Everton have only lost once since beating us, to Bournemouth. Four wins, including against Spurs and Brighton, and a draw against Liverpool
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Manager Ange Postecoglou
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Ipswich just drew with Villa too
Tottenham's win percentage when Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, and Destiny Udogie have started together in the Premier League is 75%.
If we lost the other 25%, we'd finish on 80 points.
That's why Ange is still here.
The only back 4 with a better win % in the past 5 years - Liverpool: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip, Virgil van Dijk, Andrew Robertson at 78%
If we lost the other 25%, we'd finish on 80 points.
That's why Ange is still here.
The only back 4 with a better win % in the past 5 years - Liverpool: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip, Virgil van Dijk, Andrew Robertson at 78%
The reason they don't play as much is because his idiotic tactics run them into the ground.
It's not rocket science.
More along the lines of "Ange's methods contributing to the injury crisis":
Inside story of the injury crisis ravaging Tottenham Hotspur
Ange Postecoglou has pointed to a demanding schedule as he grapples with an absentee list that could fill a starting XI — but his intense methods could be the problem
February 07 2025, 10.30pm GMT
Even in the toughest moments, Ange Postecoglou has tried his best to laugh. In one game he feigned a hamstring injury after stretching for a ball on the touchline and in press conferences he has regularly invited journalists to make up the numbers in sessions. “You blokes could have joined in our training,” he said on Friday, “and I mean that seriously.”
Yet after defeat at Villa Park rounded off another miserable week in a miserable season for Tottenham Hotspur, the head coach shook his head and covered his face with his hands. Does this still look like a Postecoglou team? “I really don’t know how else to explain it,” he replied. “If you can’t see this team is trying to play with no rest, Thursday-Sunday, Thursday-Sunday, Thursday-Sunday . . . if you think that’s not at all a factor in how this team is performing, there’s nothing else I can say.”
The depths of Tottenham’s injury crisis are well documented, even if Postecoglou has been irritated by some sections of the media criticising his tactics without acknowledging his absentees. Spurs have not had a full squad available for a single match this season and since beating Aston Villa 4-1 on November 3, when they were three points off third in the Premier League table, they have never had fewer than five players out. In recent weeks that number has been teetering between ten and 12.
Vicario has missed the past 21 games in all competitions after an ankle injury against Man City but is set to return against Man United this weekend
ADAM VAUGHAN/EPA
In defence, where Tottenham have been hit hardest by injuries to the goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, Destiny Udogie, Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, Postecoglou has fielded 18 different combinations of back four and goalkeeper. According to Premier Injuries, the database founded by Ben Dinnery, Spurs players have missed 949 days this season, the second-most in the division behind only Brighton & Hove Albion and significantly more than other clubs in Europe: Woolwich (728), Manchester City (664), Aston Villa (559), Liverpool (536) and Manchester United (493).
The big question for the Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy and technical director Johan Lange at the end of the season, or sooner if results do not improve, is whether this injury-ravaged campaign stems from bad luck or bad management. For his part, Postecoglou has never publicly placed the blame elsewhere. “Every decision that is made is on me,” he said on January 25. “If you’re looking for a head on a stick, take mine.”
But he also dismisses suggestions he could have responded differently, with other players or another approach. “You can walk outside and say, ‘Jeez, it’s really bright’, and say to yourself, ‘Maybe it’s not the sun,’ but it is the sun, mate,” he said in the same press conference. “We’ve just got injuries.”
This is not a one-off for Postecoglou, who had injury problems at Brisbane Roar, Yokohama Marinos and Celtic. Each time, the players struggled with the intensity of his methods, adjusted and then excelled, establishing his record of always winning a trophy in his second year.
Van de Ven has played just twice for Spurs since October 30 and is not expected to come back until next month
DYLAN MARTINEZ/REUTERS
At Tottenham, his belief was that the same would happen again, even as they were derailed last season by injuries to Van de Ven (hamstring), James Maddison (ankle) and Rodrigo Bentancur (ankle) in November, before Udogie (hamstring), Timo Werner (thigh) and Richarlison (hamstring) went down in the final weeks. Medical staff said training was too aggressive, pointing to data for sprint distances and high-intensity distances as evidence, but Postecoglou insisted the tempo had to be maintained for the players to adjust.
At the end of last season Tottenham sacked their long-standing head of medicine and sports science, Geoff Scott, who had been at the club for 20 years. Scott fell out with Postecoglou over the Australian’s high-intensity training methods and his approach to recovery, although the club say Scott’s departure was part of a wider review and restructuring of the medical department, and nothing to do with Postecoglou. Scott was replaced by Adam Brett, who was previously at Brighton and is now Tottenham’s director of performance services.
There was some logic to Postecoglou sticking to his guns, given his success has always centred on physical prowess, with his “we never stop” mantra hardwired into his coaching. But it is hard not to see a link between that same breathless approach and the spate of soft-tissue, and particularly hamstring, injuries at Tottenham. This season alone, nine players (Van de Ven, Romero, Udogie, Ben Davies, Son Heung-min, Yves Bissouma, Richarlison, Werner and Wilson Odobert) have suffered hamstring injuries while, according to Premier Injuries, 39 per cent of Tottenham’s injury problems have been hamstring related, compared with the league average of 23.5 per cent.
Dr Adam Field, lecturer in sport science and elite performance at Manchester Metropolitan University, estimates that “around half of hamstring injuries are caused during sprinting”, which is one area where Tottenham trump everyone else. This season, Spurs are top for overall sprints (4,200) and top for pressures made by a player sprinting (812) in the Premier League.
Postecoglou’s squad, which started the season with 18 senior outfield players, was never equipped to play such a demanding schedule
CATHERINE IVILL – AMA/GETTY IMAGES
Stylistically, Postecoglou’s side are unusual, given they run aggressively both in and out of possession. Most teams commit either to pressing hard off the ball and resting on the ball (Woolwich, Liverpool, Brighton) or vice versa, so they drop off out of possession and play fast when they win it back (Nottingham Forest, Everton, Crystal Palace). Yet Spurs go lights-out in both. They are the most aggressive pressers in the league (9.4 opposition passes per defensive action) and also the fourth-fastest attackers (2.11 metres per second). Only Bournemouth, who are not competing in Europe this season, are also in the top five for both.
This means there is no let-up, even down to the little details like Tottenham being the quickest side at restarts with an average delay time of only 23.8 seconds. Everywhere you look, Postecoglou’s team want to outplay, outpress and outrun the opposition.
Whether this approach is sustainable in the Premier League would be up for debate even if conditions were perfect. But Tottenham, who started the season with only 18 senior outfield players, were never equipped to last. Van de Ven, Richarlison, Odobert and Son breaking down in the first ten games started a vicious circle where injuries place a strain on the ones left, which leads to further injuries and greater strain again. By December, several of Postecoglou’s picks were playing in what medical staff call “the red zone”.
Postecoglou has been unlucky too. Bentancur was banned for seven matches after he used a racial slur about Son on Uruguayan television and has twice been out with head injuries. Bissouma was suspended by the club for inhaling laughing gas, while Vicario broke his ankle when collecting a bouncing ball against Manchester City and Solanke twisted his knee when taking a shot in training. “Sometimes no one’s to blame,” Postecoglou said. “We’re going through a bad trot.”
Yet he could have played Sergio Reguilón, who was a regular under José Mourinho but hasn’t started a single Premier League game this season. Djed Spence, a revelation in recent weeks, didn’t come in until December 15. Mikey Moore, the 17-year-old winger, was promoted but other academy players have been held back with Postecoglou insisting he didn’t want to “expose young players” and “destroy careers”.
Instead, he turned to a trusted core. Since November, Pedro Porro (first), Archie Gray (eighth) and Radu Dragusin (tenth) are in the top ten most-played defenders in Europe while Dejan Kulusevski is third for midfielders and Son fourth for attackers. Spurs are the only European team with a player in the top five for highest usage in every position.
Son is among a host of Spurs players who rank in the top ten in usage for their position across Europe
CHLOE KNOTT/TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR FC/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
Even worse than the spate of new injuries were the recurring ones. Odobert, a £25million signing from Burnley last summer, injured a hamstring on September 18 and returned on October 24, only to undergo surgery on November 17 after injuring “the same area”, Postecoglou said. Richarlison suffered a hamstring injury three weeks after recovering from a calf problem and now has a calf problem three weeks after recovering from a hamstring injury. Son and Davies also came back, only to drop down again almost immediately.
Van de Ven and Romero’s fleeting returns in November appear to have been particularly misjudged. Both unexpectedly started against Chelsea on December 8 after Van de Ven had missed five weeks with a hamstring injury and Romero had been struggling with a toe problem for more than a month. Neither made it through the match as Romero was forced off in the 15th minute and Van de Ven went off in the 79th, both with hamstring problems. They are yet to play again in the league, despite Van de Ven appearing for 45 minutes against Elfsborg in Europe on January 30. On Friday Postecoglou put them in a group of players expected to return in “two to three weeks”.
Tottenham’s injured players
Radu Dragusin (knee), Dominic Solanke (knee), Timo Werner (thigh), Cristian Romero (thigh), Brennan Johnson (calf/shin/heel), James Maddison (calf/shin/heel), Destiny Udogie (thigh), Guglielmo Vicario (ankle/foot), Micky van de Ven (thigh), Richarlison (calf/shin/heel), Wilson Odobert (thigh)
Postecoglou insists those looking for someone to blame for recurring problems are living “in the world of hindsight” but insiders at Tottenham believe he rolls the dice too often and too freely. Players who have completed their recommended “sprint distance” will stay on longer than planned even though the risk rate of recurrence for a player returning from a hamstring injury, for example, doubles after an hour. The advice on Van de Ven against Chelsea was 60 minutes but he kept playing until the 79th, after Romero had already gone off.
Tottenham have a best-in-class training ground with facilities for recovery that are the envy of most clubs in the Premier League. But some at Spurs believe certain players are not always meeting the highest standards with their recovery routines, particularly on days off when they are given guidance for what to do away from the training ground.
Postecoglou may have to wait until the end of the season to build any resilience within his squad
MIKE EGERTON/PA WIRE
Sleep, in particular, is viewed as a crucial factor in injury prevention, which is why crammed schedules and European travel commitments can be so disruptive. There was some surprise when a sickness bug hit a handful of players before the game against Newcastle United on January 4, just after Postecoglou had given the team time off following the draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers six days earlier.
Postecoglou cannot be accused of burying his head in the sand. He is self-critical and looking for solutions, even if a wider medical review will have to wait until May. Already this week there have been discussions and visits around plans for pre-season amid suggestions the players may have been recalled too early last year and then, ironically, trained too lightly.
The close season is the one period when resilience can be properly built in and as other clubs like Woolwich and Manchester City have learnt to their cost, squad depth is now the biggest trump card in the era of congestion, when injuries, rest and rotation all have to be baked in.
If Postecoglou has new ideas, will he be given time to implement them? In a season of strains and setbacks, his own recovery is far from guaranteed.
The thing about this IMO is that even if Ange is fired and tbh, unless they win the EL he will be, they have just sacked off their long-standing (and regularly inept) medical staff and brought in Adam Brett from Brighton which is another club all about intensity (hey are right up there in terms of pressures, sprints, and all the things this article pushes as negatives). This wasn't an uncalculated risk by the club to go in this direction with Ange it clearly isn't that they didn't know there was a risk this could happen.
They surely have to go and find another high-intensity, full-throttle coach if they have decided to build the squad and revamp the medical department to fit this way of playing. Maybe it will be a case of finding one who is a shade more measured than Ange but in the same breath, if they do that and go for a more beige version, what's stopping us from just becoming Brighton or Bournemouth and slightly overachieving in the league whilst ducking out of cups and Europe every time because of the intensity? If we want to be different to those clubs, we are going to need the same big squad that we need now.
Thats a very small sample size of games though and heavily weighed in those first 10 games last season. Since then theyve played together very very infrequently.
Thats dippers back 4 played a lot of games together so 78% of a higher figure is much more impressive
It is a small sample size, and just goes to show that Ange has barely had his best squad available. He's also rarely had his first choice backups available.
That’s not really much of a defence of Ange though, is it? Good managers win games because they know what they are doing not just because specific players are on the pitch.
Poch beat Real Madrid with Winks, Sanchez and Dier in his team and Toby going off after 20 minutes to be replaced by Sissoko with Son and Dembele starting on the bench.
That must be 1000 pages of the same arguments going round in circles. Good work people, keep it going 
Btw does anyone know what came first the chicken or the egg
Btw does anyone know what came first the chicken or the egg
The rooster, probablyThat must be 1000 pages of the same arguments going round in circles. Good work people, keep it going
Btw does anyone know what came first the chicken or the egg
It's a cockerel round 'ere
Evolutionarily speaking, the egg (in general) came first...Btw does anyone know what came first the chicken or the egg
But to have a true "chicken egg" you need a chicken. So they are very intertwined.
Therefore, depending on how you define "egg," the answer can vary.
Like when Ange beat City 4-0 with Dragusin and Davies.
Or when Ange beat Liverpool with 3 18 year olds?
In the same way I don't blame players who always seem to play poorly, as they are picked by the manager,I don't blame Postecglou for still being our manager.
I just can't believe it to be the case, but it ain't Postecoglou,s fault he is still at the helm.
And the one element of perspective I will throw in is this.
Look at Leicester, United and Everton. Only one of those three has so far seen an uptick of fortune since they changed managers.
I just can't believe it to be the case, but it ain't Postecoglou,s fault he is still at the helm.
And the one element of perspective I will throw in is this.
Look at Leicester, United and Everton. Only one of those three has so far seen an uptick of fortune since they changed managers.
For fucks sake!
Thats got me right going!
I knew Levy and Ange were up to something but couldn't quiet figure out what.
Levy was not conned by this charlatan:they are actually working together... but are now in panic mode as their project(s) implode. It seems one journo has had enough.
Read this from yesterday and weep.
www.theguardian.com
Levy bet the farm, on Ange. And this included the Youth and Women teams. There was then a media strategy to hide this information as the results didn't match the bullshit claims made by them both.
Taken from the article:
"One club” is one of Vilahamn’s favourite phrases. He meets his counterpart Ange Postecoglou on a regular basis. The two teams share backroom staff and facilities and recruitment expertise and a common vision of fast, attacking football"
Hahahahahahaha! Really?
Well let's look closer at the Spurs ladies under Ange's Mate's Ball and his mate. Again, from the article:
In practice, and certainly against the bigger clubs, it works out a little differently. Tottenham pass the ball out from the back. Tottenham get pressed. Tottenham panic wildly. At which point, Tottenham either lose the ball or lump it long. This season Spurs are second in the WSL for touches in their own defensive third and only eighth for touches in the attacking third.
At some point, this is going to end in tragic violence.
Levy, Ange, Munn, Lang et al are fleecing the club and playing you lot for muggs knowing you will do nothing .... but will go and stand in the frigid cold outside the stadium, fingers shaking, popping a balloon to show your displeasure
Okay, rant over (kinda).
There is a little carp water near me with good winter form. I am going to get my rod out for a couple of hours and just... chill.
There will be plenty of time to get my blood pressure up later this afternoon when the inevitable starts happening and the fraud is just stood there, gurning, doing nothing on the touch line.
Thats got me right going!
I knew Levy and Ange were up to something but couldn't quiet figure out what.
Levy was not conned by this charlatan:they are actually working together... but are now in panic mode as their project(s) implode. It seems one journo has had enough.
Read this from yesterday and weep.
What is the big idea? Levy’s second-class Tottenham Women mired in mediocrity | Jonathan Liew
Ambition for the women’s team – like the men’s – seems based on hanging in there until the big money starts rolling in
www.theguardian.com
Levy bet the farm, on Ange. And this included the Youth and Women teams. There was then a media strategy to hide this information as the results didn't match the bullshit claims made by them both.
Taken from the article:
"One club” is one of Vilahamn’s favourite phrases. He meets his counterpart Ange Postecoglou on a regular basis. The two teams share backroom staff and facilities and recruitment expertise and a common vision of fast, attacking football"
Hahahahahahaha! Really?
Well let's look closer at the Spurs ladies under Ange's Mate's Ball and his mate. Again, from the article:
In practice, and certainly against the bigger clubs, it works out a little differently. Tottenham pass the ball out from the back. Tottenham get pressed. Tottenham panic wildly. At which point, Tottenham either lose the ball or lump it long. This season Spurs are second in the WSL for touches in their own defensive third and only eighth for touches in the attacking third.
At some point, this is going to end in tragic violence.
Levy, Ange, Munn, Lang et al are fleecing the club and playing you lot for muggs knowing you will do nothing .... but will go and stand in the frigid cold outside the stadium, fingers shaking, popping a balloon to show your displeasure
Okay, rant over (kinda).
There is a little carp water near me with good winter form. I am going to get my rod out for a couple of hours and just... chill.
There will be plenty of time to get my blood pressure up later this afternoon when the inevitable starts happening and the fraud is just stood there, gurning, doing nothing on the touch line.
City could and should have destroyed us in the first 15 mins alone.
But that we won - a combination of luck and counter attacking - shows he *can* adapt and we can win in challenging circumstances.
So why have we lost 25 games of the last 52 then?
And lol Liverpool at home we more than rose our luck against a team that were not their best that day. Pretty sure they addressed that and then some the following month.
Well yeah, exactly. Ange has no excuse for some of the pathetic defeats this season. If we can beat Liverpool and City with a weakened team then how the fuck can we lose to Leicester Everton?
Can only be down to his management. That first half against Everton was the work of a manager who has no idea what he’s doing.
no honesty imo and I don't buy any of his act. Unbelievable earner compared to previous. Business wise the 'appointment' may be relatively cheap short term cover to keep doing other things outside of football?For fucks sake!
Thats got me right going!
I knew Levy and Ange were up to something but couldn't quiet figure out what.
Levy was not conned by this charlatan:they are actually working together... but are now in panic mode as their project(s) implode. It seems one journo has had enough.
Read this from yesterday and weep.
What is the big idea? Levy’s second-class Tottenham Women mired in mediocrity | Jonathan Liew
Ambition for the women’s team – like the men’s – seems based on hanging in there until the big money starts rolling in
Levy bet the farm, on Ange. And this included the Youth and Women teams. There was then a media strategy to hide this information as the results didn't match the bullshit claims made by them both.
Taken from the article:
"One club” is one of Vilahamn’s favourite phrases. He meets his counterpart Ange Postecoglou on a regular basis. The two teams share backroom staff and facilities and recruitment expertise and a common vision of fast, attacking football"
Hahahahahahaha! Really?
Well let's look closer at the Spurs ladies under Ange's Mate's Ball and his mate. Again, from the article:
In practice, and certainly against the bigger clubs, it works out a little differently. Tottenham pass the ball out from the back. Tottenham get pressed. Tottenham panic wildly. At which point, Tottenham either lose the ball or lump it long. This season Spurs are second in the WSL for touches in their own defensive third and only eighth for touches in the attacking third.
At some point, this is going to end in tragic violence.
Levy, Ange, Munn, Lang et al are fleecing the club and playing you lot for muggs knowing you will do nothing .... but will go and stand in the frigid cold outside the stadium, fingers shaking, popping a balloon to show your displeasure
Okay, rant over (kinda).
There is a little carp water near me with good winter form. I am going to get my rod out for a couple of hours and just... chill.
There will be plenty of time to get my blood pressure up later this afternoon when the inevitable starts happening and the fraud is just stood there, gurning, doing nothing on the touch line.
Watch the fan forum from season previous, with the uplifting (?) music, the carefully chosen fans.. (except the one who started talking finances and the looks he got (who let him in ?- call security !!) .. modern marketing PR whatever. It's hard to watch.
No.
Levy has been taken in by the injury crisis and will give him till the end of the season.