Postecoglou still believes in Angeball despite early struggles

It was a brave statement of Ange Postecoglou to say he has to win silverware this season or be judged as a failure. I think that is rather extreme.

However, I cannot help wondering what was going through his mind as he sat under a holiday parasol in Greece this summer. He made a bold statement that Tottenham are a better team this year than last and his players agree.

Ironically, last season saw them take 10 points from their first four matches whereas this year they have won one, lost two and drawn one to rake in four points.

Postecoglou’s message to his team is “stay on course and play the Angeball way”.

His way of playing football is to entertain and score goals. He believes in playing out from the back and to carry on doing this even if there are multiple failures, which allows opposing sides to gain opportunities to break away and score.

He likes players who are committed and brave and when under pressure, continue to press forward. He plays through each third of the pitch from the back, through the midfield and onto the forwards with maximum speed but with each player knowing where his teammates are from intense training.

Ultimately, he wants goals and then more goals because as he says, that is where the entertainment and success are. The season has been disappointing when judged against what Ange has promised but he believes things will turn around and trophies will come.

It all started poorly for the coach when he took over at Celtic and yet he ended up winning everything.

Update on United’s injured players

The perfect afternoon last weekend when Manchester United beat Southampton 3-0 has turned slightly sour because of injury problems picked up during the game.

Matthijs de Ligt, Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho all scored at St Mary’s Stadium but Lisandro Martinez and Noussair Mazraoui limped off. When I made enquiries at the club in midweek, there was no definite news as to the extent of their problems. However, De Ligt was confirmed as only suffering from cramp.

Rasmus Hojlund, Luke Shaw and Mason Mount will be back fairly quickly and Erik Ten Hag confirmed they will return in the next few weeks. Victor Lindelof was an intended addition to the squad but his toe injury is taking time to heal.

The coach said Tyrell Malacia, who missed the entire season last year, was named in United’s Europa squad and he would be back training in the “not too distant future”. Leny Yoro is the only long-term worry and he is not expected back until towards the end of the season.

Maresca tells Sancho and Felix, work or you don’t play

Enzo Maresca is determined not to be caught out by allowing Jadon Sancho’s situation at Manchester United to repeat itself.

Sancho fell out big time with coach Erik Ten Hag, who criticised the winger’s training performances and Sancho argued against that on social media and then refused to apologise. He spent the second half of last season at his original club, Borussia Dortmund, and then moved to Chelsea despite making up with Ten Hag.

Maresca commented: “We have Jadon, Joao Felix, these kinds of players. Before they joined the club, I had a chat with them and one of my messages was if you come here and don’t work properly, you are not going to play!”

Nicolas Jackson has signed a two-year contract extension. He has scored twice in three Premier League games this season following on from 17 goals in 44 games last year but was overshadowed by Cole Palmer, who scored 25 goals in 45 matches. Cole has also has signed an extension to his current contract.

Barca claim Haaland will move to Spain

Manchester City have made a brilliant start to the season with wins over Chelsea, Ipswich, West Ham and Brentford. Citizens’ fans are pleased but news regarding Erling Haaland is less welcome.

City are keen to re-sign Haaland on a long-term contract but the word is that Barcelona are trying to put together a financial deal which would take the Norwegian to Spain.

There is no need for City fans to panic yet but the Catalan club are quoted as saying: “We trust the player’s desire for a change of scenery could be the decisive factor to tip the balance in our favour.”

Pep Guardiola is enjoying Haaland’s start to the season claiming that you “can’t even stop him with a gun. He’s playing much better in everything. He stays back 20 minutes or half an hour after training sessions to practice. What he does need, however, is for the team to give him more balls in the final third. We are going to create those situations. He’s unstoppable, there’s no central defender, not even with a gun who can stop him!”

Haaland has admitted he would like to play in La Liga at some stage in his career and that is what Barca are relying on. Rumours are that the striker has asked for the release clause in his contract to be low so that Barcelona have a chance of eventually signing him.

His advisors are said to have given this move their approval. He believes that playing for Barcelona would give him a better chance of winning the coveted Ballon d’Or. Barca are reported to have said: “The dream of him dressed in a Barca shirt is closer to becoming reality. The bomb is ready to explode.”

I am still checking on this rumour and will update you when I have more information but for now, I don’t think City fans have anything to worry about.

Muric shows why McKenna bought him

Last season, Burnley couldn’t buy a win and coach Vincent Kompany watched as his team were sent packing back to the Championship and he moved on to, surprisingly, manage Bayern Munich.

Nothing breeds success like failure. Burnley’s goalkeeper Arijanet Muric was pushed out of Burnley’s starting line-up when James Trafford arrived. Promoted Ipswich Town and their coach, Kieran McKenna, had seen Muric play six times and were impressed enough to request that the Tractor Boys sign him.

I was at the Brighton v Ipswich game and saw what Kieran had seen, Muric was spectacular, saving six times from certain goals. Ipswich kept their first clean sheet of the season which brought heroic applause from McKenna for his goalkeeper.

Vardy still runs rings around defenders and scores

Marc Guehi made a big impact on the Premier League last season and again this year.

He is fast and can outrun most defenders but he couldn’t cope with Leicester’s 37-year-old Jamie Vardy. The veteran striker is still banging in the goals to add to his tally of 138 in the Premier League.

Jamie prepares for every match — any youngsters reading this should not follow his example — by drinking three cans of Red Bull and a double expresso coffee.

Against Crystal Palace, he collected a through ball and went around Guehi and then goalkeeper Dean Henderson before banging the ball into the net. Eight years ago, Vardy inspired Leicester to win the title and he had already played 250 games in the top leagues. He is the oldest player to score in the Premier League this season by four years.

Leicester coach Steve Cooper said: “Few players get to his age and keep going. Especially with his profile of being quick and dynamic. He manages himself through the game, doing a little less running so he can move quickly onto balls sent through from midfield. I am delighted he is still able to play top-tier football.”

Don’t get left behind, Cooper warns players

Leicester’s revolution has not gone according to plan yet but coach Steve Cooper has warned players that they must fully accept his new regime. He has changed things dramatically since taking over from Enzo Maresca.

He commented: “You’re given a job with the intention of doing it your way. There are changes to last season and the way I’m asking the team to play isn’t easy. A large part of it is seeing a real desire and commitment, an open-mindedness from the players to go ‘okay that’s where we are going’. They are really on board and if they are ever in a situation where they are not, then they are left behind and won’t fit in here.”

Gravenberch is the future for Liverpool

Despite leaving Liverpool at the end of last season, Thiago Alcantara still keeps in touch with the team. He believes Ryan Gravenberch is not only the future of the Reds but he has the intelligence to keep on improving as a midfield general.

Alcantara witnessed the shock loss to Nottingham Forest last weekend but said the defensive Granvenberch was the one bright light for Liverpool.

Despite adjusting to his defensive midfield role, Gravenberch has impressed in every game. Alcantara said: “All great players, they have to get experience, they have to adapt to different circumstances that they have in a game. He is doing that and getting better and better."

"Sometimes as a number six you can see he is flowing through midfield and it’s pretty good to see how he is involving himself and adapting to that position. He is an intelligent kid so he will adapt fast to the moments in the game and anything the coach says."

"He has done that. They are incredibly good — the three in midfield, not just him but Macca (Alexis Mac Allister) and Dom (Szoboszlai). Being surrounded by good players makes you a better player as well.”

Guardiola taking it step by step with Foden

Many readers have emailed me asking why Phil Foden isn’t playing for City at the moment.

There were two main reasons he did not play last weekend. Although Brentford battled hard to win the match, Guardiola felt City could win without Foden who was not fully fit.

He was in the squad in case of emergencies but it was decided to keep him on the subs bench because of the busy match schedule including a Champions League game and then the big one on Sunday, against Arsenal. Foden had trained in the week before Brentford but at no stage warmed up for the match.

The coach said: “He is good but has not had many training sessions so we are taking things step-by-step. I am delighted he is back. I need him, we need him, desperately. This player is so important for us. Last week, he had only four or five training sessions so I decided to try other options.”