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Thomas Frank is now at the helm of Tottenham Hotspur, but Pep Guardiola has taken time to heap praise on Ange Postecoglou for his defining achievements.
Pep Guardiola’s managerial tenure at Manchester City has been a roaring success up to this point. Since arriving in 2016, he is a six time winner of the Premier League and has four Carabao Cup and two FA Cup successes.
However, Guardiola has not always had the easiest time when his team have faced Tottenham Hotspur. He has managed to record an average of 1.57 points per match against Spurs, winning 11 times, but they have got the better of his team on nine occasions. This includes in the Champions League, when Mauricio Pochettino’s side knocked them out of the competition.
This intriguing match-up continued after Ange Postecoglou was appointed as Tottenham’s manager in 2023. Guardiola’s men came out on top three times, while Postecoglou’s only won twice. However, one of those was a 4-0 win to Tottenham last season at the Etihad Stadium.
Pep Guardiola praises Ange Postecoglou for ending Spurs trophy hoodoo
Guardiola has always spoken well of Postecoglou and he has praised the former Tottenham manager for his style of football, as well as the way he led Spurs to success last season.
He told Stan Sport: “The way he [Postecoglou] played alongside the amount of titles he won. The way his teams play, they always want to attack and be positive. When you have two teams like that it is a beautiful game.
“I am pretty sure that the new generation of managers have more courage, they go to try to win, and when this happens football is nice.
“Ange’s teams always had that courage to do it. After what happened at Spurs, the injuries they had, the situation, I don’t know, I wasn’t there.
“It wasn’t a good season, but at the end they won silverware and maybe that helps to break that, break that barrier and maybe that can help in the future for Spurs, mentality wise.
“In the end he leaves something for the club, for the players, for the future.”
Guardiola will come face to face with a new Tottenham manager
Spurs will travel to Manchester to take on Guardiola’s side this Saturday after both clubs got off to a flying start on matchday one of the Premier League.
It will be interesting to see whether Thomas Frank leans towards a similar approach to the one he took against PSG, or whether he will try to get Tottenham on the frontfoot.
His Brentford side suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat away to City last season, before holding them to a 2-2 draw at home. That alone shows he knows how to match Guardiola’s team, meaning he might just inflict a tenth defeat on the Spaniard at the hands of Tottenham.
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