Socceroos coach Graham Arnold predicts Ange Postecoglou will taste success with Tottenham

Socceroos coach Graham Arnold is ‘so happy’ for the newly appointed Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou.

Ange Postecoglou is set to leave Celtic for Tottenham. Picture: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images

Socceroos coach Graham Arnold has tipped football “obsessed” Ange Postecoglou to again “prove the doubters wrong” by achieving success with English Premier League club Tottenham.

After winning five trophies in just two seasons with Scottish giants Celtic, Postecoglou has joined Spurs on a four-year deal.

Not for the first time in his successful career, Postecoglou is facing some fan backlash at a new club, with some Spurs supporters criticising his appointment despite his achievements in club football in Scotland, Japan and Australia, as well as his effort to guide the Socceroos to Asian Cup glory in 2015.

Arnold, who lost an A-League grand final to Postecoglou in 2011 when Brisbane Roar prevailed in a penalty shootout over the Central Coast Mariners, said Tottenham would be a “great job” for the departing Hoops manager.

Ange Postecoglou (left) and Graham Arnold share a laugh during their time as coaches in the A-League. Picture: Gregg Porteous

“I think he’ll kill it (in the Premier League),” Arnold said on Tuesday.

“He is just totally obsessed with the game. It is his life.

“(I) always knew that he had that mentality of where he wanted to go – that was to the top.

“He had a few setbacks but that is coaching. You learn from those types of setbacks and Ange has always been someone that has always (been) so determined to prove the doubters wrong.

“That, in a lot ways, is his motivation. I’m just so happy for him.”

Arnold said working in a salary-cap restricted with the Roar and Melbourne Victory had made Postecoglou a better coach.

“We’ve got a hard way for coaching in Australia,” he said.

“One of Ange’s hugest strengths is recruitment and his attention to detail in the players that he gets for his way, the system and the way he wants to play.

“Because we’re coaching with a salary-capped system, we’ve had to do a lot more work, a lot harder work and focus on the tactical side more than ever.

“A lot of managers are managers, they’re not coaches as well. Ange has the dual role of being a coach as well as a manager.

“On the tactical side of things, he’s not relying on other people to tell him what to do because he’s got that nous. On the managerial side, he knows man management, he knows how to get the best out of people and motivate people.

“Sometimes a lot of managers leave the coaching to someone else to do and they’re playing the way of that other coach.

“With Ange, it is his way. It is fantastic.”