Manager Watch: Ange Postecoglou

[Styopa]

Liverpool fans being more patient than us is one of the most ludicrous comments I have seen on this forum.

Yeah I agree. The notion that fans of other clubs are generally more patient than Spurs supporters is a bit silly imo. Most fanbases, especially those from similarly sized clubs, consist of a wide range of supporters—some more demanding, others more patient.

Anyway, Liverpool fans haven’t faced the same kind of test of patience as Spurs fans. Since Spurs last won a trophy in 2008, Liverpool have won 1 x FA Cup, 3 x League Cups, 1 x Champions League, 1 x Premier League, 1 x Super Cup, and 1 x Club World Cup. Bravo to them for being so patient while winning multiple competitions and regularly being involved in title chases.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

The more I read it, the more i'm completely dumbfounded...

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I get where he’s coming from, if fundamentally as a team you stop being competitive and fighting for every ball and pressing and doing the basics then it wouldn’t matter about the subs to an extent as a team you will lose as this level.

He sees the subs thing as more short term and the lack of doing the important basics as the more important message to hammer home to the players after the 2nd half collapse.

 

[Mr Pink]

Mate we have a wake up call at least every couple of weeks. If they haven't woken up by now I think it's fair to say some of them probably never will. I keep saying it but Ange's so called "leaders" aren't leaders at all, they're just senior players who are happy, friendly and nice to have around the squad. They certainly won't drag the team out of the mud as we have seen time and time again.

We need to recruit some with stronger menalities, same old problems with our fragility.

It just doesnt ever seem to change no matter who's in charge.

The opposition get so many high end chances it just seems inevitable that a lot of games will be like basketball ball games, sometimes we'll come out on top, other weeks we wont.

Is that a sustainable model in your view with this current squad?

I think we need a good bit more quality to see consistent results, regardless of tweaks being made.

And that includes bringing in stronger personalities.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

That Slot chap is doing awfully well !

Top top manager but he’s walked into a very good well put together squad which can adapt to his style of play really easily, Ange had to do a huge rebuild and change of style of play.

I do however really like Slots tactics, they’re good to watch but also solid and balanced.

Slot was my n.o1 and Ange n.o2 during our manager search, I’m still very happy with Ange he just needs more time and a few more transfer windows to get us really consistent, lots of positive signs are there, Slot walked into a far easier job than Ange and he has a better squad but yea I’m not surprised at all to see him doing well. Once the games come thick and fast I don’t think they’ll keep it up mind and will drop to 3rd.

 

[For the love of Spurs]

Yeah I agree. The notion that fans of other clubs are generally more patient than Spurs supporters is a bit silly imo. Most fanbases, especially those from similarly sized clubs, consist of a wide range of supporters—some more demanding, others more patient.

Anyway, Liverpool fans haven’t faced the same kind of test of patience as Spurs fans. Since Spurs last won a trophy in 2008, Liverpool have won 1 x FA Cup, 3 x League Cups, 1 x Champions League, 1 x Premier League, 1 x Super Cup, and 1 x Club World Cup. Bravo to them for being so patient while winning multiple competitions and regularly being involved in title chases.

Considering our history as the once record FA Cup holders, multiple European trophies this 25 year spell with next to sod all I think we have been remarkably patient. Obviously this isn’t Ange’s Fault and he deserves time even if the board above him should have been sacked long ago.

 

[Shanks]

We need to recruit some with stronger menalities, same old problems with our fragility.

It just doesnt ever seem to change no matter who's in charge.

The opposition get so many high end chances it just seems inevitable that a lot of games will be like basketball ball games, sometimes we'll come out on top, other weeks we wont.

Is that a sustainable model in your view with this current squad?

I think we need a good bit more quality to see consistent results, regardless of tweaks being made.

And that includes bringing in stronger personalities.

I agree mate, problem is a lot of our fanbase don't like those players.. don't want the horrible cretin at our club etc etc

 

[Styopa]

I get where he’s coming from, if fundamentally as a team you stop being competitive and fighting for every ball and pressing and doing the basics then it wouldn’t matter about the subs to an extent as a team you will lose as this level.

He sees the subs thing as more short term and the lack of doing the important basics as the more important message to hammer home to the players after the 2nd half collapse.

Yes I agree. For sure, Ange might have gotten the substitutions wrong, and perhaps taking a few players off would have been the better move. But there’s another argument: he may have wanted to push those players to take responsibility and step up while things were going wrong, rather than giving them an easy way out. Maybe that was the wrong call—there’s no way to know if the subs would have changed the result—but since we lost, it’s tempting to think so. That said, I can see the logic behind his decision.

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

Top top manager but he’s walked into a very good well put together squad which can adapt to his style of play really easily, Ange had to do a huge rebuild and change of style of play.

I do however really like Slots tactics, they’re good to watch but also solid and balanced.

He didn't have to, he chose to, to suit his fairly extreme form of football. Just as Conte didn't have to persist with his approach that required elite level wingbacks when we had none in the squad.

 

[marion52]

I can see where he is coming from, we were completely on top in the first half, and if he could have predicted Udogie would fall over/fail to clear the ball maybe he would have subbed him at half time. If he had known Romero, a world cup winner, was going to forget how to defend maybe he would have subbed him at halt time. However if he was remembering just 7 days ago when we came out 2-0 up and scored almost immediately and went on to win he knows he doesn’t need to sub anyone at half time.
Maybe we should hire him a fortune teller so she could tell him whats going to happen so he can change it in time.

 

[$hoguN]

We need to recruit some with stronger menalities, same old problems with our fragility.

It just doesnt ever seem to change no matter who's in charge.

The opposition get so many high end chances it just seems inevitable that a lot of games will be like basketball ball games, sometimes we'll come out on top, other weeks we wont.

Is that a sustainable model in your view with this current squad?

I think we need a good bit more quality to see consistent results, regardless of tweaks being made.

And that includes bringing in stronger personalities.

Yeah we clearly do need an actual leader on the pitch. However this is overlooking that it was obvious to us all yesterday that after their first goal they were turning the game.

So what are our coaching staff doing waiting so long to make subs. Bissouma could have been warming up and so could Spence or Gray as Udogie looked done.

it’s all well and good talking about mentalities on the pitch but the manager has to take a big slice too

 

[For the love of Spurs]

Yes I agree. For sure, Ange might have gotten the substitutions wrong, and perhaps taking a few players off would have been the better move. But there’s another argument: he may have wanted to push those players to take responsibility and step up while things were going wrong, rather than giving them an easy way out. Maybe that was the wrong call—there’s no way to know if the subs would have changed the result—but since we lost, it’s tempting to think so. That said, I can see the logic behind his decision.

let’s say the players fail and Ange views certain players are not mentally strong enough. That means having to sell them and get superior replacements or at least just get superior replacements. That is feasible at Arsenal, City and Chelsea but our club that is difficult. If players a,b,c fail we are still stuck with them for probably a few transfer windows at least.

 

[Donki]

Horrible result, players thought they had it won and individuals switched off completely. Totally unacepecable and 100% on the players, hope Ange has them doing drills all morning.

 

[Mr Pink]

I can see where he is coming from, we were completely on top in the first half, and if he could have predicted Udogie would fall over/fail to clear the ball maybe he would have subbed him at half time. If he had known Romero, a world cup winner, was going to forget how to defend maybe he would have subbed him at halt time. However if he was remembering just 7 days ago when we came out 2-0 up and scored almost immediately and went on to win he knows he doesn’t need to sub anyone at half time.
Maybe we should hire him a fortune teller so she could tell him whats going to happen so he can change it in time.

Hold on a minute. Yes it was a mistake from Udogie, and these things happen in football but the problem was, 100%, our reaction after they scored the first.

We mentally capitulated, and thats why we lost yesterday.

 

[RuskyM]

Yeah we clearly do need an actual leader on the pitch. However this is overlooking that it was obvious to us all yesterday that after their first goal they were turning the game.

So what are our coaching staff doing waiting so long to make subs. Bissouma could have been warming up and so could Spence or Gray as Udogie looked done.

it’s all well and good talking about mentalities on the pitch but the manager has to take a big slice too

There’s thirteen minutes between half time and them equalising - teams in front rarely make changes at that time, because they rarely cede control of a game so early and so easily. The truth is Brighton wanted it more and it showed. I think I’d agree if the collapse felt inevitable and drawn out rather than chaotic.

 

[philll]

I get where he’s coming from, if fundamentally as a team you stop being competitive and fighting for every ball and pressing and doing the basics then it wouldn’t matter about the subs to an extent as a team you will lose as this level.

He sees the subs thing as more short term and the lack of doing the important basics as the more important message to hammer home to the players after the 2nd half collapse.

Ok but how about do the short term thing to get the win and then drill the players between matches? How's it going to look if we miss out on a league achievement (CL, EL, etc) by a couple of points because he didn't think we deserved to win that one match so didn't do anything to change it? It's bordering on negligence to do that in a competitive match.

I can kind of get my head around what he's saying (big picture) but this isn't some meaningless friendly, Ange, it's a live competition and points are actually quite nice. It's like he actively doesn't want to win unless it happens in his perfect way.

 

[Tucker]

Why is it bollocks?

He's talking about mentality and outlook etc whilst doing very little in terms of tactical input during matches.

It's very similar to Rodgers IMO.

Because frankly you’re just throwing a temper tantrum because we lost. Throwing out comparisons to Brendan for heavens sake. Get a grip.

You’re better than this.

 

[jazz15c]

Our inability to wrestle any sort of control back when things start to go slightly awry is fucking worrying, frankly. Brighton got 1 back and our ass's completely fell out.

Said it after the Leicester game; we need a 'bastard' who can grab it and pull us through those tough periods.

 

[idontgetit]

It wasn't just the mentality yesterday, although Brighton coming out fired up and wanting it more was the main factor. There was a change in the shape of the two teams. We went from having all their passing angles closed down, and having easy forward passes ourselves, to the complete opposite. We saw this multiple times last season where teams, either consciously or unconsciously, adjusted during the game to our style of play.

They tightened up in the middle and started to press us effectively. We couldn't break their press, when we did get past it we only had a hopeful outballl on to isolated forwards. I mentioned it earlier but their second goal came from just two easy passes that my nan could have made putting them behind our midfield.

 

[bubble07]

I seriously dislike his answer about subs and the more I think about it, the less I like it. Sorry to break it to you, Ange (apparently somebody needs to), but your job during any match is to do everything within your power to maximise our chance of winning that match. Saying you didn't make any changes because they're irrevelant, they wouldn't have made a difference and we didn't deserve to win and effectively throwing a match away because he wanted to teach the players a lesson is simply not acceptable. Get over the line and then give the players hell afterwards but ffs get over the line first.

Also not great if you were one of the subs that day if that's what he thinks

 

[bubble07]

Our inability to wrestle any sort of control back when things start to go slightly awry is fucking worrying, frankly. Brighton got 1 back and our ass's completely fell out.

Said it after the Leicester game; we need a 'bastard' who can grab it and pull us through those tough periods.

Agree it's a worry but one player won't change that. It's the team mentality