Well, to be clear part of it is that Ange himself managed to clear all of those hurdles despite varyingly long odds of doing so. I think retroactively considering our run through the competition as an easy and likely accomplishment is wrong.
But I do think the chances would have been lower under Mason, whose skills I don't have a ton of respect for as a 33-year-old who has never properly taken charge of his own team. I hope he gets the West Brom job and can begin his career in earnest.
To answer the question though, I think both the consistency of message and principles under Ange helped us through the competition, and that he did offer some ineffable nous about getting through those crunch do-or-die moments. He instilled a steely mentality in the knockout stages that his more decorated predecessors couldn't.
Both the guy who whipped Spurs into a mentally strong winner in European away legs and the guy who lost at home to Ipswich on the road to a 38 point season are the same guy. It's a funny old game.
