Ange Postecoglou is certainly not finding the Premier League very easy to manage in. His team Tottenham Hotspur has suffered seven defeats in the league already in 15 matches so far this season. For all their adventure and enterprise, Postecoglou’s men have often only managed to disappoint their supporters of their team.
Throwing away a 2-0 lead against Chelsea is the latest dubious feat the Spurs have managed this season. It has become a regular practice for them of late to concede advantageous positions to lose matches. Unless their manager does something about it, it should be very difficult for him to retain his position.
Tottenham Hotspur cannot afford to be careless in the name of entertaining:
If a team as efficient and as machine-like as Manchester City can be nullified to a great extent by playing negative football, then Tottenham simply cannot afford to continue in the same gear irrespective of the situation. The Premier League is the most competitive league in world football arguably and hence, it does not take teams much time to find out each other’s weaknesses.
Tottenham’s high-energy game is really good to watch, with their offensive players exchanging passes at will at times. However, their defensive players do not make things difficult for their opposition most of the times. They do not usually defend in numbers or slow the tempo of the game down most of the times even after taking an early lead in a match. Their refusal to adopt a pragmatic approach is quite surprising therefore.
Among their offensive players, only Dejan Kulusevksi and Brennan Johnson have been displaying very good form this season. Tottenham will have to understand that they cannot outscore every team by virtue of the performance of a couple of players only.
Ange Postecoglou seems to be adamant on preaching the idea of playing positive football all the time, but there is a difference between being positive and being absolutely carefree. When a team is leading by a comfortable margin in a football match, the goal for them should be to ensure three points even if that means cutting down on their aggression.
Postecoglou has made it a point to play with a couple of defensive midfielders in Pape Matar Sarr and Yves Bissouma in their team. However, Tottenham’s reluctance to fall back and defend as team is hurting their cause. The way they allowed a dangerous Cole Palmer a lot of space against Chelsea was naive at its best.
Recently, Romero came to Ange’s defence in an interview with Telemundo:
“He’s a great coach. We saw it in the first season. In this second one we’ve suffered a lot of injuries. Players are the first one to be criticised, then if we lose 10 games, the staff can be changed, but nobody talks about what is actually happening. We are very happy with this staff, me and my colleagues. We love how they work and the football they try to play. We’ll try to move on quickly.”
Tottenham has four crucial matches left in December:
Tottenham will play in four more matches this month itself in the Premier League. They will face Southampton, Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Wolverhampton Wanderers during the remainder of the current month.
Only Southampton can be termed as a somewhat easier opposition among Tottenham’s remaining fixtures in December. Both Liverpool and Nottingham Forest are above them in the league table and should start favorites in their matches with them.
It remains to be seen whether Tottenham adopts a more cautious approach against Liverpool. Even aiming for a draw against the Reds will not be a bad idea for them at this moment. However, Postecoglou’s men will have to change their approach for that and be more defensive in their mindset.