In spite of its entertaining and captivating brand of football, Tottenham Hotspur’s refusal to alter its style of play is hurting its cause. Ange Postecoglou’s men threw away a 2-0 lead against Brighton & Hove Albion to capitulate in the end and lose the match 3-2.
Tottenham took what seemed to be a decisive lead in the first half itself only to allow the home side to come back into the match and collect all three points. The Spurs have 10 points from seven matches and are in the ninth position in the league table despite enthralling the spectators with their aggressive style of play.
Tottenham Hotspur Used Substitutes Too Late
After having taken a 2-0 lead, Tottenham should have tried to close the game out. It should have thrown in another defensive midfielder to partner Rodrigo Bentancur by taking either Dejan Kulusevski or James Maddison off. His team thus should have switched to a 4-2-3-1 from its starting formation of 4-3-3.
However, Postecoglou did not do that until the 79th minute, when he introduced Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr. By that time, Brighton had scored three goals to go 3-2 up. They managed to hold on to the lead till the end to get their victory.
Postecoglou’s refusal to alter his team’s strategy even when the situation demanded so, has hurt his team in the past, too. He will have to understand that his team is not Manchester City, which can afford to keep playing aggressively against any team throughout the entire length of the match, given the resources available to it.
Thus, he should adopt a pragmatic approach in order to reap maximum benefits for his team. Otherwise, Tottenham will find it really difficult to ensure a place in the top four by the end of the season.
Tottenham Will Need to Improve in Upcoming Matches
The Spurs will face West Ham United and Crystal Palace in their next two matches in the Premier League. They should aim at collecting six points from those two matches. They also have a UEFA Europa League clash against AZ Alkmaar in between, which is also quite important for them.
Tottenham will then take on Manchester City at EFL Cup on October 30. It simply cannot afford to go gung-ho against a side of Manchester City’s calibre, as it should be found out again that way.
Postecoglou has a good track-record and has won multiple titles as a manager in Australia and Scotland. However, football in England is a different beast altogether. It is way more competitive and requires the manager to be a lot more flexible and practical in his approach.
Hence, the 59-year-old manager might have to rethink his strategy pretty soon. If, however, he decides to stick by it, Tottenham runs the risk of wasting more such points. The race for the top-four seems to be a pretty stiff one and hence, any further slip-up will hamper their chances. It remains to be seen whether Postecoglou has already learnt his lesson.