nge Postecoglou has played down comparisons with Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta and says trying to replicate another manager’s style would be as futile as copying a Picasso.
Postecoglou and Arteta go head-to-head for the first time when Tottenham make the short trip down the Seven Sisters Road for Sunday’s north London derby.
The two coaches could hardly have had more contrasting journeys to the Premier League but there are similarities in their uncompromising attacking approach and approach to rebuilding.
Postecoglou first encountered Arteta, 17 years his junior, when he was in charge of Japanese side Yokohama F. Marinos and the Spaniard was assisting Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
“I spent a week at City when I first got the Yokohama job because they were part of the [City Football] Group and were generous enough to invite me in,” Postecoglou said. “I didn’t speak to anyone but I observed training and you could see then how passionate Mikel was about the game and that he was itching to become a manager himself.
“Tim Cahill was always speaking very highly of him both as a player and as a person.
“He’s had a different journey but he’s made the impact.
“In terms of similarities… I’m 58, he’s whatever. I’ve had 26 years, he’s five years into it. He’s managed in one country, I’ve managed in a few. I’m not sure how he’s got a great head of hair… He’s a lot fitter than I am. I don’t know mate, there’s not a lot of threads I can sort of join between us.
“I wouldn’t say we’re opposites. We’re people, and we’re all different.
“Even in the way his team plays. Yes, he does have a very attacking philosophy but it’s different from mine and that’s the beauty of the game. That’s what you love about it. It’s why you can’t copy.
“If you’re an artist and you see a Picasso, yeah you can copy it, but it’s not going to be a Picasso is it?
“It’s the same with football. You can see that somebody does something really well, but don’t bring your own personality into it. I have great admiration for the way he’s gone about things and how he’s stuck to his beliefs. It’s a credit to him.”
Postecoglou said he particularly respects the way Arteta has stuck to his principles, despite consecutive eighth-placed finishes in his first two seasons in charge, but dismissed the suggestion Arsenal could offer a blueprint for his own rebuild.
“They stuck to the process irrespective of short-term gains that may have been made by going in a different direction,” Postecoglou said. “Mikel has been outstanding, really strong right from the start by having a real vision for the football club. And the club’s backed him.
“I don’t think that’s unique…[but] lot of clubs jump at shadows at the first sign of things not progressing at the rate they were hoping to. Credit to Arsenal and credit to Mikel that they backed each other and they’re reaping the rewards of it.
“But that’s not a blueprint for us to follow. We’ve got our own blueprint. You don’t have to follow anyone else’s timescale, you don’t have to follow anyone else’s processes. What you’ve got to do is have a clear idea about what you want and provided along the way you see progress, stick to it.”
Postecoglou believes there is “no greater challenge” for his young side at this stage of their development than an away day at last season’s runners-up and says the match will be a fine measure of Tottenham’s progress.
“By not shying away from that challenge, not fearing the outcome if things don’t go well — ultimately that’s always your measure,” he said.
“When I went into Champions League games with Celtic or went into World Cup games with Australia, [people said] I should have changed my approach and we got some pretty decent lessons along the way.
Postecoglou has enjoyed a positive start to life at Tottenham
/ PA“But I just think that’s the only way you can measure yourself. How do you know? If you want to be that kind of team?
“That’s the question. If you want to be a team that challenges, you know you have to play that way irrespective of the opponent, there’s no point not using a game like Sunday as a measure to see where we’re at.
“If we shy away from it, don’t play our football, manage to get a draw and survive the experience, what have we really learned? Apart from surviving 90 minutes of football? Nothing.
“The players already know that’s what will be my message to them. We’re going to go out and play our football. If we’re short, we’re short, we need to make it up. If we match them, it’s great isn’t it? We know we have a long way to go and we’ve already established ourselves and on the biggest occasions, we’ve shown we’re prepared to play our football.”
He continued: “This is the experiences I want the guys to have and for us to have as a group to help us grow. It is the only way you grow. You don’t grow by literally being in the shade. You need to stick your head up and see the sun and allow yourself to grow even if it means at times that experience isn’t a great one because you can grow from that.
“It is a challenge for all of the group and us, but irrespective it won’t stop our real intent to become this kind of football team whatever the outcome. Obviously positive means you continue but even positive can sometimes detail you because you think you are further ahead than you are. We’re not. After Sunday we’ll be six games into a pretty significant rebuild.”
