Five reasons why Ange Postecoglou is the best coach in the world in any sport

COYS

I teared up after Tottenham Hotspur beat Manchester United on Wednesday in the Europa League final.

It’s not because it was a beautiful game. It possessed as much quality as an MLS match. 

It’s not because I was released from a lifetime of pain. I’ve been a Tottenham fan for all of two seasons, and I get my agony from the Philadelphia Phillies.

And it’s not because Spurs are now heading to the Champions League. Tight-fisted owner Daniel Levy will ensure his team flames out in the league phase.  

I was emotional because my lord and savior, my Greek-Australian king, ‘Big’ Ange Postecoglou, got to smile and clutch his family in victory. It had been a bad, lost season. In the Premier League, there are no teams between Spurs and relegation. They were embarrassed by Liverpool in the Carabao Cup semifinals. In the FA Cup, it took Spurs until extra time to beat fifth-tier Tamworth, whose goalkeeper is a building surveyor. Tottenham might as well have skipped the next round against Aston Villa. Postecoglou had spent months defending himself and his team.

He then achieved something that neither Pep Guardiola nor Mikel Arteta did this year for Manchester City and Arsenal, respectively. Postecoglou won a trophy. Not even Real Madrid won anything meaningful this season. Postecoglou is the best coach in the world in any sport for five distinct but related reasons.

Postecoglou is honest and transparent

In September, Tottenham lost to North London rivals Arsenal 1-0, and in response to a question about his team’s prospects the rest of the season Postecoglou offered a quote that will serve as his epitaph.

“I don’t usually win things,” the manager said. “I always win things in my second year.”

That promise, once considered imprudent and buffoonish, will one day be enshrined on the walls at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, just as Douglas MacArthur’s “I shall return” is stamped on the forehead of every GI at basic training. But Postecoglou’s reflection on his infamous quote after the Europa League final reveals more of the man.

"People misinterpreted me,” he said. “It was not me boasting, [it was] just me making a declaration and I believed it.” In his mind, he was being factual. Postecoglou had won trophies at each stop of his coaching career.

He was also unafraid to be expressive about how he feels about himself, which, in America at least, is cause for study and alarm. Male coaches stateside generally have the personality of a 2x4 and provide insight into the game and themselves with the intellectual rigor of the same. It’s not about me, it’s about the men in the locker room. These are the hollow phrases used to complete a postgame press conference or a media hit as expeditiously and uncontroversially as possible.

The San Antonio Spurs’ Greg Popovich grew more opinionated and outspoken as he paced towards the NBA’s all-time wins record, and Andy Reid appearances in State Farm commercials correlated with his appearances in Super Bowls. These exceptions prove the rule that media and fans punish coaches who don’t fit a certain archetype—grace is given only when success is attained.

On this, I am no saint. I wrote off Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Siriani after he launched into a bizarre speech about fertilizer in 2022. I texted “Fire Siriani” to friends after every Eagles game for three years and I regularly called him a dweeb. He’s taken the team to two Super Bowls, winning one, and I’ve scrubbed my phone of any incriminating evidence.

For his part, Postecoglou places himself not above or alongside the team, acting as some sagacious shepherd, and he doesn’t view himself as an empty vessel through which others achieve something. Instead, he firmly claims his agency, which results in him being honest—and secure—about what his football teams mean to him and what he means to his football teams. That’s why he bristles at leading, repetitive, and accusatory questions. He’s above that sort of base thinking. “Ange Postecoglou Slammed for 'Strange Arrogance' During Spurs Interview,” one headline read.

I don’t take that moment or his persona as arrogant or petulant. I take it as frustration that he isn’t taken at face value, that he must explain facts that are self-evident, and that he exists in a media ecosystem that reduces his gruff, self-aware personality to a meme. He even told the CBS Sports Golazo crew post-final that “how you think about yourself is important.”

In essence, he had been punished for being himself, which is to say he had been punished for being honest, for having a point of view. As someone addicted to Fantasy Premier League, I salute him for always indicating who’s fit and available and who’s not (or may not be). Football managers take injury status more seriously than Donald Trump takes state secrets, but their obfuscation is dumb. Ange knows that. It’s why he had no problem ending his post-trophy press conference by unironically saying, “Monday, I’m going on holiday with my beautiful family because I deserve it.” Thinking about an American coach (or an American) gloating about not working makes my brain glitch.

Guardiola is probably the most influential and successful football manager this century, and he claws at this head and face over his team’s performance, regularly obscures who will be available and selected for his squads, and, after the FA Cup final, denied a handshake from a Crystal Palace player because Guardiola felt that player was wasting time. After the next game, a Premier League tie against Bournemouth, Guardiola said he would quit if management didn’t reduce the size of the team. In Guardiola, we deify an insecure manchild. In Postecoglou, we tear down the antithesis of that.

After the Europa League final, Postecoglou even disclosed that, after considering his squad in January—afflicted by an injury crisis, buried in the Premier League standings, and struggling in domestic cups—he decided to prioritize the Europa League. This leads me to the next point.

Postecoglou prioritizes winning

If this seems like a ridiculous statement for a person whose job it is to win games, then I’d like to introduce you to American sports.

The Colorado Rockies are on pace this year to lose 136 games, which would best an ignominious MLB record set in 1899, although after recently watching the Phillies sweep them in a four-game series I’m surprised the Rockies aren’t destined for 150 losses. They are the worst professional team in a top league I’ve ever seen. For their troubles, they’ll likely be awarded the first pick in the draft and turn a profit thanks to their low payroll and MLB revenue sharing. It’s incomprehensible why there aren't any consequences for losing. This disqualifies any American coach from claiming they're the best in the world.

Winning matters in world football, but teams do prioritize competitions unless they’re a Manchester City with unlimited resources and no scruples. In the Conference League, Europe’s third-tier competition, Chelsea started the ball boy and a security guard most games. Crystal Palace is mid-table in the Premier League, as God intended, but they optimized their lineup and turned it on for the FA Cup. Postecoglou was no different.

"I know our league form has been unacceptable, but coming third was not going to change this football club, winning a trophy would,” he said. “That was my ambition and I was prepared to wear it if it did not happen.”

He’s obviously right, but hearing a coach for a beleaguered team be honest about their goals is like putting on corrective glasses and seeing colors for the first time. Someone should suggest that to Mikel Arteta, who seems to prioritize winning in the general American sense. Every year, Arsenal is ready to compete for trophies, make their fans proud, and lift the club to new heights and yada yada blah blah blah. Does Arsenal want to create a dynasty in the Premier League? Do they want to compete for the Champions League trophy every year? Are they just happy to sell out the Emirates? I am asking what, exactly, is Arteta’s intention. I do not know, and I suspect it’s a part of why they’re always an also-ran.

Postecoglou is tactically adept and adaptive

Several times I protested at the TV during the second half of the Europa League final. Spurs defense had been porous all year, and here were Spurs playing five and sometimes even six in the back, believing one first-half goal was enough to take the title. At one point, Postecoglou swapped Brennan Johnson, the goal-scoring right winger for Kevin Danso, a solid, if uninspiring center-back. 

Postecoglou was giving the finger to “Ange Ball.” He had become known for building up from the back and his high defensive lines and aggressive attack. It’s also why he was criticized. One after the other, his best players hit the training table, leaving yawning gaps in the midfield. No one could distribute the ball to attackers, who were neither fast nor skillful enough to create on their own. Defensive duties were left to teenagers and journeymen. There’s a reason why Tottenham have 21 losses in the Premier League this year. Yet Postecoglou didn’t budge. He said he wouldn’t. 

"If people want me to change my approach, it's not going to change,” he said after losing to Liverpool in December. “We are doing it for a reason, we are doing it because we think it will help us to be successful.”

Bloodthirsty media and fans missed the nuance of his using the word ‘approach,’ and they confused consistently poor results for consistently poor tactics. In the Premier League, Postecoglou was holding on for dear life. Take, for example, the lineup against Everton in early January.

Kinsky the goalkeeper was acquired in haste from the Czech First League after the starter Vicario broke his ankle. It was Kinsky’s second start for Tottenham that day. Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall have a combined age of 38. Djed Spence lived in the doghouse for two years, until injuries made him essential. Dejan Kulusevski is talented, but I think I could beat him in a foot race. Tottenham had to take the risks inherent to Ange Ball. Otherwise, they wouldn’t score. Their Premier League opponents putting it in net was inevitable. 

That Everton game occurred around the time Postecoglou decided to go all-in on the Europa League and the results show. In the final eight games of the competition, starting on January 30 against IF Elfsborg, Spurs allowed just four goals. They were disciplined and organized and intentional and, at times, downright conservative. Postecoglou recognized his team’s strength as it related to available players.

They're best attackers in Son Heung-min, James Maddison, Dom Solanke, and Kulusevski and Johnson never consistently played together. Toward the end of the season, though, the defensive depth chart stabilized. The most crucial games in the Europa League featured a back line of Pedro Porro, whose crosses into the boxes are gifts from heaven; Christian Romero, a World Cup winner; Micky van de Ven, who’s literally the fastest Premier League player ever; and Destiny Udogie, one of the better left backs in Europe. 

All through the season, Postecoglou was eviscerated for his supposed intransigence, when his flexibility and perceptiveness was there to see for months. We only noticed it—we only let ourselves notice it—after he outclassed Rubin Amorim, a coaching golden child. After Tottenham scored, Postecoglou parked the bus and dared Amorim to change, to do something about it. Amorim did not. United started the game with a back five and they ended the game with a back five. 

Postecoglou’s man management is understated and underrated

Amid the trophy celebrations, fans in the stands passed to the players a poster.

Players who do not like their coach, who win in spite of their coach, do not parade their coach’s likeness around the pitch. It indicates a respect the players have for Postecoglou, which probably stems from his honesty and transparency and his treating players like the adults they are.

After the Europa League final, Maddison recounted a time when Postecoglou pointed at the great Spurs teams immortalized on the walls at Hotspur Stadium. All the photos were in black and white. He insisted to his players that they have what it takes to be the first of the modern greats. It’s a completely normal motivational tactic.

Contrast that with Arteta. In one pregame speech, he compared his team to light. To bring the metaphor to life the guy broke out a lightbulb and plugged it in and held it as he lectured about Edison and transmitting electrons. The video’s top comment says it all: “unreal performance by the arsenal players to hold in their laugh.”

Arteta is a Guardiola disciple and renown for practicing the “dark arts,” the sinister acts of gamesmanship. Arteta has won nothing except for a Covid-era FA Cup with players carried over from the previous regime. Postecoglou dragged an injury-marred team lacking in quality to a European title. It speaks volumes about Postecoglou’s leadership.

“Man management” isn’t really a term used in the States, and Xs and Os are far more revered and good players are far more important. The West Coast offense has its own Wikipedia page. A coach can’t win in the NBA without elite players. The number of games in baseball make managerial decisions and style almost irrelevant. Again, American coaches have no claim. Postecoglou is in an elite tier of leaders. 

Postecoglou is a star

A middle-aged man with a belly and perma-scowl. A mumbling leader of men. A funny accent. Temperamental and impatient. An aura that demands attention. A moral code that both repels and attracts. 

I am, of course, talking about the great antihero Tony Soprano. It applies to Postecoglou, too.

The story of Tottenham’s season is their manager. The story last year was Postecoglou. He has a gravitational force about him and he knows that and he uses it and it makes Tottenham interesting. It makes them matter. It’s what garnered them their first trophy in 17 years and their first in Europe in 41 years. 

The Soprano comparison turned out to be a fitting one. On Friday, at Spurs’ celebratory parade, Ange took the mic and said, “All the best television series? Season three is better than season two!” (In the case of The Sopranos, that is correct.)

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I had thought that the best for all parties was for Tottenham to win the Europa League and for the team and Postecoglou to amicably divorce. The manager would get to ride into the night as a club legend and Spurs could find a coach with Champions League experience. But with the return of the king confirmed, I now can’t wait to continue supporting the best coach in the world.