Postecoglou inherited a team built by four managers in four years as the club struggled for stability following Pochettino’s sacking in 2019.

Harry Kane’s contract was running down and the striker was expected to leave, eventually joining Bayern Munich in a deal worth up to £100m.

No alternative was signed and his deputy Richarlison suffered an injury hit season.

Despite the signing of Dominic Solanke for £65m this summer, Spurs have been significantly outspent by rivals such as Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City on transfers over a 10-year period, according to a recent CIES Football Observatory report.

BBC Radio 5 Live pundit Chris Sutton – who admired Postecoglou’s work at his former club Celtic – said: “Postecoglou has been in for just over a season – so to think he took them from eighth to fifth is an improvement, while selling Harry Kane.

“We are [only] four games in and some of the nonsense I have heard after the game has been ridiculous.”

Postecoglou is focused on what he believes is right – whether it is popular with sections of the supporters or not.

His direct and open communication is refreshing but his single-minded belief frustrates some supporters, who wonder if he lacks the ability to change when his ideas are not working.

Yet, there has to be some appreciation that Postecoglou is a manager making decisions that are designed to be of long-term benefit, including making eight changes in the Carabao Cup to give minutes to the wider squad and young players despite risking defeat at Coventry.

British number two Emma Raducanu retired from her Korea Open quarter-final against Daria Kasatkina with a foot injury.

Raducanu struggled with the issue in the previous round against Yue Yuan and continued to look uncomfortable in the opening exchanges against the Russian top seed.

The 21-year-old needed a medical time out after the fifth game and decided she could not continue after losing the opening set 6-1.

Kasatkina will play compatriot Diana Shnaider or Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in the semi-finals, which will take place later on Saturday after rain postponed play on Friday.

Roma have sacked manager Daniele de Rossi just four matches into the new Serie A season.

Roma, who hired De Rossi to replace Jose Mourinho at the Stadio Olimpico in January, have been unable to win any of their Serie A matches this season, drawing three and losing at home to Empoli last month.

Roma are currently 16th in the Serie A standings following their 1-1 draw at Genoa on Sunday.

A club statement read: “The club’s decision is taken in the interest of the team, to be able to promptly resume the desired path at a time when the season is still at its beginning.

“To Daniele, who will always be at home in the Giallorossi club, a heartfelt thanks for the work carried out in these months with passion and dedication.”

De Rossi’s tenure at Roma started superbly. In his first 11 league matches, Roma lost just once, picking up 26 points from a possible 33. That run took Roma from ninth to fifth in the table.

They also reached the semi-finals of the Europa League, being knocked out by Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen.

A sixth-place finish last season saw them qualify again for this season’s Europa League. Among Roma’s fixtures in Europe this season are a trip to Tottenham on 28 November.

This summer, Roma signed last season’s La Liga top goalscorer Artem Dovbyk from Girona, as well as experienced German centre-back Mats Hummels on a free transfer.

There have been a number of exits. Former Manchester United centre-back Chris Smalling left for Saudi Pro League side Al-Fayha, former Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham has joined AC Milan on loan and Romelu Lukau, who spent last season on loan from Chelsea with Roma, has joined Napoli.

Andrea Belotti (Como), Rui Patricio (Atalanta) and Leonardo Spinazzola (Napoli) have also departed in recent months.

As a player, De Rossi, who is now 41, spent 22 years with Roma between 1997 and 2019, making 616 appearances for them. He was also part of Italy’s 2006 World Cup-winning side.

The Friedkin Group, whose proposed takeover of Everton collapsed in July, own a 95.97% stake in the club.

Just 215 miles apart, New York and Boston are home to two of the most successful sides in Major League Baseball.

The Yankees have won the sport’s top prize – the World Series – more times than any other franchise (27), while the Red Sox are the third most decorated team with nine championships.

The two teams first played one another in 1903 but the rivalry gained serious traction when baseball’s greatest-ever player, Babe Ruth, was controversially sold to the Yankees by the Red Sox in 1919.

The Red Sox, who had won three World Series titles with Ruth in the side, had to then watch the New York side dominate the sport for most of the 20th century.

The era popularised the ‘Curse of the Bambino’ – a reference to Ruth’s nickname and a superstition Red Sox fans would carry until they finally won the World Series again in 2004, ending an 86-year wait.

Their most recent championship was 2018, while the Yankees have not won one since 2009.

By now, comparisons were being made with Paolo Rossi, the inspiration when Italy won the 1982 World Cup.

“Rossi was a champion,” Schillaci said ahead of a semi-final against Argentina that his side were expected to win. “I am an ordinary, modest guy. I just hope I can continue to do what I have been doing.”

He did, opening the scoring with another poacher’s effort, but this time it was not enough. Italy passed England’s record of 499 minutes without conceding at a finals before their goal was breached in the second half – and the fairy tale was finished when they went out on penalties.

Every national newspaper in Italy used the headline ‘End of a dream’ while Gazzetta and Corriere dello Sport simply put ‘NO’ in huge letters on their front pages.

“We deserved to win,” reflected Schillaci. “I think if we had beaten Argentina we would have gone on to win the World Cup.”

That was not quite the end of the Schillaci story, however. The day before West Germany beat Argentina in the final, he grabbed his sixth goal of the tournament in the third-place play-off against England, putting him ahead of Czech Tomas Skuhravy as the tournament’s leading goalscorer.

“After the tournament, I went away to somewhere quiet,” Schillaci says. “Everybody wanted a piece of me but I just wanted to get away from it all, especially after the pain of our semi-final defeat.”

The next time he made the headlines, it would be for a less savoury reason. The following November, he was banned for one game for threatening to have Fabio Poll shot after the Bologna player punched him during an on-pitch row.

By then, the goals were drying up too. He scored only five in the league in the 1990-91 season and six the following campaign. An injury-plagued move to Inter Milan in 1992 failed to revive him and he ended his career in exile – albeit a lucrative one – as the first Italian to play in Japan’s fledgling J-League.

While he was still in Serie A and struggling to regain his World Cup form, Schillaci said: “Even if I were to drop out of the Italian team, I will still have with me for the rest of my life the wonderful memories of Italia ’90.”

He still had them after returning to his home city to run the youth academy he used to play for.

What was clear from talking to Schillaci was that, while he enjoyed reliving past glories when he was asked to play in exhibition matches, he was also happy his fame did not change him too much.