ROY Hodgson says he isn’t at all surprised by how quickly Ange Postecoglou has adapted to life in the Premier League with Tottenham since his arrival from Celtic.
There was widespread scepticism about the Australian’s credentials from the media and the club’s own supporters following Postecoglou’s appointment in north London this summer.
Those critics are being forced to eat humble pie right now, with Spurs currently unbeaten and leading the way at the top of the table ahead of tomorrow evening’s meeting with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
Hodgson first met his opposite number when they went head-to-head as international managers in an England v Australia match in 2016.
The duo encountered each other again the following year while Hodgson was working as an advisor to Melbourne City and the Eagles boss had no doubts Postecoglou would prove a success at White Hart Lane.
He explained: “I’m not surprised at all. I knew Ange many, many years ago when I worked for that short period in Australia with Melborune for the Man City group.
“I came across him and spent time with him there. I’ve always known about his quality as a coach.
“I’ve always been impressed with him as a person, as a leader so it didn’t surprise me at all that he has started well.
“The recruitment has been good as well on this occasion. They are the right sort of players for him and the way he wants to play.
“That is always good when you get that part right.
“He might have been unknown or a bit of a surprise to a lot of the people in the country, but he certainly was no surprise to me.
“What he did at Celtic, which is a tough club to work at, was also incredibly impressive.
“I shall enjoy meeting him tomorrow night and I will tell him how well I think he is doing, congratulate him but then hopefully we will both try to beat each other because we have a lot of respect for each other.”
Palace will be aiming to bounce back from last weekend’s disappointing 4-0 reverse at the hands of big-spending Newcastle when they take on their high-flying London rivals tomorrow.
Hodgson made clear post-match he wasn’t impressed with what he saw from his side at St James’ Park and pointed out this lunchtime the challenge is to compete much better on the day against clubs with bigger budgets.
He said: “We’ve gone through it pretty comprehensively this week and I am hoping that is something which isn’t going to happen on a regular basis.
“But unfortunately these days if you are in the situation where we find ourselves – which is not amongst that lofty group of clubs that are at the very top of the league with lots and lots of money to spend – you are going to find yourselves a few times I’m afraid up against a team which, when they play at the top level on the day, are going to ask a lot of questions of you.
“On Saturday we didn’t answer those questions, but we are going to be in a similar situation tomorrow night against a team that has been in excellent form, playing excellent football with really many good players.
“They are going to ask a lot of questions as well.
“I’m just hoping that the soul searching we’ve done this week as a group will help us confront Tottenham tomorrow and be stronger than we were against Newcastle.”
