Manager Watch: Ange Postecoglou

[Tucker]

We have a right as fans to expect more than the set piece defensive shambles and weak goalkeeping we’ve seen over and over again since City.

Ange has consistently not addressed this fatal flaw in our play.

The rest of the game, and his work as a coach, is rendered inconsequential by this.

You should write to your MP.

 

[spurs-r-us]

We’re playing like his teams do. Not sure what giving him time is going to achieve exactly. This is what it is.

We’ll stuff some teams and equally get stuffed on a fairly regular basis.

Sorry, but this is purposefully obtuse at absolute best. Time = signing his players to suit his system, and more time to coach them.

 

[spurs mental]

Dude there was almost a full page of people saying he isn‘t good enough directly before my post. People knee jerking and wanting him gone.

I don’t agree that we’ve shown no improvement over the course of the year. We were outstanding until the Chelsea game, and since then our season has been majorly disrupted by injuries, suspensions, international tournaments and weird lengthy gaps between bursts of three games a week.

Key players like Son, Bissouma, Sarr, and Maddison all look fucked right now, which is understandable given the disruptions and injuries and the amount of games they’ve all played.

There’s tonnes of work to be done, but we are on the right track.

The right track, yes, but the reluctance to change or make adjustments for the good of results is grating.

We really should have gotten more out of today if we were organised at set pieces. We had 2 weeks off to plan for their corners and they scored from 2 of them. That tells me did little or nothing to plan or prepare for it.

Sure, some players are out of form, but he is still picking them too. When he has other options who have shown far more.

We need more depth in the squad and time to build but the stubborness to change is what people called Jose and Conte out for.

 

[qqq1]

It's been obvious that we were missing Richarlison when he was injured. We looked much better with an actual striker. If Son starts the next match up front Ange will have shown he's learnt nothing.

 

[THFC_SWE]

People are on his back now. This is our problem as a fanbase, we’ve no patience. We need to give him time to build the team the way he wants it.

I have no patience when it comes to incompetence. Ange and his coaching staff shows a lot of it. We had two weeks to work on set pieces. And they give us this? He does nothing about the opponents backing into Vic. Put someone between Vic and White, so Vic can push his own player on White and create space for himself. Even a sunday league coach know this. But apparently our top tier manager doesn’t.

 

[fuzzylogic]

Play sonny on the left, Richy through the middle and Brennan on the right with either gio or kulu sitting in behind. Team selection was woeful today, got it totally wrong to start

 

[arunspurs]

I am 100% convinced Ange wont win us the league or cups. He will win enough to be in Europe or even CL. He will win enough of those big games but when it matters to be pragmatic & tactically switched on, I dont think his sides can do it.

Defenses win trophies. Theres absolutely no way, we do anything serious with a coach who is not preparing the team tactically or addressing teams failings like set pieces.

 

[ginola99]

The 2 goals mask what was a poor performance defensively(from set pieces again) and Arsenal were largely comfortable for the most part.

We were still getting played through too easily all game and defensive set pieces give me anxiety.

Fix up in the last 5 games or it's time to assess where we are with him.

I feel sick right now after today but can't agree with your post.

This is a project, one that has taken a bad wobble after Fulham (A), Newcastle (A) and the first half today admittedly but I'm not gonna start thinking about if and when we get rid of the manager.

Ange looked fuming the whole time, it wasn't what he quite wants in a performance and nor was it pretty like some of the other no shows we've had.

I was confident of UCL football this season but whilst disappointed that is slipping away and fast, all that matters is how we develop as a club.

Like any project, you have suffer set backs before you get there.

 

[13VanDerBale13]

Too stubborn for his own good, suspect he’ll quiet talk of needing a set piece coach.

 

[ljinko888]

We've blown Top 4 and the 5th spot is irrelevant now. I expected the season to pan out in reverse where we may have suffered some brutal days early on but by now be in better sync to close the season well.

Ange has one big obvious problem to solve. Set pieces. It doesn't matter how pretty his attacking system is if all the opposition has to do to score a goal is win a corner.

Along with that we need to keep clean sheets. Individually our defenders are very good. Collectively I would say they play well for the most part. Vicario is an excellent shot stopper. So how the hell are we conceding every match? Lack of focus early in games? We turn 1-0 deficits around against lower teams but how about stop going down a goal so often.

In attack we need more variety in our play. We generally score the same kind of goal over and over which is little intricate passes around the sides of the box and a cut back. Those are elegant to watch and a sign of good coaching for that move to happen a lot but when teams dig in and give no space we struggle to create other chances.

 

[Wadec]

I'll be honest I've never been fully on the Ange train. I really like the man but have always had my doubts on if he can stack up at such a higher level. The PL is a world away from his previous leagues.

I love his attitude around things but we've really struggled since the Chelsea game. After the Chelsea defeat he said we will always try even if the odds are against us. When I look at a lot of our performances since then I feel we lack courage, too many players taking the easy option. Whilst I fully agree he needs players and more depth we have had plenty of time on the training ground this season and have got worse as the season progresses.

I really do worry for him with the end to the season we have. We need to at least show something, we are too passive and lack conviction. The performances are just as crucial as the results for me and like many said under Jose and Conte they wanted good performances and to play good football. Simply put other than the start of the season we haven't played good football. Injuries and internationals have definitely not helped but we need to see more IMO. Too many preventable mistakes and a lack of positive attacking football are really highlighting some concerns that were raised against Ange before he got the job.

I hope it works out as I really like the man, if he can tweak his tactical approach in certain situations and make tough decisions and drop players way off form, appoint specialist coaches then he will have a much better platform but he needs to accept he needs change and not just keep repeating the same mistakes with hope it will get better.

 

[TOLBINY]

We've blown Top 4 and the 5th spot is irrelevant now. I expected the season to pan out in reverse where we may have suffered some brutal days early on but by now be in better sync to close the season well.

Ange has one big obvious problem to solve. Set pieces. It doesn't matter how pretty his attacking system is if all the opposition has to do to score a goal is win a corner.

Along with that we need to keep clean sheets. Individually our defenders are very good. Collectively I would say they play well for the most part. Vicario is an excellent shot stopper. So how the hell are we conceding every match? Lack of focus early in games? We turn 1-0 deficits around against lower teams but how about stop going down a goal so often.

In attack we need more variety in our play. We generally score the same kind of goal over and over which is little intricate passes around the sides of the box and a cut back. Those are elegant to watch and a sign of good coaching for that move to happen a lot but when teams dig in and give no space we struggle to create other chances.

The attacking system is pretty box to box - but then it dies a death more often than not.

 

[cliff jones]

A bit of post defeat hyperbole. We were comfortably the better team in the 1st half, created chances and generally had them in the back foot. 2nd half was going nowhere till Raya's mistake then we were on top again.
All today really showed to me is that he has us on the right tracks but needs some players in key positions in during the summer., with the Hojbjerg one being key to stop teams getting at us so easily

Why haven’t you mentioned the set piece defending- don’t you think it was decisive?

We could have scored four in the first half, the narrative they were much better than us was wrong. We missed by inches apart from Son who missed a gilt edged chance by a mile

 

[spurs mental]

I feel sick right now after today but can't agree with your post.

This is a project, one that has taken a bad wobble after Fulham (A), Newcastle (A) and the first half today admittedly but I'm not gonna start thinking about if and when we get rid of the manager.

Ange looked fuming the whole time, it wasn't what he quite wants in a performance and nor was it pretty like some of the other no shows we've had.

I was confident of UCL football this season but whilst disappointed that is slipping away and fast, all that matters is how we develop as a club.

Like any project, you have suffer set backs before you get there.

But the set backs v Newcastle and Fulham and then the first half today show that he's not willing to adjust or not able to learn from what we're doing wrong, would you not agree?

Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of madness.

Yes, it's a project and we have a lot of work to do, but we had a huge opportunity to finish in the top 4 with a little bit more tactfulness and playing with a bit more sensibility. And picking players on form rather than name. Maddison, Son have both been dreadful for weeks.

It's nice to watch us dominate the ball, but currently we lack that creative spark we had with Maddison earlier in the season, yet he keeps picking him over Gio who has shown more in fleeting performances. Strange he keeps picking players that are out of form at the business end of the season. Some decisions have been strange.

It's fine to be patient but there needs to be some sort of signs that he can adapt and change.

 

[yojambo]

I hope we stick with him. Might as well go all in for the next few years, get who he wants, commit to his vision etc. What's the alternative? I don't want to go back to Mourinho or Conte ball, especially without Kane.

Having said that, I think the end of this season could get ugly.

 

[spurs mental]

You're fucking damn right you did.

 

[mil1lion]

A set piece coach wont be enough alone. We need stronger players in the air as well. This is the issue when you have a front 3 where none a strong in the air. We miss Kane in the box and the next best bet is Richarlison but he was on the bench. Same for defensive midfield, if we had a physical presence in there to put out fires and strong defending set pieces those 2 pieces of the puzzle make a big difference. I hope sees the need for physical players , even Pep saw that and he has the best technical players to play along the ground.

The biggest difference between us and arsenal now is that they are the physical team now. When we played them 2 seasons ago we bullied them. The football along the ground under Ange is great but this league needs physicality as well. We lost Perisic through injury which was a blow but also lost Kane and didn't sign another centre forward. We need some more physical players in the summer, a 6 and a 9.

 

[RuskyM]

Would be genuinely curious to hear some reasons why he hasn't changed the set piece problem, because the only reasons I can think of is a) it's easier to not do something than to do something and b) he's scared of Jedinak.

 

[RuskyM]

You're fucking damn right you did.

Come on, there's no need for this. He's agreeing with you.

 

[cliff jones]

You should write to your MP.

Hilarious. Straight after a derby defeat at home. Means a bit more to me. See ya.