Manager Watch: Ange Postecoglou

[SaKkA.kenchiku]

I believe in the Ange project, but am I the only one who finds his prickly defensiveness in press conferences tiring?

I acutually enjoy them, I just feel he’s tired of being doubted and fully believes in himself But constantly gets people doubting. It’s understandable that we and the media doubt however he continues to be asked the same questions so I am glad he expresses his feeling on it. If he wins big I dont think he will be wanting their heaps of praise either as he will know in a few months it could change again. I enjoy that hes fully determined in his beliefs.

 

[SaKkA.kenchiku]

Following on from Brentford, it definitely looks like there have been some technical tweaks with how we are playing against deep sitting teams. There was without question a real emphasis to keep switching out wide for crosses and cutbacks, and now the last couple of prem games we have mixed it up, looking to go through the middle far more. Playing with 2 technical midfielders good in tight areas looks far better than playing one and a runner. Madison and Kulu should be without question the first choice in there with either Biss or Bents(can't decide who I prefer).

I still think there are times we look a little susceptible to the long diagonal but apart from that I'm happy. I said a couple of weeks ago tweaks were all it would take, the players were always good enough it just needed little alterations as we were too predictable. That certainly looks like it is something we are trying to change, and I'm all for it. Well done again Ange and the boys.

He definitely has tweaked and adjusted, Its why I an adamant we give him and the ‘project’ three full seasons’ regardless if we think the same things are repeating and he is not changing etc…. (You were never asking for him to be sacked, at all, ever in your posts to be clear). I understood from your posts were from frustrations of Ange appearing not willing to tweak which was correct.
, I have quoted this more towards the overall discussion and the direction from other posters that were at least leaning/suggesting it already has failed as a project while we have only been through one full season and 4 games into season 2.
I am sure Ange was looking to resolve the issues regarding to teams adjusting to stop his 1.0 version of his philosophy and that was not coming through clearly as we were becoming stagnant in our attacking approach.. Looking back he was switching his midfield throughout the opening games to solve the problem and he seems to landed on Kulu and Madd in the central role which based on the last 4 games and the steady increase in confidence in our performances and speed of play. This seems to have solved the adaptation of the other teams moves to stifle our overload which was overwhelming teams beginning of last season. This new tweak has now given more variety to our attacks and the overloads have come back and overwhelmed United, much like our first games last season. Teams will adjust again at some point but I encouraged to see Ange is developing And tweaking.

I do not believe the media narrative that United were ‘disgusting’ and ‘awful’ this is lead by Gary Neville, who frankly has dropped his level of being an articulate analyst into a fan just sulking on live tv. I am jumping to a different subject, but the unprofessional approach to his work in that game should be critiqued as he does players performances. He was sulking that Spurs ,a team he does not respect from his time as a player, were trashing his United at home. Ange tweaks and adjustments lead to the humbling of United. United were good against Palace away from home and Palace are a good team .

I agree that its encouraging he has adapted and will continue to do so and I hope the group of discussions here and around give the time for Ange to succeed or fail.

 

[SaKkA.kenchiku]

what's the point sticking to an approach that won't work?

How do we feel now? Is the approach still not going to work? The following comment was ‘as it stands we will lose the next 3’. My point and why I have responded to this, again, is 3 games back the mood of the discussion was switching to the project will not work In season two (the start of). We must give who ever the manager is that is building a project a three year period as a base Before ripping it up and starting again. We always do apart from with Poch. We need to go through the rough with the smooth, we need to give the manager time to develop and tweak and as long as the form is not relegation form you stick with the process as not doing so is much worse than going, ‘it wont work’ we must change and bring in a new Messiah to crack it. I am not a Levy fan and see his pro and cons, but he seems to have realized he was close with Poch and rather than switching when it stops to work, we should of given Poch the time to rebuild the next cycle. I am excited to have Ange and hope he will achieve what he has promised, but we have to stick with it for 3 full seasons to see the big picture, then decide if the project will work or not.

 

[allatsea]

He definitely has tweaked and adjusted, Its why I an adamant we give him and the ‘project’ three full seasons’ regardless if we think the same things are repeating and he is not changing etc…. (You were never asking for him to be sacked, at all, ever in your posts to be clear). I understood from your posts were from frustrations of Ange appearing not willing to tweak which was correct.
, I have quoted this more towards the overall discussion and the direction from other posters that were at least leaning/suggesting it already has failed as a project while we have only been through one full season and 4 games into season 2.
I am sure Ange was looking to resolve the issues regarding to teams adjusting to stop his 1.0 version of his philosophy and that was not coming through clearly as we were becoming stagnant in our attacking approach.. Looking back he was switching his midfield throughout the opening games to solve the problem and he seems to landed on Kulu and Madd in the central role which based on the last 4 games and the steady increase in confidence in our performances and speed of play. This seems to have solved the adaptation of the other teams moves to stifle our overload which was overwhelming teams beginning of last season. This new tweak has now given more variety to our attacks and the overloads have come back and overwhelmed United, much like our first games last season. Teams will adjust again at some point but I encouraged to see Ange is developing And tweaking.

I do not believe the media narrative that United were ‘disgusting’ and ‘awful’ this is lead by Gary Neville, who frankly has dropped his level of being an articulate analyst into a fan just sulking on live tv. I am jumping to a different subject, but the unprofessional approach to his work in that game should be critiqued as he does players performances. He was sulking that Spurs ,a team he does not respect from his time as a player, were trashing his United at home. Ange tweaks and adjustments lead to the humbling of United. United were good against Palace away from home and Palace are a good team .

I agree that its encouraging he has adapted and will continue to do so and I hope the group of discussions here and around give the time for Ange to succeed or fail.

Most of the commentators I have seen are all majoring on Man Utd were so poor etc and are giving us little credit for making them look "so poor".

 

[SaKkA.kenchiku]

Most of the commentators I have seen are all majoring on Man Utd were so poor etc and are giving us little credit for making them look "so poor".

They are but most pundits as a lot in work are lazy, the narrative builds of the commentators agenda. Neville sets the tone. Then Redknapp, Ashley Young follow this, it then follows on MOTD, Untied is the bigger team and will have the majority of attention I am clear and aware of this fact. There is truth in the story of United failing and whether their process is working. I think Ten Haag has been given time and money and is close to the time they asess fully. Was it really their worst performance ever under Ten Haag I am not sure, but it was a poor approach to his commentary that game and was a sulk at us dominating and playing well. I credit him also as he acknowledged himself his use of ‘disgusting’ and ‘awful’ are emotional terms he throws out there. But he’s on their as a professional And a respecting one, Ashley Young or who ever is on the panel at the time just follows suit as they aren’t on every week and not preparing to be a pundit and doing their research. They are experimenting with a new career and sharing their opinions as a player ex player and not their full time job. Neville was trying to rectify it by heaping praise on spurs at the end. I watch and people play good money that was not a goold commentary approach and missed some of the excellent football we did play. Drury, I think it was, tried to focus on this but also gets drawn into Neville just saying what he feels as a United fan in that moment. I enjoyed Neville before and I enjoy the Analysis on MNF with Carra But not the game it was port from him. Carra has overtaken him in my view now, but this is for another thread and I reckon it would be a full thread in general football Lol Sorry for distracting from the main point Ange. My fault for sure

 

[Joshua shepherd]

Just another flavour of the month.

Disagree completely but time will tell. He absolutely ran the show against arsenal a few weeks ago and has gone from strength to strength. As a 22 year old he’ll be inconsistent at times I’m sure but as a midfielder with the ability to go past someone, he’s very impressive right now.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

The answer is still Baena imo, he is already on 4 assists in 6 games which takes him up to 12 assists in 2024 which is more then anyone else in the big 5 leagues (KDB and Palmer have 11) and is again one of the all round most creative players in La Liga. Would suit the system very well.

Scored and got another assist last night. Definitely our man if we are looking for another creative CM/AM.

 

[Danners9]

Rory the silly Chelsea fan reckons Ange will be sacked by Christmas. It's in this week's Overlap Fan Debate 'Hot Takes'. Not clear when it was filmed but seems like it was before this weekend because they all raise question marks over Solanke, Johnson, Vicario, defending etc. The usual I-don't-watch-but-say-things-anyway takes from other fans.

 

[YB123]

Rory the silly Chelsea fan reckons Ange will be sacked by Christmas. It's in this week's Overlap Fan Debate 'Hot Takes'. Not clear when it was filmed but seems like it was before this weekend because they all raise question marks over Solanke, Johnson, Vicario, defending etc. The usual I-don't-watch-but-say-things-anyway takes from other fans.

Was just about to post this aswell. The little weasel cant resist.

"I believe its very rational aswell" I've never known a youtuber to be so confident and insistent in his views on football.

 

[Dillspur]

Rory the silly Chelsea fan reckons Ange will be sacked by Christmas. It's in this week's Overlap Fan Debate 'Hot Takes'. Not clear when it was filmed but seems like it was before this weekend because they all raise question marks over Solanke, Johnson, Vicario, defending etc. The usual I-don't-watch-but-say-things-anyway takes from other fans.

I believe it was just before the brentford game as he was spouting utter garbage on TS, didn't think we would win, wasn't buying Ange, Dom wasn't good enough etc etc.

I absolutely detest that little chav

 

[Trix]

I believe it was just before the brentford game as he was spouting utter garbage on TS, didn't think we would win, wasn't buying Ange, Dom wasn't good enough etc etc.

I absolutely detest that little chav

He's probably made a video since declaring us title contenders. I don't know wy people get so upset by him. He's clearly only in it for the views(£££££), and he appears to be very good at it.

 

[SpursSince1980]

I hope some of the folks who either were completely against his approach or weren't sold yet, have maybe watched the last two PL games, and can at least get a sense of why some of us have been positive as a whole. But also, realistic.

I'm still not convinced we will finish in the Top 6 this year. But I am convinced that we are seeing his system being played more consistently, and that it can be highly effective.

The biggest impediment to a higher league finish comes down to having a rather thin squad in terms of quality depth, and that we are missing maybe two or three players that are better than, or at least as good as our wingers, and LB/LCB.

The bottom line is that this system requires players with near-perfect technique in certain areas of the field. And we have players that are either young, therefore prone to mistakes. Or players that simply aren't of a high enough caliber to consistently play with that level of technique, and also avoid making mistakes.

Imagine the media narrative if we had won against Newcastle and Leicester. Suddenly we're title contenders.

It's all fine margins. Swings and roundabouts. For now, I like how we are developing. And if the project collapses by end of this year or year 3, it will have more to do with Ange not being given the assets required to make his system fly.

 

[Yantino]

I hope some of the folks who either were completely against his approach or weren't sold yet, have maybe watched the last two PL games, and can at least get a sense of why some of us have been positive as a whole. But also, realistic.

I'm still not convinced we will finish in the Top 6 this year. But I am convinced that we are seeing his system being played more consistently, and that it can be highly effective.

The biggest impediment to a higher league finish comes down to having a rather thin squad in terms of quality depth, and that we are missing maybe two or three players that are better than, or at least as good as our wingers, and LB/LCB.

The bottom line is that this system requires players with near-perfect technique in certain areas of the field. And we have players that are either young, therefore prone to mistakes. Or players that simply aren't of a high enough caliber to consistently play with that level of technique, and also avoid making mistakes.

Imagine the media narrative if we had won against Newcastle and Leicester. Suddenly we're title contenders.

It's all fine margins. Swings and roundabouts. For now, I like how we are developing. And if the project collapses by end of this year or year 3, it will have more to do with Ange not being given the assets required to make his system fly.

Excellent post.

 

[matthew.absurdum]

I just have checked our possession in the recent three matches. We have less possession at home against Brentford (48%) and Qarabag (49.6%!). Against a ten-man Man Utd for more than 45 minutes we have (60.8%). In comparison, we have (63.7%) against Arsenal and (65.7%) against Newcastle. We definitely change a bit of tactics to move the ball faster

 

[vegassd]

I'm still not convinced we will finish in the Top 6 this year. But I am convinced that we are seeing his system being played more consistently, and that it can be highly effective.

The consistency is the thing that has stood out to me the most so far. I think we are seeing much better performances over the full 90 mins now, and if we can keep that performance level up then the results will take care of themselves in the main.

Personally I'm not too worried about defensive mistakes (to an extent) because it feels like Ange wants us to score enough goals to cover the odd defensive lapse. The attacking players seem more important, and that's definitely an area we can improve.

Even if we haven't won a trophy at the end of Ange's third year, I hope that we stick with him as long as the performances are putting us in the conversation. Whilst there isn't a trophy for finishing in the top 4 it does at least show a team has been playing well. The difference between squeaking into 4th place and having a genuine title push is pretty large, so maybe Ange will be judged on where he gets us on that scale.

 

[Goobers]

He's probably made a video since declaring us title contenders. I don't know wy people get so upset by him. He's clearly only in it for the views(£££££), and he appears to be very good at it.

Or more likely being given a gentle suggestion as to what to say about who and when ...

 

[dannythomas]

There were many of us who questionned Ange’s lack of flexibilty and that the stubborn persistence with inverting the full backs would be his downfall. There was no space for our attacking midfielders, Son and Johnson were playing too wide which didn’t suit either of them and both Porro and Udogie were repeatedly being caught out defensively.
Now Ange deserves all the credit for having Porro and Udogie out wide effectively as wing backs with Bentancur looking great at number 6. Suddenly Maddison and Kulu are causing damage in the attacking third, Son and Johnson can come inside where both are much more effective and our full backs are also recovering their defensive positions better.
So it has been much more than a minor tweak !

 

[Gb160]

@Mate
Member since 2006
Username finally paying out.
#long game

 

[Reece_Spurs]

Just another flavour of the month.

Not for me.

He looks brilliant, not so much his technical ability but he's built so well for this league, he goes past even the best defensive midfielders like Dembele did. Right now would slot right into our team atleast as a exceptional option off the bench.

 

[RuskyM]

Jonathan Wilson was talking about the Brighton setup vs Chelsea and basically suggested a very high line works if your midfield is up to the task of pressing the midfield - Brighton's wasn't, ours at United was. I think this was a major problem with us in the second half of last season when our midfield just wasn't working, and Deki's adaptation and Maddison's form might really help with that.