Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou is refusing to publicly set targets for his team this season, insisting their focus will be on improvement and consistency.
Spurs begin their 2024/25 Premier League season with a trip to Leicester City on Monday evening, with renewed optimism of claiming a coveted place in the top four and with it, securing a return to the Uefa Champions League.
Tottenham were in contention to finish fourth last season, but a late collapse of four successive defeats saw them settle for fifth and a place in the Europa League. The London club have strengthened this summer with the arrival of England striker Dominic Solanke from Bournemouth, teenage midfielder Archie Gray from Leeds United, and French winger Wilson Odobert from Burnley.
"I go into every season with the same kind of target of trying to be successful," Postecoglou said. "The starting point for us is improvement. Improvement in our football, improvement in the consistency of our football.
"We had a decent season last year. We certainly improved on the season last year in terms of results alone. Obviously, we changed the football and we had some really good moments and some moments where we had to work really hard to get some results and probably the back end of last season was disappointing for us.
"There’s a lot in there but for us if we can get improvement in that then more consistency gives us an opportunity and a platform to try to achieve something which is what you go into every season trying to do."
Solanke, recruited for a reported £55 million to fill the void left by Harry Kane's exit to Bayern Munich last summer, is Tottenham's statement signing following a career-best 19 Premier League goals last season. Postecoglou said the 26-year-old striker is adapting well but also called for patience.
"Thankfully it is what we expected, he is a top pro, a good guy, he has settled into the dressing room really well," the Spurs manager said. "Footballing wise you can see he has the attributes that kind of fit into what we want to do really well.
"There is still an adjustment period there as we play a little bit differently and train differently and we have seen that with every new signing that comes in. So far he has fit in really well with the group and training. We still have a couple of sessions to go but so far, so good."
Welcoming Tottenham to the King Power Stadium on Monday will be Leicester manager Steve Cooper, who returns to the Premier League following his sacking by Nottingham Forest last season.
Cooper has replaced Enzo Maresca, now at Chelsea, and is back in the top flight nine months after leaving Forest.
The Welshman faces a difficult task as the promoted Leicester have a possible points deduction hanging over them while they have found it tough to strengthen their squad.
Monday night’s visit of Spurs provides a bit of symmetry for Cooper as it was a 2-0 defeat to Postecoglou’s side in December which proved his final game in charge of Forest.
“I can’t wait to get back,” Cooper said. "I think about the organisation and not myself. It’s always the club first.
"I missed the Premier League, there’s no doubt about that. I didn’t use the time to down tools. That was the last thing I wanted. I tried to use the time wisely to prepare for the next role. It’s an exciting challenge here. It’s been a good pre-season while transitioning to being a Premier League team again.”
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
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Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
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Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Crops that could be introduced to the UAE
1: Quinoa
2. Bathua
3. Amaranth
4. Pearl and finger millet
5. Sorghum
Types of bank fraud
1) Phishing
Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
2) Smishing
The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
3) Vishing
The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
4) SIM swap
Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
5) Identity theft
Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
6) Prize scams
Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
The bio
Studied up to grade 12 in Vatanappally, a village in India’s southern Thrissur district
Was a middle distance state athletics champion in school
Enjoys driving to Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah with family
His dream is to continue working as a social worker and help people
Has seven diaries in which he has jotted down notes about his work and money he earned
Keeps the diaries in his car to remember his journey in the Emirates
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Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000
Available: Now
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
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Tips for taking the metro
- set out well ahead of time
- make sure you have at least Dh15 on you Nol card, as there could be big queues for top-up machines
- enter the right cabin. The train may be too busy to move between carriages once you're on
- don't carry too much luggage and tuck it under a seat to make room for fellow passengers
The specs
Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
SPECS
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Results
Stage 4
1. Dylan Groenewegen (NED) Jumbo-Visma 04:16:13
2. Gaviria (COL) UAE Team Emirates
3. Pascal Ackermann (GER) Bora-Hansgrohe
4. Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep
5. Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal
General Classification:
1. Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton-Scott 16:46:15
2. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:07
3. Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Astana Pro Team 0:01:35
4. David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:40
5. Rafal Majka (POL) Bora-Hansgrohe
Company profile
Date started: January, 2014
Founders: Mike Dawson, Varuna Singh, and Benita Rowe
Based: Dubai
Sector: Education technology
Size: Five employees
Investment: $100,000 from the ExpoLive Innovation Grant programme in 2018 and an initial $30,000 pre-seed investment from the Turn8 Accelerator in 2014. Most of the projects are government funded.
Partners/incubators: Turn8 Accelerator; In5 Innovation Centre; Expo Live Innovation Impact Grant Programme; Dubai Future Accelerators; FHI 360; VSO and Consult and Coach for a Cause (C3)
Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
