For Tottenham, so often criticised for being weak defensively, this was the sort of performance Postecoglou would have gained a great deal of satisfaction from as he continues to battle a lengthy injury list that saw him without nine key players.
Tottenham had only picked up one point from seven league matches before this trip to the Gtech Community Stadium and were in danger of losing five successive top-flight games for the first time since 2004.
Spurs took a fortunate lead when Son Heung-min’s superb inswinging corner bounced off the back of Brentford’s Vitaly Janelt and into his own net, before the hosts piled on the pressure in the second half.
But Pape Matar Sarr sealed the win late on, running on to Son’s through ball and flicking it into the net.
Former Tottenham defender Stephen Kelly, speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, described it as “a huge win”.
“Brentford will be bitterly disappointed with the amount of possession they had, final third entries, and they didn’t make it count,” he said.
“But Tottenham have been resilient, shown they can defend, not been gung-ho and not leaving themselves open. This is exactly what Ange Postecoglou needs and it eases a little bit of pressure on them.”
Brentford boss Thomas Frank had praise for Tottenham’s defensive performance, too. “The way they defended their box was some of the best I’ve seen all season,” he said. “They were very clever and very good.”