Why we should expect Tottenham to shine as Ange Ball enters Phase Two, writes MATT BARLOW

When Howard Wilkinson led Sheffield Wednesday to the top division, the establishment was shocked by the speed and tirelessness of his team.

They were robust and direct. And when the ball was dead, Wilkinson’s players were drilled to react in pairs. One of them, usually the one closest to the ball, would sprint to retrieve it and throw it to the other, who would quickly run to the right spot to restart play, while the rest of the team was focused on the plan.

It was a simple enough premise. One of many like it designed to generate intensity and pressure, to disrupt opponents and deny them time to reset, to gain a split-second advantage in the turnover of possession.

That was in 1984, long before the public cared about marginal profits or whether their club hired a specialist coach for standard situations.

Wilkinson likes to say that it took until Christmas for their rivals to realise what Wednesday were up to and tackle it. By then they had beaten reigning champions Liverpool at Anfield, held future champions Everton at Goodison Park and were on their way to seventh place.

Same game, different times, of course. These days tactical secrets don’t last long. Come to the Premier League and do something different and effective and you’re under the microscope of armies of analysts using every digit of the data from every conceivable camera angle.

This time last year, Ange Postecoglou was the star of the team and restored Tottenham’s confidence, but a series of injuries to key players brought it to an abrupt end.

Postecoglou’s Spurs never really moved with the same fluidity again. There were flashes but nothing was the same and they have won just four of their last 11. Four wins against the bottom four. The big question as they start the new season at Leicester City on Monday is whether they have been figured out.

The best teams, the best players, the best coaches adapt and find new ways, whether that means tinkering and tinkering or tearing up the plan and starting again. Pep Guardiola is restlessly looking to tweak the winning machine he created at Manchester City.

Postecoglou is performing with confidence. With almost 30 years of coaching behind his philosophy he will not change but rest assured he will continue to tinker and tinker within his limitations and expect Tottenham to improve with a deeper understanding, improved belief and a wider range of players who are attuned to his demands.

As Vince Rugari explains in his new book ‘Ange Ball’, published by Headline, there are, if you like, parallels to be drawn with Yokohama F Marinos in Japan, where in his first year he faced challenges in changing the mindset of a culture rooted in cautious football.

In the second season, after a thorough clean-up and transformation of the squad, they won the J-League title.

That’s a very different league, of course, in a very different country. But there are similarities, because Spurs have been steeped in safety-first, counter-attacking principles under successive managers since Mauricio Pochettino. They could also be better for another year.

The club have supported Postecoglou in the sense that they have been hit financially with unwanted players, with Hugo Lloris, Eric Dier, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Ivan Perisic, Ryan Sessegnon, Joe Rodon, Japhet Tanganga, Emerson Royal and Tanguy Ndombele all leaving this year. Sergio Reguilon and Giovani Lo Celso will lead the 2024 exodus to double figures.

As long as you’re not going to sack or lose the manager, moving dead wood is no less important in the transfer market than buying players and it comes at a price. Letting go of Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and co was the real catalyst for Mikel Arteta’s revolution at Arsenal and could have a positive impact in North London.

With new signings such as Lucas Bergvall, Archie Gray and Wilson Odobert, and promising academy talent Mikey Moore developing rapidly, Postecoglou has fresh ideas to encourage and a squad brimming with speed and creativity.

Whether that is enough, we will soon find out. Whether a complete lack of defensive instinct will prove costly in the Premier League against the world’s strongest attacking units, we will see.

Postecoglou wouldn’t be human if he didn’t hide doubts behind his bullish exterior, but we have to wish Ange Ball the best. It’s great fun and real theatre. And that’s what the game is all about, mate.

Like father, like son

Mark Greaves was an enthusiastic and versatile young defender at Hull City when I covered them for the Hull Ny Breaking. These were bleak times for the Tigers and not just because of my negative attitude. They were in trouble, mired in a boardroom battle and one of the worst professional teams in the country, flirting with relegation to non-league.

Greaves joined from Brigg Town, where he won the FA Vase as a teenager. He was clever and likeable because he didn’t take himself seriously at all, and his professional career was in the Fourth and Fifth Divisions of English football.

On Saturday I watched his son Jacob make a stylish Premier League debut for Ipswich Town, looking for all the world like his father after his Marvel makeover. Bigger, stronger, faster, full of purpose, as if he might rip open his shirt and fly into the air on a more pressing mission.

If he has inherited Mark’s attitude, humility and determination to maximise his talent and enjoy his football, then he has an exciting future ahead of him. Keep an eye on him this season. I wonder what his dad thinks of the greased locks and elastic headband.

The most valued coaching role in football

If Lee Carsley succeeds Gareth Southgate and takes over as England manager, the job of Under-21 manager will become one of the most highly regarded coaching positions in the country.

The U21s are currently in caretaker charge of Ben Futcher, who will lead them to a match against Austria next month at Kenilworth Road, where his father Paul and uncle Ron both played for Luton Town in the 1970s.

Manager groans

First Erik ten Hag, then Julen Lopetegui, managers lining up to tell us they weren’t ready to start the season. Questions that begged, like when exactly they expected it to start.

Why don’t we shorten the preseason tours? And can we stop whining about the schedule soon? Yes, we know it’s brutal, grueling, etc. That’s why you all put together huge squads. Give the ones who are already tired a rest and play the others. Greetings from the new season, everyone.