Ange Postecoglou to do battle with Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta, Jurgen Klopp and David Moyes for top Premier League award as Australian is recognised following flying start to life at Tottenham

• Ange Postecoglou nominated for Premier League Manager of the Month
• The Australian has overseen an unbeaten start to the top flight campaign 
• Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport’s podcast It’s All Kicking Off 

Ange Postecoglou’s appointment at Tottenham was ridiculed by some sections of the football community, but after one month only, the Australian is beginning to win those doubters over.

On Thursday, the Tottenham manager was recognised for his flying start to life in north London – in which he has overseen a record of three wins and one draw this season – by being nominated for the Premier League Manager of the Month Award.

An opening day 2-2 draw at Brentford has been followed by impressive wins over Manchester United, Bournemouth and Burnley, with only Manchester City enjoying a better record after four games.

As a result, City boss has also been nominated for the award, along with Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta and West Ham boss David Moyes. 

Postecoglou has transformed Spurs’ style of play in a matter of weeks, making fans believe again after suffering years of negative football under Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte. 

Ange Postecoglou has been nominated for the Premier League Manager of the Month award

The Australian has made a flying start to life at Tottenham, winning three out of four games

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Only City can match Tottenham’s record of 11 goals scored so far this campaign, while they’ve only leaked four at the other end. 

Former Premier League winner and co-host of Mail Sport’s podcast It’s All Kicking Off, Chris Sutton, has long been a supporter of Postecoglou’s work after watching him transform Celtic, and aimed a thinly-veiled jab at those who overlooked the Australian before a ball was kicked this season.

‘I think the media in general haven’t [disrespected Postecoglou] but was there not a “No to Postecoglou” campaign from Spurs fans?,’ said Sutton. 

‘I think there was a similar thing at Celtic when Ange Postecoglou came over to Celtic because I think a large part of it was because he is Australian and people view Australia as not a footballing country, with the greatest respect, and people didn’t really scratch beneath the surface.

‘If you look at every club he’s been, he’s had 25 successful years in coaching and he turns clubs around. He did well with Brisbane in Australia, he went to Yokohama who were struggling in the in the J-League, turned them around into J-League champions. He came to Celtic, took over one hell of a mess and turned them around – winning five out of six trophies, two league titles,’ he added.

‘But it wasn’t just that, it was about style of play, brand of football and then going to Tottenham, that was the biggest thing for me. He would tick that box majorly.

‘It’s interesting. Pundits who I respect, Gary Neville, Roy Keane, Glenn Hoddle, have all been slightly critical of him in the way that Tottenham play,’ said Sutton.

Co-host Ian Ladyman then questioned whether harsh views from former professionals on the Tottenham boss can be classed as ‘snobbery’.

Sutton added: ‘I don’t know whether it’s snobbery. They [have] great football brains, they have their opinions.

‘What I do think is that they don’t understand or haven’t looked into Postecoglou deeply enough in his coaching career and the brand of football which he plays, I’ve spoken to him many times, read a lot of stuff about him.

Postecoglou will go up against Pep Guardiola (L), Jurgen Klopp (R), Mikel Arteta and David Moyes for the top prize

‘He wants to play this attacking brand of football and it’s worked for him for a 25-year period. So he’s come to Tottenham and he’s saying, “why am I going to change? It’s been successful for me”. And I actually thought that Tottenham would be a bit more of a slow burner, if I’m honest. Maybe around October, November they really hit the straps.

‘I think that in many respects, we may be getting a little bit overexcited because I’m still pretty sure they will have some tough weeks and they will concede some goals playing the way that they’re playing and getting counter-attacked. Then we’ll get “Postecoglou’s naive with the way he plays”.

‘But with a guy who has his track record in management, maybe not in as fashionable a league as a lot of English fans would want, I think he’s going to do good things. Remember, when Arsene Wenger came to these shores and everybody wrote him off. What happened next?’

IT’S ALL KICKING OFF! 

It’s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.

It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.

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