Manager Watch: Ange Postecoglou

[Led's Zeppelin]

I have a gut feeling that we'll be looking to move him on in the summer.

Some close to the club have suggested that he's not fully recovered from his malaria. Maybe just needs more time? Yet another tricky one, but balancing the squad whilst improving the "1st team" isn't an easy job because there are relatively few obvious out-and-out weaknesses.

 

[luRRka]

I have a gut feeling that we'll be looking to move him on in the summer.

I wouldnt look to get rid. But I would look to upgrade so he has/can provide competition

 

[Mr Pink]

Some close to the club have suggested that he's not fully recovered from his malaria. Maybe just needs more time? Yet another tricky one, but balancing the squad whilst improving the "1st team" isn't an easy job because there are relatively few obvious out-and-out weaknesses.

If thats the case he shouldnt really be starting.

Strange to keep starting him, if he s not fully recovrered, not performing great and the other options we have availible

 

[Timbo Tottenham]

Some close to the club have suggested that he's not fully recovered from his malaria. Maybe just needs more time? Yet another tricky one, but balancing the squad whilst improving the "1st team" isn't an easy job because there are relatively few obvious out-and-out weaknesses.

Have they?

 

[Led's Zeppelin]

Have they?

Yes

 

[Timbo Tottenham]

Yes

Who? Where? When?

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

I have a gut feeling that we'll be looking to move him on in the summer.

I'd really be suprised by that, we have a good 5-6 other positions which are far more pressing and Biss when on form is a class act as he showed in the opening 11 games of the season.

If we can upgrade on him it would need to be to a Rice/Rodri level of DM or just below that and if we want to do that then that level of budget should be going towards attacking players not a DM imo, pretty sure Ange will be thinking the same but we shall see, could be a few surprise outs this summer but I'd be shocked if Biss were to leave tbh, really don't think Ange would want him to.

 

[rossdapep]

An interesting aspect for those who want Ange to play a Plan B.

In Dier's interview he said when he came up against a Conte team that he knew exactly how Conte would play and exactly what the wing backs would do.

But knowing and stopping are two different aspects.

We have to persist with Ange's football because at some point we will get very good at it and opposition will just struggle to deal with us.

Kinda reminds me of when, under Poch, we played Pulis' West Brom.

We had always struggled against Pulis's teams, especially at home, yet we smashed them that day as they just couldn;t deal with how quick and intense we were.

 

[SirHarryHotspur]

Ange's style of football this season has certainly changed our goal scoring by spreading goal scoring responsibility throughout the squad and not just relying on a couple of players. Last season Harry scored around 44% of our goals, so far this season our top scorer Sonny has around 25% , a lot of the squad chipping in just like yesterday.

I see that Ange is clearly following my post from yesterday.

Ange on the importance of goals being shared around the team: “It’s essential” | Tottenham Hotspur

Ange Postecoglou referenced how important it is for the team to have ‘multiple avenues’ in front of goal after defenders Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro found the target in our 3-1 win against Forest on Sunday.

www.tottenhamhotspur.com

 

[Trees]

An interesting aspect for those who want Ange to play a Plan B.

In Dier's interview he said when he came up against a Conte team that he knew exactly how Conte would play and exactly what the wing backs would do.

But knowing and stopping are two different aspects.

We have to persist with Ange's football because at some point we will get very good at it and opposition will just struggle to deal with us.

Kinda reminds me of when, under Poch, we played Pulis' West Brom.

We had always struggled against Pulis's teams, especially at home, yet we smashed them that day as they just couldn;t deal with how quick and intense we were.

I’ve been watching Spurs all of my 47 years and that performance v West Brom in 2017 was as good as anything I’ve seen in my adult life.

 

[mil1lion]

I do think intensity is the key. We had people moaning at half time Sunday that we were too predictable. Second half we bossed them largely just by increasing the urgency. It's not that plan a doesn't work it's that we start slow tempo. Next season we need to work on the conditioning of the team and the depth. That way we can start faster again and get in front more. Then make changes 2nd half when players start to slow down. Any style of play is going to suffer if done at a walking pace.

 

[spursville]

Could someone with more coaching experience than me explain the 'revelation' by Dier that Conte did 10 vs 0 'walk throughs' in training but Ange doesn't. I would have thought that was an important part of 'tactical' training.

 

[npearl4spurs]

First 5 minutes of his presser were worthless and useless questions all on topics he's already addressed multiple times even very recently. First good question comes from Jack Pitt-Brooke if anyone watches it back

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Could someone with more coaching experience than me explain the 'revelation' by Dier that Conte did 10 vs 0 'walk throughs' in training but Ange doesn't. I would have thought that was an important part of 'tactical' training.

Great Q and completely see why you'd think this but as the saying goes 'there are many ways to skin a cat' so Dier is talking about tactical shape training as an entire team e.g. all shuffling to one side, if and when to press, if and when to make certain runs etc, this is certainly one way of coaching and is especially favoured by Italian coaches and more defensive rigid style coaches such as Conte, Jose etc. It can be effective as we've seen with Conte's teams in the past and as Dier said "you know what Conte teams are going to do but sometimes you can't stop it" but its robotic nature and predictability can also be its downfall, it can also be demotivating to be coached like this with such a lack of freedom, especially for the attacking creative players.

What I believe Ange does which Dier was referring to is to segment out mini drills which are representative of a match situation but likely not as 10 vs 0, this could be in the form of 5 vs 5 or attack vs defence type drills or attacking or defensive movements but not as an entire team, this still results in the same outcome of the whole team on the weekend knowing what they're doing but it allows them to focus on their specific area and position and gives them a bit more freedom, as Ange says "there is freedom within a structure whereby each part of the team knows what it is doing and comes together as a whole" whereas with Conte the quote would be something like "we move and attack as one rigid consistent machine and we repeat the same patterns and movements over and over especially without the ball".

Given the styles of play are polar opposite it doesn't surprise me at all that Dier basically confirmed that Ange and Conte's coaching styles during the week are also polar opposite.

Conte is like the leader of the roman army, all strict in formation but not very flexible.

Ange is like the leader of a pack of hunting dogs, fast and vicious and very effective but at times can be a bit too 'free'.

Pros and cons of both but both essentially drive the same outcomes at the weekend.

Also it won't be that Ange doesn't do any team tactical shape or advice at all, he obviously will but I think Dier said he leaves that more for the video analysis etc whereas Conte did a huge amount of that on the training pitch, a lot of players find that style of coaching outdated and boring as it involves a lot of slow coaching, walk throughs, starting and stopping, pausing and repeating which can be pretty boring, Ange's training is likely far higher tempo etc as we've seen from various training drill videos on Spurs YT channels etc.

Hope that helps (I have most coaching badges and have coached to a paid level so like to hope I know some stuff but obviously without actually seeing what they do day to day its hard to confirm exactly but from what Dier said that is how I'd read into it)

 

[Westmorlandspur]

Apparently when Conte had youth players training with the first team he just used them as mannequins for these walk throughs
Great fun !!

 

[ardiles&villa]

I wonder if ange would consider putting son back on the left, Johnson right and playing Maddison as a false 9 striker in the firminho type role and then gio/Kulu in midfield. I think that could be an interesting line up that might suit us.

 

[Sp3akerboxxx]

With the full backs pushed up and tucked in, and Son dropping deeper, we often have an 8 man midfield.

Yet, when the opposition has the ball, it's like we have a 0 man midfield that parts like the red sea.

Can anyone more tactically astute explain why this keeps happening?

 

[spurs mental]

He's not as good as I thought.

What does he do to fix the defence? Every goal we concede is absolutely awful.

He looks tactically naive.

People who said they'd be happy with nice football even if we don't win, this isn't nice. This is atrocious.

He needs to fix the defence and he needs to fix it in the next 2 weeks ahead of the NLD. 1 clean sheet in 13 games. That's not a top team.

We look as cohesive as we did under Conte and Jose right now.

 

[Guntz]

'Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. '

 

[thePessimist]

He’s simply not getting the best out our players atm. Too many in poor form at the same time