms of results, suggests the options in the squad are helping manage that, even if injuries are doing their best to try to derail those choices.

Postecoglou made it clear on Sunday that it's all part of the process and that the world did not end with the defeat at Palace, nor is it a time for jubilation and an open-top bus parade after having beaten City and Villa since.

"You don't fall off cliffs and you don't climb mountains within a week. It's all part of the same process for me. We're going to have bumps along the way. It's how you address them, how you cope with them, how you rebound and learn from them," said the Australian.

"That's the key thing and, you know, we had a disappointing day last Sunday, but when you're coming in on Monday, we had two big games this week, really important games, so no point in feeling sorry for ourselves. We had to come in and get our head straight, and work back towards being the team we want to be and that's what happened, but it doesn't mean that that's the end of it now.

"We've still got to push on, we've still got to get better, we've still got to improve and and keep pushing on."

He added: "I'm totally focused on the long game here of who we want to be and the little bumps along the road hurt but you kind of know that that's part of our growth and the good performances and the good moments are there for our growth as well, because you've got to deal with both I think in the same way with your eyes sort of firmly fixed ahead on where you're heading.

"I don't spend too much time thinking about [the table], but it looks like there's a lot more congestion in terms of the field itself. Some of that I think is just the attrition rate of players at the moment, which is making it hard for teams to get into smooth water, so to speak.

"We're all having to deal with it, I guess, so that's part of it. The table is only important for me at the end of the year.

"While we're running in the race, I don't like looking either side of me. I keep saying to the players - if I was a racehorse, and I'm not, it would be one with blinkers. I'm just looking at the finish line...I think that's right, I don't know much about horse racing!"

That table Postecoglou is not looking at shows Spurs rising as the Premier League's top scorers and they are now sitting seventh, just three points off Nuno Espirito Santo's third-placed Nottingham Forest.

Arsenal and Chelsea have received plenty of praise during these early months of the campaign while Tottenham have gained little, despite them both sitting just two points and one point ahead of Postecoglou's side respectively.

This week will take Spurs to a late night kick off on Thursday at Galatasaray, where Postecoglou could make plenty of changes if he wants due to the club's strong position with three straight wins in the Europa League.

Ipswich Town visit the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after a clear week for their own schedule, just two days after Spurs will land back in the UK, and those fit players in the squad will have to be juggled across the two games.

Postecoglou has taken some gambles and ridden the criticism to ensure that his players are all sharp and fighting for minutes across the various competitions, desperate to be involved and it's paying dividends.

He may well have been privately delighted at his captain Son's disappointed reaction to coming off on Sunday because it shows that nobody is hiding in his Tottenham team and they all want to be a part of what he is creating.

There's still plenty of work to be done at the north London club and things to be ironed out, but the direction is the clearest it has been in years as Postecoglou points the way.

Listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham by clicking here for in-depth Spurs chat on your preferred podcast platform.

Want breaking and top Tottenham stories sent straight to you? Join our Spurs WhatsApp community by clicking this link. If you're curious you can check out our privacy policy here.