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Manager Ange Postecoglou

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I am definitely in the minority. I find press conferences boring, vague, waffling, inconsistent, and have to turn them off half way through. All of the managers that come to THFC care more about their own reputations than the club. It's the same whether it is Mourinho or Ange. They aren't actually bigger than the club, and most of them can do the same job in terms of finishing in the Europa League places regardless of style.

I'd rather just judge him on results at the end of every season, if Levy allows me to, because I can't put up with one moment saying he is here to win something, and the next moment saying he is worrying he is going to be beat 4 or 5 by City at home. If you are genuinely worrying about that then you really can't win anything like AVB, so it is pointless deluding everybody. There is such a gap between where we are and the success he wants that it is genuinely hurtful to talk about it, I mean talking about it as if he has it already and the club doesn't.
 
John Thomas said:
Of course you can't ban him. Unless he was throwing racist, homophobic or some other kind of unlawful abuse. Banning him would be a ridiculous over reaction and would set all kinds of precedents. I would imagine there were many others directing the same sort of antagonism towards him but just didn't happen to be within hearing distance.
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Watch the press conference and what Ange says. The guy accused him of throwing the game.

And yes you can be kicked out and banned for abusive language if it is reported.
 
Deuterz said:
Why would I need to know him personally to know people have been posting his shit all season and all he’s done is constantly bang on about him and only ever post positives? He’s a fan. There’s nothing wrong with that but posting his opinions as if he’s remotely objective is hilarious.

The guy may well know his stuff when it comes to football. Probably does. But it’s clear he admires Ange a lot and nailed his colours to the mast the day he got here. An Ange fan is only going to post positive stuff about Ange.
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He does that for every manager we have.

I remember he was defending Mourinho and Conte until the end.
 
I can see Ange feeling like he was in an invidious position.

But find it concerning that it was the thought of what would be thought of him, if we got hammered, that kicked him into being hyper-motivated - and clearly charged the players up as such - to play as ferociously as we did, with a significant tactical upgrade implemented.

Also:

"It could have gone a very different way [City battering us] - without anything changing from us - just by man city being man city."

Ok, so you already had a built-in feasible reason for any level of loss, Ange.

No anxiety needed. Should have leant on that.

It was an inescapable potential outcome in playing city - in the form they had been in and the amount of goals they were scoring - regardless.

He said this before the game:

"I think the last 48 hours have revealed the foundations are fairly fragile - outside the club, inside the club, everywhere.."

He's now converted that into: "I couldn't sit there and be disingenuous and say our foundations were strong, because we'd lost 5 out of 6 games"

And he finessed that as being the players' fault, due to lack of discipline (nothing to do with set pieces, Ange?) :D

I mean, have I got that wrong?? lol

Anyway, presser could have been much worse.

So, thankful for that.

Didn't know what to expect.

He was calm and considered and held a good tone (important to laugh at the VAR stuff to lighten things).

As far as I'm concerned, I want to see the same level of managerial performance put through the players in that city game, as the baseline for us moving forward.

SU need to get mercilessly battered.

And that's what I expect.
 
Spent a couple days thinking about this.

Summary: Ange is a proper football operator, time will prove this.

We were clearly in a very difficult position against Man City for all the obvious Woolwich related reasons.

Here's the thing - Ange however was was in a seemingly impossible position. Under no circumstances, can a manager ever be seen to even entertain the idea of losing on purpose. Never stepping off the gas at all is how all the top managers approach competitive games - all of them. Wanting to lose is the approach of a loser and a losing culture. Of course he understood the implications but he was never going to acknowledge them as even important.

Instead he took the opportunity to make a clear and definitive message - it's all about winning, always, no matter what.

Good.

And this is especially important for us, as we clearly have a problem with our winning culture. For so long we've lacked aggression, ruthlessness and that sheer will to win in the late stages when it really counts. Hence his comment about 'foundations'.

He recognises this (tbf as did Mourinho and Conte, but they dealt with it in different ways) and clearly now understands that the task at Spurs is harder than most any other in football. It isn't just about adding a few players, it's about a top to bottom cultural transformation. Nobody is afraid of Tottenham - and they fucking should be.

We're one of the wealthiest clubs in the world, the best stadium in the world, amongst the best facilities in the world, in London, in the PL, a storied history yet we have won next to nothing for decades. There's a long line of highly touted talent (players and coaches) that come to us then underwhelms. Something is clearly up and I'm so happy Ange is here to take on - not just rage against the machine like Jose and Conte. He clearly wants to and I think he has the capacity to do it. Poch had it on the pitch, but I don't think he had the 'organisational' ability to impact the club. Ange has shown the shoots of being able to do both.

All of that doesn't undermine the fans feelings and you knew exactly what was coming from the goons and other idiots for decades - won the league at the Lane again without even being there, only Spurs could manage to win Woolwich the league for them, the ultimate Spursy move drone drone drone it would have been torture.....and also true. The worst kind of shit banter.

I don't have difficulty in separating those two truths. But when the two choices were laid out in front of him...we now know what Ange values more. Winning. Imagine if he had made jokes about Woolwich, or played an obviously weakened side - it would have totally undermined him as a leader and a winner. It would have been petty and weak.

Thank fuck he made the right choice, some temporarily hurt feelings aside. Moderate backing and he'll bring us some silverware, I'm a believer. Serious backing and he'll have us contending.

And ultimately if it works out for Ange and he takes us to glory, what anyone else does won't even matter.
 
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I think with Ange he proactively only has 1 plan but reactively he shows a bit more in his locker but what coach/manager doesn't? of course if you're losing you are more inclined to try something different.

Other then City he does not adapt team/line up/ way of playing based on opponent or player availability. If Udogie is missing he would expect Emerson to do what Udogie does, if Porro missing the same, if Richie missing Sonny expected to do what Richie does etc etc. There's no tactical tweak for that, there's no tactical tweak for defending set pieces, no tactical tweak for the job of the wide players (kulu an inverted winger expected to do what Johnson doesnon the right, when Johnson plays on left he's expected to do what Werner does).

I knew he would change it against City because I knew he was desperate for a result. I said before that game VDV gonna play LB, He will pack midfield 3 and Maddison will play on left (he didn't do that but he had this new sort of free role). Shame he wasn't adventurous to try a few things in all the other games.
 
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kingdawson said:
I think with Ange he proactively only has 1 plan but reactively he shows a bit more in his locker but what coach/manager doesn't? of course if you're losing you are more inclined to try something different.

Other then City he does not adapt team/line up/ way of playing based on opponent or player availability. If Udogie is missing he would expect Emerson to do what Udogie does, if Porro missing the same, if Richie missing Sonny expected to do what Richie does etc etc. There's no tactical tweak for that, therd no tactical tweak for defending set pieces, no tactical tweak for the job of the wide players (kulu an inverted winger expected to do what Johnson does, when Johnson plays on left he's expected to do what Werner does).

I knew he would change it against City because I knew he was desperate for a result. I said before that game VDV gonna play LB, He will pack midfield 3 and Maddison will play on left (he didn't do that but he had this new sort of free role). Shame he wasn't adventurous to try a few things in all the other games.
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Rigid, non-negotiable principles. Passing, moving, pressing, always attacking etc.

More flexible or adaptable tactics. Even within games they change. He’s just said as much.

Thing is, he only really spoke about principles before and the other adjustments aren’t always as easy to pick up.
 
kingdawson said:
I think with Ange he proactively only has 1 plan but reactively he shows a bit more in his locker but what coach/manager doesn't? of course if you're losing you are more inclined to try something different.

Other then City he does not adapt team/line up/ way of playing based on opponent or player availability. If Udogie is missing he would expect Emerson to do what Udogie does, if Porro missing the same, if Richie missing Sonny expected to do what Richie does etc etc. There's no tactical tweak for that, therd no tactical tweak for defending set pieces, no tactical tweak for the job of the wide players (kulu an inverted winger expected to do what Johnson does, when Johnson plays on left he's expected to do what Werner does).

I knew he would change it against City because I knew he was desperate for a result. I said before that game VDV gonna play LB, He will pack midfield 3 and Maddison will play on left (he didn't do that but he had this new sort of free role). Shame he wasn't adventurous to try a few things in all the other games.
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For me, it has looked like maddison has played a pretty free role all season.

His heat maps are probably quite interesting.

Clear to me his best position for us is on the left, where he was forming a nice dynamic on that side with Udogie, when he pushed up there, at start of season.
 
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