‘Early stages’ – Ange Postecoglou compares Spurs and Manchester City

It says a lot about the impact Ange Postecoglou has had at Spurs in such a short space of time that fans are disappointed not to have beaten Manchester City in the FA Cup, but the manager has tried to offer some perspective about the project he is building.

Manchester City finally got the better of Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, clinching a 1-0 victory in the FA Cup fourth round to knock Ange Postecoglou‘s side out of the competition.

The result leaves Postecoglou facing the prospect of coming out of his debut campaign with the club without a trophy in his hands. That’s a rare feeling for the Australian, of course, given his record of securing silverware throughout his career.

Spurs are years behind Manchester City

Spurs were beaten by the current FA Cup holders, though, and indeed the champions of both England and Europe, in Pep Guardiola’s treble-winning Manchester City side. So, with this in mind, Postecoglou’s post-match comments (via Football.London) took a rational approach to comparing the two teams.

He said: “It’s fair to say they’ve got eight or nine years on us. I hope that people have a little bit of perspective about the team we’re trying to be. It doesn’t happen in six months. I don’t think even City did it in six months.

“That doesn’t mean you shy away from the challenge of it or don’t get disappointed by it or don’t feel like you could have tackled it in a different way. It’s not an excuse but the reality of it is that they’re well down the line in being the team they are and we’re still very much in the early stages. You need to use that as your benchmark moving forward.”

Spurs Web Opinion

It’s never easy to bow out of a cup competition, especially when this really did feel like if we could get past City, we would have an excellent chance of going all the way. But, Ange is right, we are still very much in the early days of what he is building, and the trophies will come.