POSTMAN ALWAYS DELIVERS
Ex-brisbane star & Pompey kid Smith: Ange won the Double and changed the landscape of Aussie football... that’s the kind of boss Spurs are getting
THE east coast of Australia’s Queensland could not be much further removed from north London.
But the man who captained the side that best demonstrated Ange Postecoglou’s huge impact on Australian football believes some of that sunshine is coming Tottenham’s way.
Former centre-back Matt Smith grew up on the south coast of England, but built his football career in Australia – and played under Greek-born Postecoglou at Brisbane Roar between 2010 and 2012.
Smith says in his experience Spurs’ new coach is fully committed to the kind of football that will put bums on seats – and that the man who won five trophies at Celtic won’t be troubled by the weight of expectation on his shoulders.
“Brisbane went from being ninth in the A-league one year to winning the Double the next,” said former Portsmouth trainee Smith. “Postecoglou was only at the club for two seasons, but the legacy he left utterly changed the landscape of Australian football.
“He had his own philosophy and approach – he knew exactly how he wanted his team to play. Winning trophies is the key aspect of professional sport but he wanted to create something a bit special as well.
“A lot of Australian teams were known to be very athletic and physically dominant. He felt Australian players were technically better than that and a lot more able to play high-risk possession football.
“He started it with Brisbane and it was ‘play out of defence’ at all costs. It was high-intensity, playing through the lines – and it was high lines and aggressive pressing.
“As a centre-back it was pretty hair-raising, because at times you just wanted to launch it, but that wasn’t the way he wanted you to go.
“It was all about getting the ball on the floor and pass, pass, pass.” It took time for this new approach to bed in. Brisbane did not win until the fifth game of Postecoglou’s first season in charge, and there were plenty who were sceptical about this upstart coach changing the way that Australian football was traditionally played.
Smith recalled: “There was a lot of criticism – a lot of the media said his way wouldn’t work in Australian football and Aussie players weren’t good enough to do it.
“Then we beat Sydney FC at home and went on a 36-game unbeaten streak which is unmatched in Australian history.”
That run propelled
Postecoglou from a relative unknown to one of the most talked about coaches outside of Europe and South America.
Suddenly, his ‘Roarcelona’ were hot stuff Down Under and beyond. He moved on soon after to coach Melbourne Victory before being appointed national team boss in 2013.
“He got the top job and did remarkably well,” said Smith.
“He went to the 2014 World Cup and had a very tough group, with Chile, Spain and Holland – but never changed the way he wanted his teams to approach things. Then he won the Asian Cup in 2015.
“He’s not going to cave in and change his philosophy. Those Spurs fans are going to love it.”
His approach was high-intensity and aggressive pressing