Ange Postecoglou has pledged to treat the FA Cup differently as he prepares to take charge of Tottenham in the competition for the first time, targeting an end to the club’s 15-year trophy drought.
Tottenham have not won a major trophy since 2008, when Juande Ramos led them to a 2-1 win over Chelsea in the final of the EFL Cup.
Postecoglou’s team fell at the first hurdle in the EFL Cup earlier this season, losing in a second-round penalty shoot-out following a 1-1 draw with Fulham, and they will be looking for a much better showing when they host Burnley in the FA Cup third round on Friday.
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There is no prospect of Postecoglou – who won one Scottish Cup and two Scottish League Cups during two seasons with Celtic – taking the world’s oldest national football competition lightly.
Speaking at Thursday’s pre-match press conference, Postecoglou said: “I’m similar to anyone who loves football. The FA Cup is a significant event.
“The FA Cup reaches every corner of the globe, it is a great competition with great tradition and I am looking forward to having a crack at it.
“At the start of every season, every club has ambitions and dreams of winning silverware. More than anything else, it is an opportunity for us to try and win a competition and for a club of our stature that should be the ambition every year.
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“I know what I feel. Every competition I am in, I want to win. I don’t rank them or diminish any against others.
“Whether it’s domestic or continental, everything is hard earned. I have not sensed anything different with this competition.
“The club has history in this… many of the greatest memories Spurs supporters have will have been in the FA Cup.
“You have to treat it differently. In cup games you know you have to give everything on the day and teams tend to play a bit freer to try and get the job done.”
Spurs have not been eliminated in the third round of the FA Cup since a 2-0 North London Derby defeat to Arsenal in 2014, though they have not been beyond the fifth round for five years, last making the semi-finals in 2017-18.
They have a lengthy list of absentees ahead of Friday’s game, with captain Son-Heung min departing to represent South Korea at the Asian Cup and Cristian Romero, James Maddison, Manor Solomon, Alejo Veliz and Ivan Perisic injured.
Meanwhile, midfielders Pape Sarr and Yves Bissouma are unavailable as they head to Ivory Coast for the Africa Cup of Nations.
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— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) January 3, 2024