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Management Ange Postecoglou

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Saying injures are an excuse, Good Lord there's been some howlers in this thread but this one takes the biscuit. 🤦‍♀️

I get that you try to be funny and original and cool and all...

But injuries are part of football. And it is something that manager has to deal with in this sport.

We were not even near being most impacted by the injuries this season, so it was normal course of business. We are not that special, it is not just Spurs getting injuries and be on receiving end of ref injustice.
 
If you're right it means Spurs are winning so I'm happy. I'm not convinced about Postecoglou at this point. It bothers me that the second time through the league things dropped off and if you break out Spurs record against the three levels of the league (as someone else did in a post here) there's no proof the system can work against the better teams. The answer to that is always, "When Postecoglou gets his players" and things obviously should improve if he gets upgrades. But Spurs don't spend enough to have the depth he would need to make his system work. I think at that point Big Ange will turn again into Angry Ange. It won't end well.
Not even convinced it'll be limited to just the better teams as time goes by.
There is a template that has been set now to beat us, or at least heavily restrict us at the front. I fully expect more and more teams to change their style to make use of it. I even think City did it tbh.
 
One thing that I just noticed - we conceded just two goals less this season, compared to last season.

Despite... you know, getting in 2 new starters in defense + new and better goalkeeper.

I mean.. we upgraded from Dier to van de Ven and as a result only managed to concede 2 goals less?!?

Come on, however optimistic or pessimistic you are, this has to sound alarming? No?

Obviously we are still conceding too many chances/goals, but what mitigates this season against last season is that we've still managed to concede less, despite changing from atotally risk averse, reactive bus park strategy to a much riskier, proactive style of football.

Whether that translates into even better defensive numbers next season remains to be seen.
 
Obviously we are still conceding too many chances/goals, but what mitigates this season against last season is that we've still managed to concede less, despite changing from atotally risk averse, reactive bus park strategy to a much riskier, proactive style of football.

Whether that translates into even better defensive numbers next season remains to be seen.
Yep, we’re going to ship a fair few with the way we set up and also had the only 2 cb’s who can play in the system injured/suspended for a chunk of the season. With a top CF and more attacking additions the goals for should increase again next season.
 
You know what I’d normally agree. Kulusevski is the last player you’d think of running in behind.

But

His first goal was kinda in behind and weirdly Maddison did find him with a couple through balls running between the CBs and FBs.
He can do a job there when we’re playing weaker teams camped outside of their box the whole game. Much more suited to a central role/10 hope we improve in the summer to the extent in the summer that we don’t see him out wide again.
 
I get that you try to be funny and original and cool and all...

But injuries are part of football. And it is something that manager has to deal with in this sport.

We were not even near being most impacted by the injuries this season, so it was normal course of business. We are not that special, it is not just Spurs getting injuries and be on receiving end of ref injustice.

This you?

Ange has to have balls of steel really... I just started to think of how monumentally difficult his task is. Lad has to have balls of steel.

- number of players having injury problems or coming back from long injuries - Sess, Bissouma, Bentancur

Or this...

But on different note, I actually noticed here and there that after run of 5 games and 1 point some fans have indirectly started to ask "how much time does Ange have like this"...

I mean... come on...
Yea, today was 100% his cockup and we actually fielded very strong side. But still, the current slump started from factors way out of his control.

He faces the most difficult situation so far for Spurs, that much is certain.
I think the run of Chelsea, Wolves, Villa, City was more or less a free pass, after all the eliminations and injuries. But today, after having had time to recoup, having Cuti, Udogie, Bissouma all back... it means that from starting players we were without VDV, Madders, Bentancur and possibly Sarr (who was on the bench). Missing 3 or 4 players is nothing unheard of, so it has to be done better in such situation.

Obviously not the end of the world. And lets all remember how Ange have lifted the spirit and general feel around our club. We tune in with excitement even after going winless in 4 games.

He needs to come up with adjustments, but there should be 0% doubt that he should have our full support.

Or even this...

I also get what you mean... but point is that all this will decrease our chances of losing ;) .

It might not be that these two players win us the game. It might not even be significant impact from these players.

But it is about feel around the club and belief into better future. And THIS will have huge impact on our mentality.
Everyone in the squad will see that the squad is stronger than it was one week ago. We have many SO IMPORTANT players returning from injuries, and now we got reinforcements from the market as well.

It will motivate some players but also forces some others to up their game. I mean before Werner joining, we had 3 senior and "tested" attacking players in Richie, Johnson and Kulusevski. They essentially knew that whatever happens, until Son returns from international duty and Madders from injury - they are guaranteed to start. But now there is German international team attacker breathing down their necks which should push them to up their game.

To quote classics -
Happy The Simpsons GIF


Or maybe this...

I was trying to point that out with actual numbers from 2021-to today, but before we had one officially announced and other "here we go", people still did not take that seriously.

Despite if you'd focus on numbers OR actual transfer-market success, it is absolutely visible that there has been massive shift from 2021 onwards.

First half of the season we were held back by many injuries and suspensions of our key players. We are JUST GETTING STARTED now :) .

Let's be real, you're a bit of an idiot aren't you.
 

Thought this was an odd thing to say, talking about Kulusevski as F9

We thought playing him through middle today would help us with his mobility and ability to run in behind. He did well.

I’m not knocking Kulusevski's performance in this game here, it was ok, but they are not attributes you would associate for him, and we didn’t really play to them in this game. I would have said his physicality and ability to drop in and hold onto the ball a bit better than Son were more appropriate.

I mean he's not going out pace a wardrobe in behind, let alone a CB.
And yet he scored both goals by...


Running in behind.

He's obviously shown those traits in training, so it was felt he could do a job. Turns out they were right.

Making runs in behind are not reliant on pace, they're more about timing the runs intelligently.

Kane has been doing that for years, and he's no speed merchant either.
 
Our results vs:

Bottom 7 - 14 Games - 10 Wins, 2 Draws, 2 Losses (32 pts)
Sheffield United (2W), Burnley (2W), Luton (2W), Nottingham Forest (2W), Brentford (1W1D), Everton (1W1D), Wolves (2L)

Middle 6 - 12 Games - 7 Wins, 2 Draws, 2 Losses (23 pts)
Fulham (1W1L), Bournemouth (2W), Brighton (1W1L), Crystal Palace (2W), West Ham United (1D1L), Manchester United (1W1D)

Top 7 - 12 Games - 3 Wins, 2 Draws, 7 Losses (11 pts)
Newcastle (1W1L), Chelsea (2L), Aston Villa (1W,1L), Liverpool (1W1L), Woolwich (1D1L), Manchester City (1D1L)

This was the first year I've thought we did well against the bottom clubs, if only we just showed up against Wolves. If we strengthen properly no reason why we cannot improve against the top of the league. Those 5 defeats in 6 were all against the top teams this season.

Just show that really bar the Wolves games and the single Fulham game not really many stinker against teams you would expect us to beat

Implies to me the issue ain't the system but the quality of the squad. System works against teams with worse teams but seems to come unstuck when we go toe to toe v teams around us.
 
One thing that I just noticed - we conceded just two goals less this season, compared to last season.

Despite... you know, getting in 2 new starters in defense + new and better goalkeeper.

I mean.. we upgraded from Dier to van de Ven and as a result only managed to concede 2 goals less?!?

Come on, however optimistic or pessimistic you are, this has to sound alarming? No?
We conceded a lot from corners and free kicks , Kane was like Drogba a fantastic defender at set pieces . I think some of those goals don’t happen with Harry
 
One thing that I just noticed - we conceded just two goals less this season, compared to last season.

Despite... you know, getting in 2 new starters in defense + new and better goalkeeper.

I mean.. we upgraded from Dier to van de Ven and as a result only managed to concede 2 goals less?!?

Come on, however optimistic or pessimistic you are, this has to sound alarming? No?

You are failing to take into account the complete change in tactics/systems. If we played the exact same kind of defensive tactics that Conte employed then you'd have a point.

However, we do not. We play with a very high line, and much more attacking, so it's not exactly a surprise.

I'm not saying there isn't work to do defensively within our system, mind, but for me, the above is a reasonable explanation. We have work to do on set pieces for sure!
 
If you're right it means Spurs are winning so I'm happy. I'm not convinced about Postecoglou at this point. It bothers me that the second time through the league things dropped off and if you break out Spurs record against the three levels of the league (as someone else did in a post here) there's no proof the system can work against the better teams. The answer to that is always, "When Postecoglou gets his players" and things obviously should improve if he gets upgrades. But Spurs don't spend enough to have the depth he would need to make his system work. I think at that point Big Ange will turn again into Angry Ange. It won't end well.
It is a matter of evolving the squad lots has already been done but loads need to be done - hojbjerg and royal imo decent prem players but don’t fit ange ball and need replacing - Gil going by his Chelsea cameo (and we don’t have much else) is not good enough needs replacing - lo celso and Richie too injury prone and unreliable and probably need replacing - then the whole army of loanee/ injured players need offloading and replacing

The starting XI at the beginning of the season were fantastic it was Chelsea at home where the wheels literally fell off - for 20 minutes we were unplayable sonny scored to make it 2-0 but ruled out for the tightest of offsides - then it all went wrong - penalty sending offs suspensions injuries Asian cup and afcons meant we never really recovered our mojo or played as well since - a full preseason with a better suited squad that is prem savvy (vdv udogie vicario sarr will all be better next season) bodes well and I expect to improve on this season
 
And yet he scored both goals by...


Running in behind.

He's obviously shown those traits in training, so it was felt he could do a job. Turns out they were right.

Making runs in behind are not reliant on pace, they're more about timing the runs intelligently.

Kane has been doing that for years, and he's no speed merchant either.
They are absolutely reliant upon pace, in particular acceleration. Richie hasn’t got it either which is why he’s always offside.

He played well and it was good to see him score but he was up against one of the worst defences in PL history.
 
One thing that I just noticed - we conceded just two goals less this season, compared to last season.

Despite... you know, getting in 2 new starters in defense + new and better goalkeeper.

I mean.. we upgraded from Dier to van de Ven and as a result only managed to concede 2 goals less?!?

Come on, however optimistic or pessimistic you are, this has to sound alarming? No?

Not so sure about that.

We also massively downgraded in attack losing Kane but still scored a lot.

We play a totally different style of football where a high line means our attack and midfield have to press brilliantly to prevent counters. Our forwards are the start of our defence, we could have prime Maldini but if as a team we don’t close in the right way when losing the ball we will get thumped.

Case in point peak Liverpool with Mane who was almost as important as VVD for defending. To fix our defending we need to fix our attack and midfield, hence why the links to players like Gallagher who are monsters off the ball. If we get a top forward line next season we will improve both our defending and attacking.
 
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