Manager Watch: Ange Postecoglou

[RuskyM]

Absolutely, remember Conte's antics on the sideline? ConteCam and all that bollocks?

Arguably what you want from a manager during a period of difficulty is calmness. Personally, I'd want that: it seems preferable to your boss jumping about like the duracell bunny's off his meds.

 

[Jaesen1]

'His in-game management is worrying', 'No plan B', 'an average manager'. Funny how we lose and Ange is a dreadful manager, once again. Pick a lane, FFS! Prior to kick-off everything was rosy. Half-time, we were looking great. This thread is as scattershot as it comes. Today was poor, granted, but it's not going to be a smooth ride. We've had years of being soft when it comes to maitaining a lead and building upon it, something which - sadly - is going to take a long time to work out of the collective Spurs system. Some of the football today was sublime, but we were the architects of our own downfall for not building on the momentum. Would earlier subs have made a difference? They certainly didn't when they did come on. I get that it's a hugely disappointing result and everyone has a right to be frustrated, but it's like some are waiting for the first crack in the glass to pour in the poison.

 

[sundanceyid10]

He's given us our Tottenham back!

Exactly we are exactly where we have been for what seems like forever, easy on the eye and comfortable when it’s all going our way, and then when the wheels come off …….

 

[philll]

Not sure I understand/like his answer about substitutions, that they're "irrevelant" to him because "if you're not competitive, it doesn't matter what you do". How about making some changes to at least try to wrestle back control of the match before it slips away completely rather than just standing there shaking your head and hoping for the best? Like, what did he think was going to happen?

 

[felmani26]

It's not necessarily tactical changes he needs to make here but there has to be an element of when momentum has swung the oppositions way, crowd are up and a growing sense that they'll go on to get an equaliser and/or take the lead then we have to start being street smart and that means slowing the game down, drawing niggly fouls and/or disrupting opposition's attacks - basically employing a modicum of the dark arts before we can establish a foothold and look to ascend into the driving seat again.

Arsenal obviously do it routinely and City - even at home to Fulham - had to resort to this to try and take the sting out of the opposition.

We routinely don't do this instead we wait for the inevitable to happen, player's looking around bemused either looking to the heavens or at the grass and not one seemingly communicates a level of disgust and organisation to coordinate an effective remedy without possession.

Ange doesn't need to suddenly switch to 3 at the back mid game or employ a low block/counter attack but the (lack of) evident game management both from the players and management has been a bug bear for a long while.

 

[werty]

I think part of the problem Is that he doesn’t really have a confidante on the touch line who can help him with the decisions and shake him out of this weird inertia. He always seems so isolated.

He has said himself he doesn't like coaches coming up and talking to him during the game.

 

[muppetman]

Not sure I understand/like his answer about substitutions, that they're "irrevelant" to him because "if you're not competitive, it doesn't matter what you do". How about making some changes to at least try to wrestle back control of the match before it slips away completely rather than just standing there shaking your head and hoping for the best? Like, what did he think was going to happen?

Take a bit of personal responsibility and win those personal battles?

I'm not saying I agree, but I can see that it could set a bad precedent to sub players who are "bottling it" for want of a better term?

 

[muppetman]

It's not necessarily tactical changes he needs to make here but there has to be an element of when momentum has swung the oppositions way, crowd are up and a growing sense that they'll go on to get an equaliser and/or take the lead then we have to start being street smart and that means slowing the game down, drawing niggly fouls and/or disrupting opposition's attacks - basically employing a modicum of the dark arts before we can establish a foothold and look to ascend into the driving seat again.

Arsenal obviously do it routinely and City - even at home to Fulham - had to resort to this to try and take the sting out of the opposition.

We routinely don't do this instead we wait for the inevitable to happen, player's looking around bemused either looking to the heavens or at the grass and not one seemingly communicates a level of disgust and organisation to coordinate an effective remedy without possession.

Ange doesn't need to suddenly switch to 3 at the back mid game or employ a low block/counter attack but the (lack of) evident game management both from the players and management has been a bug bear for a long while.

I think there is some merit to this - but I'm not sure Arsenal or City were quite as good at it in the early days of their reigns?

Poch was a great one for tactical fouls and being streetwise - get him back on a retainer!

 

[Kirito]

For me that was the same as the opening game of the season against Leicester. In charge of the game, the other team get a goal and we totally capitulated.

So potentially nothing has changed.

 

[Mr Pink]

Said in the match thread this morning that we were in a similar position to last year when we beat Villa away. We had that lift in confidence going into the Fulham game and we all know what happened.

Yes we were good first half but the second half was bitterly disappointing.

Massive sigh and bump back down to earth.

Ange could of made changes earlier and definitely should of instructed them to clear their lines when their pressing intensified after the equaliser.

But yes he has a lot to do to improve our mentality as we still lack real leaders when the going gets tough.

 

[wpmcg]

Just watched highlights. Our second goal was so lucky and made us too complacent. The game was actually very even. Defending for their goals was atrocious but none worse than Bentancur not forcing the ball out for a corner on their winner.

 

[felmani26]

I think there is some merit to this - but I'm not sure Arsenal or City were quite as good at it in the early days of their reigns?

Poch was a great one for tactical fouls and being streetwise - get him back on a retainer!

Granted but i'm looking at where we need to aspire to get to than a like for like comparison.

It's an attitude that needs to be instilled and I just don't see that.

Naive to think we'll have everything our own way and opposing managers won't look at ways to neutralise and capitalise on our deficiencies.

 

[muppetman]

Today's subs bench.

I'm trying to see who he could bring on to really make a big difference? Dragusin on for VDV maybe who struggled today? Sarr for Madders to inject a bit of energy? Spence for Udogie on his much less favoured left side?

He's not going to swap Madders for Biss to try and shore up midfield - it's just not in his makeup.

 

[G Ron]

Not sure if anyone heard the Welbeck interview. He basically said the experienced players in the dressing room (who weren’t even in the squad) stood up and spoke about the need to compete at half time. Experienced pro’s like Milner.

We’ve been lacking real leaders for as long as I can remember and with a young squad we desperately need someone to step up (or we buy a couple).

 

[13VanDerBale13]

Why is he like this ffs

Were you tempted to make your subs earlier as the game was turning?

Yeah I could have. But... all these things... are totally irrelevant to me. Substitutions and all those kind of things. If you're not competitive, it doesn't matter what you do, you're not going to get rewards, you don't deserve to win. We didn't deserve on our second-half performance, irrespective of subs or anything else, to get something out of the game. But I think if you do get something out of the game, you're falsely rewarded and I don't want to get falsely rewarded.

 

[funkycoldmedina]

Just watched highlights. Our second goal was so lucky and made us too complacent. The game was actually very even. Defending for their goals was atrocious but none worse than Bentancur not forcing the ball out for a corner on their winner.

Are you saying the game was very even when we scored our 2nd? We were all over them 1st half, should have had 3.

 

[Thenewcat]

Disappointed with Ange’s interview on bbc. Ok the last line he says a bad day is down to him but in substance he was basically throwing the players under a bus. Now they weren’t good enough but neither was he and I’d like to see him accept that he got it badly wrong

 

[parj]

Not Ange's fault that Romero and Madders have weak mentality. Explains why they aren't at bigger clubs.

Ange's fault is letting them wear the captains armbands. He needs to find a leader. I hope Rodrigo could start leading the midfield.

 

[Hoowl]

Postecoglou has at multiple times said we have to suffer, and implied it means himself, the players and the fans. I wonder how much of this is about making it clear to the players that they need to fix the situation themselves. It could be the manager saying the players need to suffer and they themselves have to find a way to succeed in order for us to get to a point where we can be truly competitive and get to where he is trying to take us.

 

[Thenewcat]

Why is he like this ffs

Were you tempted to make your subs earlier as the game was turning?

Yeah I could have. But... all these things... are totally irrelevant to me. Substitutions and all those kind of things. If you're not competitive, it doesn't matter what you do, you're not going to get rewards, you don't deserve to win. We didn't deserve on our second-half performance, irrespective of subs or anything else, to get something out of the game. But I think if you do get something out of the game, you're falsely rewarded and I don't want to get falsely rewarded.

Just an astoundingly dumb response. So if you don’t make subs and are shit, that proves that making subs would have made no difference? I’d like to see a little more self reflection in these answers