Spurs have issues with Ange Postecoglou's stubbornness
Today at 04:57 AM
Ange Postecoglou came to Tottenham Hotspur on the back of a dominant spell with Celtic in the Scottish Premier League – five trophies in two seasons, which included two league titles and an exciting brand of football that showed no fear to any team, any player, any formation or any occasion. High pressing starting with the number nine and the rest of the team following suit.
In his first 12 Premier League games Spurs only lost one game, the 4-1 loss to Chelsea at home with two red cards and some of the bravest defending we have seen in a long time. Nine men on the pitch and pushing everyone up to the half way line at every given chance was actually given a standing ovation at the end of a thumping by one of their greatest rivals. Ange infused a core of young, exciting players such as Pape Matar Sarr and Destiny Udogie with new signings James Maddison and Micky van de Ven and fans favourites Heung Min Son and Cristian Romero to create a team us Tottenham fans could really get behind.
For the first time since Pochettino Tottenham were playing exciting, attack minded football. Funny enough Spurs fans would’ve preferred that over the last few seasons then Mourinho and Conte dragging the soul out of the club.
Ange’s inverted fullbacks had many people suggesting he was copying Pep but he has his own play that adopts a 3-3-5 formation from the build up. Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario acts as a centre back and the full backs come invert to play as two centre midfielders, allowing the wingers the space to get the ball to their feet quickly and two of the centre midfielders pushing up to aid the attack of the front three. Pedro Porro and Pedro Udogie proved to be two of Spurs’ greatest attacking assets with underlapping runs and a willingness to break down opposition defensive lines. With the creativity of James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, Brennan Johnson and Son, they blew away the opposition and were confident to play their game no matter the opposition.
Injuries to key players and a lack of real squad depth hurt them in the second half of the season and they severely dropped off, only four wins in their last ten games really hurt the Champions League push but a fifth place finish for Ange in his first season.
Coming in to his second season there was huge excitement that Spurs would push for Champions League. The signing of Dominic Solanke gave a huge boost to Spurs as a recognised Premier League striker that would add a clinical touch that was well needed beside the inconsistency of Richarlison. However, to start the season injury has already hit Solanke, as well as Yves Bissouma, Rodrigo Bentancur and Richarlison, not to mention that Spurs have been simply unable to create chances. Apart from tearing apart a poor Everton side, Spurs most creative players have been very poor. A header from Porro against Leicester City and an own goal against Newcastle United are the only goals they have created apart from that and to be honest, they haven’t had too many clear cut chances apart from the goals that they have scored.
It seems that the way Spurs broke teams down in the past season has not only become harder to start this campaign. There has been a lack of players bursting into the box, a lack of burst over and over that leaves defenders tired and breaks teams down. That’s the first problem, a reluctance to change tactics. It’s clear that teams have become wise to how Tottenham set up, how they play and how to beat them. From open play, Spurs are great on the ball, they keep it well and all players are confident under pressure, the problem is that when they lose it their full backs are so high up the pitch that it leaves them open for a counter attack, with Van de Ven and Romero having to do the clean up job. Even when set up, the fullbacks aren’t the greatest defenders in the world and lash out to try win the ball back first rather than sit in position and win it back through pure defensive solidity.
The second problem is Vicario. Plain and simple. As a shot stopping goalkeeper, he is right up there with the best in the league. He commands his defence extremely well, is quick off his line when he is called upon and it is clear he is a leader for the team. All of this is true, until it comes to a corner kick. It all comes tumbling down once a corner kick is awarded. Every team who plays Spurs knows exactly what to do from a corner kick, load up the six yard box, make the keeper panic and just make sure the ball in is a good one. You’ve a great chance of scoring if you can manage to do that. Vicario seems to lose the flight of the ball, panics and just flails his arms in any direction to try get something on the ball and send it somewhere.
The third problem is a combination of the two. Every team knows how to beat Spurs. Newcastle and Arsenal just showed us that. They are two teams with managers who love to keep the ball and break teams down in their own ways. However, playing Spurs, they sacrificed they’re playing styles to sit behind the ball, be hard to break down and score from switching off at the back, a quick break away (Newcastle) and a header from a corner (Arsenal) and they won. If two of the best attacking teams in the league can accept to play like that, Spurs can expect most teams to do the exact same and will see a lot of the same.
Postecoglou and Spurs have some serious issues, unfortunately it’s all over the pitch. A shaky defence plus underperforming forwards is not a formula that equals Champions League qualification. Maybe it is time for Ange to suck up is pride and start making some changes to how he plays, how his team defends and how he can protect his goalkeeper. Maybe some things do change after twp losses in the first four games of the season, if not, Ange could be looking at the hot seat. Mate.
