The countdown begins here for Ange Postecoglou: the next six games are crucial for the Australian as he attempts to lead Tottenham to Champions League qualification in his first campaign at the club.

No team in English professional football has played fewer games than Tottenham this season and with only a dozen Premier League matches in almost four months, things have been particularly tedious since the turn of the year.

Now it all culminates in a run of six games in three weeks, starting with Sunday’s derby against Arsenal, and a reckoning of sorts to determine how Ange Postecoglou’s first year will go down in history.

No trophies. Nothing new there. More flair, big tick from the faithful. But can they qualify for the Champions League? Will they slip away in the Europa League? Or worse? And what satisfaction can they get if they manage to sabotage Arsenal’s title bid?

This is certainly not Postecoglou’s style. “I want to win and I understand the importance of winning against your traditional rival,” the Spurs boss said. “I’m from Glasgow, I have a good idea of ​​what derbies mean to supporters, but I never believe your motivation should revolve around someone else’s passing.

“Your motivation should be about yourself. I want to win because I want us to achieve something. I want us to progress. I want us to be able to fight for the title. That’s what motivates me, not the disappearance.

Tottenham have played the fewest games of any team in English football’s top four leagues this season.

How Ange Postecoglou’s first campaign at the club will be judged will be determined over the next three weeks

“If that’s your kind of thing, always looking over the back fence to see what your neighbor is building, you might both have the worst houses on the street.”

Tottenham are fifth with the same points (60) and only five goals fewer (65) than last season as a whole when they were eighth. “I would be disappointed,” Postecoglou said when asked if he would have been happy with this result at the start of the season.

“At the start of the year, I wouldn’t have been satisfied with fifth place. I would have tried to win everything.

“Where we are is an accurate reflection of our season. We were pretty good, but inconsistent. We’ve had some difficulties, and I don’t think anyone would say we’re in a false position. We have won where we are from both a good and a bad point of view.

They got off to a torrid start, winning with cavalier swagger. And that was important. Postecoglou has injected fun into a club where it was lacking under his immediate predecessors.

However, fun versus trophies is a sliding scale. There will come a time when Spurs, with their glittering if distant past, will demand silverware.

For now, there is an air of contentment. The majority believe the last manager got them back on track, and much of that was due to the first 10 league games, where they picked up 26 points despite selling Harry Kane, the club’s top scorer, to the day before the opening match. in Brentford.

The former Celtic boss admitted his side have been plagued by inconsistency this season.

“You start a season and maybe the most important person at that club has just left,” Postecoglou said. “I made a real conscious effort to be like the old duck who looked really graceful above the water. And in case of panic, make sure it’s underwater, where no one can see, especially the players. The players never blinked. And it’s possible because you can see what Harry has done at Bayern, it’s incredible.

“He’s an important player who left and he hasn’t been mentioned as much as he would have if we hadn’t been successful. And if we hadn’t scored goals his name would have come up a lot more often.

“It’s a credit to the playing group and all these things we’ve been through will help us in the medium and long term because it kind of takes away all the excuses we have for next year. We don’t Let’s not lose another Harry Kane. Hopefully we’ll have fewer injuries.

Postecoglou promised to review his training program at the end of the season to see if anything could be changed to help him.

Defender Destiny Udogie is the latest casualty, having injured his thigh in training. Udogie has had surgery and should be fit for next season but will miss Euro 2024 with Italy.

Injuries to new recruits Mickey van de Ven and James Maddison put an abrupt end to this good start in November, they faltered with Son Heung-min, Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr absent on the international team and never found the same rhythm.

Injuries to several key players ended what was an excellent start to Spurs’ campaign.

“It looks like a really disrupted season,” Postecoglou said. “That’s where I think it’s the hardest to evaluate because there’s not really any work. It’s like I’m taking samples everywhere. But we have six games to get an idea of ​​where we are.

After Arsenal, comes a new London derby at Chelsea on Thursday, then a trip to Liverpool. A meeting with Manchester City is hidden between the matches against Burnley and Sheffield United.

“Six big ones,” Postecoglou said. “If you are at a big club and your ambition is to fight for honors, you have to be ready to embrace the big games. This is the reality. You cannot ignore it.