Manager Watch: Ange Postecoglou

[Monkey boy]

Next 4 Prem games are Saints, Liverpool, Forest and Wolves - I think he needs at least one win and a draw. Lose three of those 4 and I can't see him surviving.

he needs to be aiming for 3 wins and nothing less.

 

[Mark_147]

If we sack Ange, I'm out. I can't deal with the short-sightedness anymore.

Of all the managers we've had this is the hill your gonna die on.

 

[Fidget]

Changing manager now isn't going to be good. A new manager coming into this. Need to keep Ange until Feb at least. Get some signings in Jan that we need regardless and see how we look. Then if a new manager comes in he should have less of a mess injury wise.

Yep otherwise the new manager will have to be sacked

 

[easley91]

We've been dropping points from the beginning of the season long before anyone was injured and before we started playing Europa League and last season we we're playing one game a week and we've were shit from the 10th game onwards.

It can still be and is both. Like I said the tactics/system don't help and the injuries just compound the situation. It isn't as simple as one or the other. It is both.

We don't have adequate cover so Porro, Udogie, Kulusevski and Solanke are being flogged to death. Ange doesn't want to use Spence and Reguilon so the FBs are having to be relied upon every week. He uses Gray at RB, but now he has to be used at CB due to injuries to our three other senior CBs in VDV, Romero and Davies. Richarlison is constantly injured and Lankshear is only being given minutes here and there after he started the season injured. When Kulusevski starts more often than not he'll play near enough the full 90.

Tired bodies = tired minds = mistakes.

I am not saying fatigue is the sole factor for the results, more they really don't help. If we had the cover Ange feels he can rely on then we'd be able to rotate more than he currently is doing. Rotation = rest for players = less fatigue related injuries.

There are several things at play leading to this loss of form or whatever you want to call it. System, injuries, players not up to it for whatever reason and no adequate cover for the manager to use. This isn't a one thing problem. It's multiple.

 

[Mooger Fooger]

I love that Ange takes full responsibility. No hiding. He accepts it and the responsibility to sort it out.

Good stuff.

 

[13VanDerBale13]

I can just imagine the reaction on here if we’d heard Romero and VDV were fit to start against Chelsea, but that Ange decided to go with Dragusin and Gray instead...

If they started then they must have been cleared by the physio team. We saw in the documentary how the club deals with injured players, and if the physios say no, the manager can’t play them.

Nobody expected them two to be fit & suddenly out of nowhere both start, so I don’t think the fans would have cared …

Romero I can slightly understand, but the VDV one was baffling imo.

Clearly the physios are an issue, but so are the demands on the players & the amount of hamstring injuries the squad picks up.

 

[Fidget]

WhoScored (@whoscored.com)

Only five teams have conceded more shots than Tottenham in the #UEL this season (99). 😬

bsky.app

Backs up what a fair few have been saying which is we have been lucky to have the points total we have in competition

Why were those shots not converted though? And why were all our shots not converted?

 

[E17yid]

I just read a comment a few pages back mentioning making sure we dont get into a relegation fight. We're 5 points off 5th fs, without even considering the quality the teams actually in the relegation fight, ie, they are not good.

(fully aware of the egg on my face admittedly if we lose to southampton having already lost to ipswich., in which case it's a relegating 6 pointer against wolves on the 29th...)

I seriously doubt we’re getting relegated but put it this way, if you asked me before the start of the season what are our chances of getting relegated I probably would’ve said 0.1% but now I’d honestly say, especially if we drop points to Southampton and a few more over Xmas, that it goes up to 10% or something. Still very low but even the fact it’s a vague possibility, injury crisis or not, is pretty bad.

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

I know Ange is dealing with a lot of injuries atm.

But there are countless examples over the past year when we've had our first choice 11 out and have still looked awful.

Which shows it's a tactics issue, not a personnel one.

There are countless examples when we've looked amazing as well though.

 

[southlondonyiddo]

Just a question. If we loose Sunday, knocked out against yanited. Then loose two games after. Will your opinion be the same? Genuine question.

With the same injuries and current squad, absolutely

Back the man, Levy, you fuckwit

 

[Fidget]

Wou

Wouldn't it make more sense for the new manager to get a few of his own signings in January rather than be lumbered with the signings of a manager that's just been sacked.

If Levy has a plan to stay with Ange I think we’ll know before window opens. He will almost certainly have already decided. I don’t see the next few results will matter in that respect.

 

[C1w8]

I like this post but we have to consider the high quality chances we give up most games, even when the injuries havent been that bad.

The two questions, for me, regarding Ange's future are:

1) can we get to where we want to be playing this way every week at this level?

2) and are we going to be in a constant bad place in terms of injuries?

We can dream about new/suitable players all day long, but they wont be much use lying on the treatment table.

I dont disagree, we give up way too many chances and particularly in this recent run. Our defending yesterday was really bad, the decisions from our players were really poor, i'm not sure if there's any kind of official world record for how many times a team has gotten megged in a professional game but we were running it close with our players diving in all over the place, i'm sure i counted at least 5 including the 2 in 1 run. But i do think we're running on fumes at the moment as mentioned earlier. Just to directly respond to the specific points:

1) It depends on where we want to get to. Are we talking about winning the league here? Then i'd say no, but then i'd say that about most if not all managers because we dont operate as a club at that level and are not of the stature of the clubs who are up there year on year. Where i'd personally like us to be and i think is a realistic aim in the context of our club, is to be in around the group chasing the league, and being genuine contenders for cups, and then we see where we can go from there. In that regard yes, i do think it's possible.

2) I dont know - i couldnt be further away from being a doctor, let alone one specialising in sports related injury. What i do see is that teams like arsenal just down the road, who do not play like us are suffering with some serious injury issues also, but they are better setup to cope with it, because they are further down the line in their project, having had more time for their manager to implement what he wants, and get the investment needed. Even them, being 6 points behind the lead (where the leaders have a game in hand to potentially make it 9), at a time when city have fallen away the way they have, arsenal would say the injuries theyve had (not as bad as ours overall imo) have really cost them.

 

[alpha]

His stock has actually risen for me. What he did at Chelsea is the reason Meresca is doing so well now. They were a disorganised group of individuals and MP got them playing as a unit.

I'm still in the ‘Ange in’ camp, but if we were to move on from him then Poch would be the one for me. Do you think come Jan or in the summer should the opportunity arise do you have any level of confidence of Poch returning?

 

[Whitey]

With the same injuries and current squad, absolutely

Back the man, Levy, you fuckwit

Back the man, back the process and back the agreed vision and footballing aspirations...... Oh.... you fuckwit.

 

[chas vs dave]

What did ange say that was wrong?

He needs to publicly pull up senior players who arent leading by example.

 

[FibreOpticJesus]

That is lack of confidence. With the exception of a couple of them, we have quality players that are underperforming. That is Ange's job

From the games I have seen at the Lane and on tv I personally think it is all on the players. But I do wonder about the players mentality and that has been a problem long before Ange.

 

[spursfan77]

Calling out Werner is just easy, dancing around the edges to me.

As catastrophically bad as Tragic Timmy was in that first half, he did at least try to take on his man, make runs up the pitch, and albeit useless in his work did come back to try and defend.

Also out there you have Johnson, who is literally incapable of taking on his man, and doesn't lift a finger to get back and defend. You have Son, who doesn't want to run into the box when up front, then out wide also lost the ball every time he tried to dribble - there was one passage of play at 1-1 and we were getting on top where in 30 seconds Sonny coughed up the ball pathetically 3 times; lost it when dribbling, then gave a terrible pass, then a hilarious mis-control. A one man momentum killing band.

You have Bissouma, who promised a big comeback and gave us.... that. You have Bentancur, should be raring to go for this one what with his domestic ban, but looked like he couldn't be arsed. You have Porro, playing like a prat.... again.

If the manager wants to get angry and send a message, I always much rather it's directed at individuals in the core group. Otherwise it's going after an easy target.

He’s never going to complain about Johnson though. He cost us £50m. Much easier to scapegoat werner who is on loan. At least Werner doesn’t hide from the ball like he does.

What is so remarkable is that less than 24 hours earlier he said he’d never criticise a player in public when he was talking about Romero and yet is doing it to Werner!

 

[Fidget]

Next 4 Prem games are Saints, Liverpool, Forest and Wolves - I think he needs at least one win and a draw. Lose three of those 4 and I can't see him surviving.

You’d hope (lol) that Levy has made the decision by now, bearing in mind the transfer window is coming up. At least then there’d be a plan lol

 

[cozzo]

What did ange say that was wrong?

He needs to publicly pull up senior players who arent leading by example.

Our fanbase are pretty much like the players and club. We are not used to this lol

 

[C1w8]

I'm still in the ‘Ange in’ camp, but if we were to move on from him then Poch would be the one for me. Do you think come Jan or in the summer should the opportunity arise do you have any level of confidence of Poch returning?

Others have already said it but there's really no reason for Poch to leave his current job as he's soon to lead the US national team into a home world cup. I'm not sure coming back to Spurs, him already knowing the pros and cons, is really going to be that attractive to him.