Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou is excited to renew acquaintances with Ipswich midfielder Massimo Luongo on Sunday.
Postecoglou handed Luongo his international debut during his four years as Australia manager and the pair combined to help lead the nation to a historic Asian Cup success in 2015.
It resulted in Luongo being nominated for the Ballon d’Or, but he is not the only Socceroos player in the Ipswich set-up with defender Cameron Burgess also involved for the promoted club.
Ange Postecoglou comes up against the monster he created in 2015 😎
It’s an all-Australian fixture as Massimo Luongo and Cam Burgess face Spurs.
Tottenham v Ipswich Town LIVE on Optus Sport this Monday from 12:50AM AEDT 📲 pic.twitter.com/lmF29e8MrB
— Optus Sport (@OptusSport) November 7, 2024
While Postecoglou had left the national team role by the time Burgess debuted for Australia, he hopes more can follow in the footsteps of the duo by playing in the Premier League like Mark Schwarzer, Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka.
“It will be good to catch up with Mass,” Postecoglou said.
“We really loved coaching him. I remember one of my first scouting trips when I was Socceroos national team boss was to watch Swindon Town play in League One against someone because he was playing. Yeah, I wasn’t going to the Bernabeu or the Nou Camp to watch the Aussies play!
“I remember Tim Sherwood actually was in the directors box where I was and they spoke really highly of Mass from his time here at Spurs, the kind of player he was, the kind of person he was.
“We hit a sweet spot both me and him in that Asian Cup where he was player of the tournament. He was outstanding.
“It’s taken us 10 years to get to the Premier League both of us, we probably both thought we’d get here a bit quicker than we did, but great player.
“Like I said, shared a real special time with him, really loved coaching him and looking forward to catching up with him.
“Cameron, I didn’t have a lot to do with but I was following. Again he was breaking through when I was national team boss and great to have a couple of Aussies in the Premier League. Hopefully more to come.”
Plenty of Spurs players will depart for international duty after the visit of Ipswich, but James Maddison will remain at Hotspur Way after again being overlooked by England interim head coach Lee Carsley.
It is hardly a surprise given Maddison has struggled for form since the previous international break in October.
While the former Leicester playmaker scored a free-kick against Aston Villa last Sunday, he was only introduced in the 82nd minute and was below-par on Thursday night in the 3-2 loss at Galatasaray.
After Maddison was also an unused substitute against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup last month, Postecoglou admitted the 27-year-old must provide more “evidence” he deserves an England recall.
Postecoglou added: “I don’t think you pick national teams on the back of a free-kick to be fair, I think you need more than that. That’s the first thing.
“Secondly, we’ve all these things, I’ve always said team selection, squad selection, it is more in the players’ hands than the managers’.
“When I select a team at the weekend or when the England manager selects his squad, he is doing it on the back of the evidence he has before him.
“If you miss out, you need to say, ‘well I need to give him more compelling evidence to get back in there’.
“I have never come across a manager who doesn’t select what he thinks is the best team for what he wants and the purpose of his brief.
“Whether it is Madders or anyone else, they need to keep putting up the evidence that means they get selected for the next national team.”
