Manager Watch: Ange Postecoglou

[Mattspurs1982]

This is the big concern.

The complacent, or fragile, mindset is still there and we wont truly progress until he changes it.

I was hoping this sort of gut wrenching, typical Tottenham of old, peformance was gone.

If Ange can use this game as the catalyst to really make some big changes with our mentality it could be hugely significant and a blessing in disguise.

A real pity its an international break, as its an opportunity to hammer them for all that yesterday.

He looked lost and dejected at the final whistle but this is the job Ange...now what can you really do to take this Club to the next level....

Makes these "resilience" comments from Ange in the pre-match a bit embarrassing now!

Ange Postecoglou exclusive interview: Added resilience this season a big boost for Spurs

In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou discusses the resilience his side have shown so far this season, defensive stability and Brennan Johnsons sparkling form | Watch Brighton vs Tottenham live on Sky Sports on Sunday; kick off 4.30pm

www.skysports.com

 

[TOMSPURS]

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.

Lots of people are focusing & getting irate about Ange's comments on subs, just wondering did you watch the post match press conference or just read the quotes? Sometimes context gets lost in quotes.

Question about subs was midpoint of conference, Ange had continuously stated 2nd half no show was unacceptable, his team stopped competing. A journalist then asked about subs, it sounded to me that Ange didn't want to downplay how bad we were, the whole team downed tools, not just 1 or 2 players.

It was a poorly worded response, unlike Ange, but he looked disgusted & shocked at what happened. I took it that he didn't want to talk about subs as he didn't want to distract from the main issue...collectively the team didn't turn up for the 2nd half. Stopped pressing, lost 50-50's & gave up.

Personally I still have faith Ange will improve this club, what success follows, no one knows. But last week & 1st half yesterday showed glimpses of what this team can achieve. I am still hopeful Ange can integrate the younger players & really push this club forward....even after yesterday's 2nd half.

 

[bubble07]

We still had 30 minutes to equalise and we didn't have one good chance. That is also a big problem.

 

[teok]

Incredibly frustrating. Possibly ange was trying to "teach" the players by not subbing them, but it spectacularly backfired, and we all look silly.
I really hope we have got some deals ready for the jan window because we need more players to keep up this style of play. We need to be one of the fittest squads in the league.

 

[RuskyM]

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.

Of course, but it’s a competitive match that the players he sent out had control of playing his way before royally cocking it up. I don’t think he’s saying “I made no changes because I knew we would lose” - he’s saying that if he’d rather see his players show they can take control of situations rather than hope someone else can handle it. Either way it’s a situation we shouldn’t have been in, and given how quickly after half time we started collapsing, one that’s entirely mental.

 

[Mr Pink]

Lots of people are focusing & getting irate about Ange's comments on subs, just wondering did you watch the post match press conference or just read the quotes? Sometimes context gets lost in quotes.

Question about subs was midpoint of conference, Ange had continuously stated 2nd half no show was unacceptable, his team stopped competing. A journalist then asked about subs, it sounded to me that Ange didn't want to downplay how bad we were, the whole team downed tools, not just 1 or 2 players.

It was a poorly worded response, unlike Ange, but he looked disgusted & shocked at what happened. I took it that he didn't want to talk about subs as he didn't want to distract from the main issue...collectively the team didn't turn up for the 2nd half. Stopped pressing, lost 50-50's & gave up.

Personally I still have faith Ange will improve this club, what success follows, no one knows. But last week & 1st half yesterday showed glimpses of what this team can achieve. I am still hopeful Ange can integrate the younger players & really push this club forward....even after yesterday's 2nd half.

I agree but the challenge is to improve mentality so we can handle pressure and adversity a lot better.

If he improves that we're on to something. Big ask mind.

 

[arunspurs]

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.

Seems like people still don’t understand the problem. Problem is not how the goal was conceded - it’s everything before that… It’s the lack of balance in attack to defense, it’s how easy we make it for opponents to take the ball from our attack to our defensive box… it’s how we stand on half line when we can see that their keeper or CB is taking a free kick .
We give so many high quality chances , it’s a matter of time it goes in. Higher the quality of opponents more chances of giving away goals… Qarabag exploited us too , only they failed to take their chances. Brighton far more clinical .

 

[Wheeler Dealer]

We still had 30 minutes to equalise and we didn't have one good chance. That is also a big problem.

Solanke was great for the first 45 mins, but disappeared for the last 45 minutes, as did Johnson.

 

[CrazyKen]

I love Ange, I want him to be successful..But Im starting to have my doubts. And I don't like that

 

[southlondonyiddo]

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

A Keane can. A Gerrard can - but these guys don’t grow on trees and we don’t shop at Waitrose

 

[1882andallthat]

There’s been calls for patience. I’ll tell you how patient I am right now and will be before we play our next game.

I want to bang in 5 or 6 past the next team we play, I don’t want any of this spurning gilt edge chances shite and coasting like fancy dans. I want us to show no mercy if we go 2 up, no holding back, go in for the kill and take our collective frustrations out on our next opponent.

I also want to do it because that lot who we will be playing are licking their lips already and taking the p*ss out of us with no let up thinking we will collapse after going 2 or 3 up against them and they are thinking we will gift them a chance to come back for a Lanzini like comeback again.

I want to lull them and their fans into a false sense of security thinking they can have some of what Brighton got in the second half and I want them to get the rude awakening of their bloody lives by it not happening. I want Ange in there giving a full blooded team talk imploring us to go for their throats and if we’re 2 up I want him to say, at half time in the team talk it’s not enough fellas let’s have more and I want our team to follow that to the exact letter with a 5-6 goal win ! If one or two aren’t pulling their weight I want them subbed and I want substitutes coming on with a point to prove and bloody well proving it ! Is that bloody patient enough !!

 

[Mr Pink]

I love Ange, I want him to be successful..But Im starting to have my doubts. And I don't like that

Its a massive job this. Any manager is walking into an evironment here that needs changing.

I mean the law of averages suggest we sign some leaders/strong personalities yet the same fragilty always raises its ugly head.

So its the environment at the Club thats playing a big part in our DNA.

Something is fundamentally wrong which appears deep rooted and very difficult to change no matter the manager.

 

[spurs mental]

We still had 30 minutes to equalise and we didn't have one good chance. That is also a big problem.

We continued to play slow football, lethargic, like we were still 2 up. There was absolutely no urgency.

 

[Gb160]

I mean the law of averages suggest we sign some leaders/strong personalities yet the same fragilty always raises its ugly head.

That's not our model though. There's no profit to be made and they'll command high salaries.

 

[HildoSpur]

I'm still angry and bitterly disappointed. This one hit me really hard because I thought we were finally turning into a proper team and were going on a brilliant run. Then the first half saw us play really well and we got the two goals. What happened in the second half has shook me a bit. You could see what was likely to happen as soon as they scored their first goal, we just never got going at all and the old habits came back, heads went down and all confidence left us. It was painful to watch it happen and it's going to take a lot now to get back to where we want to be. I am concerned about what Ange said after the match, I really like and respect the guy but I'm struggling to understand his perspective and it's looking more and more like stubbornness which has me worried.

 

[spurs mental]

Solanke was great for the first 45 mins, but disappeared for the last 45 minutes, as did Johnson.

The whole team disappeared in the second half. Not sure it's fair to call anyone in particular out, except maybe Romero and Udogie, who were just pathetic

 

[RuskyM]

Seems like people still don’t understand the problem. Problem is not how the goal was conceded - it’s everything before that… It’s the lack of balance in attack to defense, it’s how easy we make it for opponents to take the ball from our attack to our defensive box… it’s how we stand on half line when we can see that their keeper or CB is taking a free kick .
We give so many high quality chances , it’s a matter of time it goes in. Higher the quality of opponents more chances of giving away goals… Qarabag exploited us too , only they failed to take their chances. Brighton far more clinical .

I don't think we give up *so many* many quality chances - no more than most other teams. Our defensive stats are pretty similar to City's, Chelsea's, not much worse than Arsenal's. Defending on the whole doesn't seem to be at its best.

 

[Albertbarich]

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.

I keep saying this but the idea that any fan base is somehow unique is nonsense.

I remember united fans boasting about sticking with their manager and continuity. Well that’s easy to do when you win the title almost every year. Now they’re in the same struggle that most of us are in.

Considering the lack of success versus prices were a really easy going fanbase. We don’t protest, the only person we have ever really gone for is Campbell and the ground is nearly always full.

Liverpool are a huge club and if slot doesn’t deliver they will want him out soon enough. Didn’t they hound Hodgson out?

 

[mattspur1]

Seems a bit silly to say but, our defenders aren't that good at defending! That said, it was the whole team who capitulated yesterday, missing a couple of leaders I feel.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

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.

I mean we literally asked and directed him to do so, he and Levy have both said as much at the fan forum events so that is a strange take and re. Conte, just like other elite managers, Pep, Klopp etc they have a certain way of playing that has brought them success and they mould teams and players to suit that, Ange is no different.