Ange Postecoglou says the ‘fog is lifting’ over Tottenham

No sooner had Ange Postecoglou claimed the ‘fog is lifting’ on his Tottenham rebuilding project than the heavens opened and another vital opportunity to assess his players vanished.

Spurs should have played Leicester in Bangkok on Sunday but the friendly was washed out by a torrential downpour which started an hour before kick-off and refused to relent at the Rajamangala National Stadium.

The two teams warmed up before returning to the dressing rooms where they waited for in the hope conditions might improve but, with large areas of standing water on the surface and no sign of an end to the rainstorm, there was little option but to call the game off, 40 minutes after what should have been kick off time.

For Postecoglou, who brought a large squad of 31 players to cast his eye over, it is a second setback to his pre-season plans after Roma pulled out of a friendly in Singapore on Wednesday. Jose Mourinho‘s team abandoned their summer tour and stayed in Italy claiming they had not been paid money owed up front for a game in South Korea.

Tottenham were Roma’s collateral damage, hastily arranging a replacement fixture against local team Lion City Sailors, an exercise that may have some value but the new Spurs boss will return home from a tour covering nearly 20,000 miles with only one preparation game against elite opposition to show for it.

New Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou says that the fog is lifting over the club

‘I’m still in that stage where I haven’t got a full picture of everything I need to have real clarity about what we need to do but in the 12/13 days I’ve been at the club, the fog is lifting,’ said Postecoglou after losing 3-2 to West Ham in Perth, Australia.

‘I can see more of what needs to be done. The West Ham game revealed some things that you can’t see unless you play that first game. That’s the main thing for me. I’m really alert at the moment about everything.’

The second game did not happen but that is the risk associated with organising a fixture at the start of Thailand’s monsoon season. The rain comes down most heavily at the start of the season.

Tottenham flew into Bangkok in a fierce tropical storm on Friday and trained in a downpour on Saturday, before which Postecoglou found himself ambushed by a German reporter brandishing a Bayern Munich shirt, printed with ‘Kane 9’ on the back.

Harry Kane and co did not get the chance to play as the weather cancelled their friendly 

He will not reflect fondly on this leg of the tour, the sort of twist all coaches must dread as they travel around the world in pre-season. Before facing Spurs in Perth, West Ham boss David Moyes was asked whether a journey to the other side of the world was a good way to prepare.

‘No it’s not, that’s honestly,’ replied Moyes before making it clear he was thrilled to be there and valued the chance to travel the world thanks to his role in football. ‘If you want to talk solely about the football, it’s not the best preparation, it wouldn’t be.

‘But the Premier League is so popular in this part of the world. Everybody wants the chance to get up close with the players, so it’s part of your role as a club to put yourself round and show yourself whether it’s this part of the world of America.

‘It’s important because the Premier League is viewed everywhere now, it’s so big.’

West Ham are back in London. Tottenham’s next stop is in Singapore before they return to Europe for friendlies against Shakhtar Donetsk at home, and Barcelona in Spain.

The Premier League campaign starts in less than three weeks. Vital preparation time is being lost and Postecoglou knows broader judgments on his work are unlikely to take any of this into account.