In the lead if they beat Fulham tonight: Vicario and Udogie super, Maddison fundamental for the manager
– London
Not even the most optimistic of Tottenham fans would have believed after the sale of Harry Kane at the beginning of August that Spurs would have played for the possibility of going alone at the top of the Premier League in the postponed matchday 9. Yet he is the goal for the 9pm London derby against Fulham. Winning, as Spurs have done in all their home games so far, means going ahead of everyone on 23 (City and Arsenal are on 21). And lay the foundations for the extension to be attempted on Friday, when after being the last team to play in the 9th matchday, Tottenham will be the first on the field in the 10th, in another London derby with Crystal Palace. It is the extent of the revolution of Ange Postecoglou, the coach who, thanks to the rebirth of Son, the sensational impact of James Maddison and the convincing performances of the Azzurri Guglielmo Vicario and Destiny Udogie, has transformed Tottenham into a team that wins, convinces and is still undefeated.
Revolution
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Postecoglou kept only three players among Antonio Conte’s “untouchables” last season: Cristian Romero, Dejan Kulusevski, bought back from Juve in the summer for 30 million, and Son, who inherited the captaincy from Kane. Everything has changed around them. Starting from the formation, a 4-2-3-1 in which the new arrival James Maddison is the spark that lights up the game, a creative paid 46 million euros by Leicester who is already a candidate for the best signing in the Premier League in terms of price/price ratio. impact. Postecoglou has a more paternal approach than Conte: he managed to recover Son, who returned after a subpar season to score goals (6 in 8 games so far) as in 2021-22, when he was top scorer, he rediscovered Bissouma, the mysterious object of last season, and the face of the team changed. The most expensive addition was Brennan Johnson, a 54 million last-gasp, but due to his late arrival and an injury he hasn’t left his mark yet. Unlike Micky Van de Ven, a 22-year-old Dutch centre-back taken for 50 million from Wolfsburg who has given stability to the defence.
Italians
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A successful purchase like Vicario, taken from Empoli for 20 million. The blue so far has conceded 8 goals, kept a clean sheet on 3 occasions and has the best save percentage in the entire Premier League (82.9%). “Vic has progressed very quickly, and I think he’s been incredible for us – said the coach -: he’s been an important influence on the pitch in key moments, when we needed him. And the best thing is that he shows up in training every day with the desire to improve.” Vicario is establishing himself as Udogie, one of the young revelations of 2023-24. Postecoglou asks him to lend a hand to the midfield during the setup phase and to stop anyone who passes near him. The 20-year-old signed already in 2022 from Udinese responded so well that he stopped Bukayo Saka with Arsenal and Mo Salah with Liverpool with the same personality with which he kept Phil Foden at bay in England-Italy, on his debut as a starter for the national team . “He impressed me because he wants to improve every day and has incredible attributes,” Postecoglou said of him. “He is 20 years old but has already faced very difficult challenges in defense. And when he has the ball and attacks he is absolutely fantastic.”
goals
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Postecoglou is the first to preach calm, to remember that with him Tottenham has begun a journey that is inevitably only at the beginning, that at this moment we need to look at how the team plays, at how much it internalizes the new dictates, and not at the classification. If they were to beat Fulham too, Tottenham would find themselves ahead of everyone. And if he also wins against Crystal Palace on Friday, he will remain unattainable for the entire next weekend, inaugurating November at the top of the class. Who knows if Postecoglou will then start looking at the rankings.
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