Manager Watch: Ange Postecoglou

[Impspur1]

'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.

You can be happy with a performance , selection or result but also rationally question why in some situations he seems so inflexible or slow in reacting on occasion. you don’t to “be in a lane” to be balanced

 

[Tucker]

we were 3-2 down long before any changes were made?

Which wasn’t the point I was replying to

 

[Thenewcat]

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.

And it’s not Madders or Romero’s fault that ange doesn’t seem to think substitutes play a role in changing momentum. He was most to blame for today, it was clear we needed to change things at 2-1, blinding obvious at 2-2 and beyond comprehension that we still waited another 15 minutes at 2-3. I don’t want to hear him calling out anyone else if he isn’t capable of analysing his own decision making

 

[Oh Teddy Teddy]

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

Not sure I agree at all. You can blame him for not making subs, sure, but they were creating chances and winning 2-0 under his management. As others have pointed out, Brighton stepped up the second half and our players didn’t match it.

He shares blame as the manager, but disagree that he got it ‘badly wrong’

 

[Monkey boy]

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.

that’s unbelievable to read and I’m hoping in my disappointment at what I saw earlier that I’m missing the context but how the hell are subs irrelevant to trying to change the flow of a game. What planet is he on?

 

[Thenewcat]

Not sure I agree at all. You can blame him for not making subs, sure, but they were creating chances and winning 2-0 under his management. As others have pointed out, Brighton stepped up the second half and our players didn’t match it.

He shares blame as the manager, but disagree that he got it ‘badly wrong’

If you are winning 2-0 and lose control of the game, concede 3 goals and still wait until there are only 15 mins to go before you do a damn thing you got it badly wrong

 

[wpmcg]

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

Welbeck missed a sitter.

 

[Mr Pink]

Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou spoke to BBC MOTD after his side lost a two goal lead at half time, to find his team on the end of a 3-2 loss to Brighton:

"Fair to say that the second half was unacceptable and we paid a price for that.

"We probably should have put it to bed in the first half. What we did in that second half is unacceptable and we got what we deserved.

"Maybe we just thought we’d roll out there and play well again and that’s not how it works and we paid for it.

"We’ve conceded before but it is how you react and our reaction wasn’t what it should be. It’s a bad day for us and when it’s a bad day the responsibility falls at my feet."

Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou, speaking to Sky Sports: "Disappointing. Frustrated and absolutely gutted with that. Worst defeat since I've been here. Unacceptable second half. Nowhere near where we should be. We got carried away with how were were going.

"We kind of accepted our fate and it is hard to understand as we've not done that while I've been here. We paid the price.

"The problem is we are travelling along too smoothly, football and life will trip you up if you get too far ahead of yourself."

On message to the players: "There is no message. It is a terrible loss for us - as bad as it gets. Only one way to fix it and that's my responsibility.

"We lost all our duels and if you're not competitive it is not going to work - we were not competitive.

"They all go international duty the majority of them. They will process it individually and I will process it when everyone gets back."

So Ange is saying we lost all our duals and wernt comptetive second half.

Right.

So why wait so long to change it?

That is baffling really.

 

[funkycoldmedina]

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.

I think this is a big part of it. If his main players can't dig us out of the shit, they're not going to be his main players in the future. It's painful but he's now getting a pattern from some of them which he won't like. That spine has shown consistently it can't pull us out of dangerous situations.

 

[rossdapep]

Really honest interview

“His most disappointing defeat since he’s been here”

“We didn’t compete 2nd half, nothing to do with tactics”

Exactly what the Brighton manager said - they started to compete and won their individual battles…

Exactly how I saw it too.

They raised their levels, in turn, so too did the crowd.

We simply didn't. It was a very poor reaction.

Now the question for me is:

1. Was that because we simply switched off and lost composure. Thinking we were Billy big bollocks?
2. Was it because of the midweek games and not having enough cover in certain areas (Udogie just coming back from injury, prob not up to speed)?

Time will tell us that.

However, I do want to see Ange do something when he sees players drop a level.

He needs to change it to at least show players they cannot let up.

We should have cruised that second half today by ensuring we got a 3rd early on. In fact, I was expecting us too.

We lost heads and lost cool.

Until we address that we are not going to compete.

I have largely expecting our league form to be a bit hot and cold, in fact, I said it last week.

I want to see us have more composed games and do well in the cups.

Too many games like today will only set us far back.

 

[Tucker]

You can be happy with a performance , selection or result but also rationally question why in some situations he seems so inflexible or slow in reacting on occasion. you don’t to “be in a lane” to be balanced

I just don’t think he is too stubborn or slow to make changes when things aren’t working out.

We have seen him make early changes numerous times, sometimes even hooking players at half time to change the game.

He’s proactive when he thinks he needs to be, or perhaps when he has the proper options he wants on the bench.

I don’t think it should be ignored that the only attackers on the bench were youth players.

We’re missing three of our attackers due to injury, his options were limited.

 

[Oh Teddy Teddy]

If you are winning 2-0 and lose control of the game, concede 3 goals and still wait until there are only 15 mins to go before you do a damn thing you got it badly wrong

Fair enough. But this was the same team as the first half. They stopped playing, they stopped competing. I’d be furious with them before I questioned Ange here. But just my opinion.

 

[matthew.absurdum]

that’s unbelievable to read and I’m hoping in my disappointment at what I saw earlier that I’m missing the context but how the hell are subs irrelevant to trying to change the flow of a game. What planet is he on?

Agree or disagree, I think the following is why he said something like this. He thinks there is some underlying problems more important than merely winning/drawing this game now:

The chance that Brennan Johnson had in the first half, did you feel if that had gone in then that could have been that?

Potentially, we should have put the game to bed in the first half. We certainly had the dominance and the chances, but if that just masks what I saw in the second half then it doesn't....I mean certain things will always reveal themselves over the course of time. I've got to deal with what happened in the second half. That's much more important to me than the fact that in the first we were that dominant. We probably should have had the game done and dusted by then.

 

[Jaesen1]

You can be happy with a performance , selection or result but also rationally question why in some situations he seems so inflexible or slow in reacting on occasion. you don’t to “be in a lane” to be balanced

True enough, but there's quite often a lack of balance. By all means, rationally question decisions, etc., but some of the comments are completely lacking that. That said, were there honestly any subs he made - when they did come on - that made any real difference?

 

[goughie1966]

Second fewest amount of goals conceded before today fwiw.

I can guarantee you this won’t be the case at the end of the season.

 

[Impspur1]

Agree or disagree, I think the following is why he said something like this:

The chance that Brennan Johnson had in the first half, did you feel if that had gone in then that could have been that?

Potentially, we should have put the game to bed in the first half. We certainly had the dominance and the chances, but if that just masks what I saw in the second half then it doesn't....I mean certain things will always reveal themselves over the course of time. I've got to deal with what happened in the second half. That's much more important to me than the fact that in the first we were that dominant. We probably should have had the game done and dusted by then.

I’ve heard Ange say similar before. You can’t change mentality without changing the players. Some of ours are clearly mentally weak so not sure how he goes about this

 

[Impspur1]

True enough, but there's quite often a lack of balance. By all means, rationally question decisions, etc., but some of the comments are completely lacking that. That said, were there honestly any subs he made - when they did come on - that made any real difference?

Well Sarr and Biss should have come on a lot earlier, we had lost the midfield

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

Ange isn't the first manager we've had who doesn't react until 30 minutes after a problem has arisen, but it's the most frustrating thing to watch play out in front of us.

It was obvious from the first kick of the second half that we were in trouble, yet nothing was done from the bench until it was far too late.

Not that the criticism isn’t valid up to a point buuuuuut…….IMO all of this is a tad over the top. Again people presuppose changes would have had the desired effect. Had he made the changes at the ‘right’ times would it really have sparked a turnaround?

Obviously we don’t know maybe it would maybe it wouldn’t. I’d have liked to have seen something done earlier but I’m not going to give it the this is ‘on’ Ange thing, that, for me isn’t the case.

 

[matthew.absurdum]

I’ve heard Ange say similar before. You can’t change mentality without changing the players. Some of ours are clearly mentally weak so not sure how he goes about this

And that's the reason why I think Ange didn't literally answer any question about the subs even when being asked.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

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.

This response explains so much. Today wasn’t the first time his poor in game management has cost us and going by that response it won’t be the last. At least it clarifies that it is deliberate. Whilst I somewhat understand what he is reaching for I must say it is a rather idealistic, if not naive and fundamentally flawed, view.