Ange Postecoglou joined Tottenham Hotspur on 6th June 2023 with hopes to bring the London club back into the top four and clinch their first trophy since the 2008 League Cup.
When he joined the Premier League, leaving Scottish giants Celtic, many were sceptical and rightfully so. There is a massive difference in quality where the Premier League is concerned, with the Scottish Premiership lacking massively in comparison and this caused many eyebrows to raise when Postecoglou was favourited & appointed.
In spite of this, he joined the club and spent the summer purchasing the tools he needed to go forward in the season.
When the Australian joined Spurs, he straight away implemented his identity. His high line, attacking football became loved amongst the fans who were previous victims to Antonio Conte's more negative style of play.
Not only did Postecoglou implement an identity in Tottenham, but he brought along great talent, an honourable mention being Mickey Van De Ven. The defence has been a painful conversation amongst Tottenham fans for a long time, many very vocal on this area being their biggest weakness & a new manager straight away identifying this immediately gained favour.
By bringing in the young, nimble and silky defender, Postecoglou was able to transform his backline. The additions of Vicario, as well as promoting home grown talent Udogie to stand alongside Christian Romero & Pedro Porro seemed to be a step in a defensively solid direction
Yet, the honeymoon period didn't last long, with many Tottenham fans taking off their white tinted glasses and seeing their new manager's ultra attacking style of play for the defensive pot holes it has.
After losing to Bournemouth, fans were seen chanting and arguing with the Aussie, slating his style of play. In fact, since joining, Postecoglou's Tottenham have conceded 40 goals and at one point the Lilywhites failed to keep a clean sheet in the Premier League for seven games straight.
Goals are not an issue for this team, it's the defensive side that has seen Tottenham be up by multiple goals a Premier League record of eleven times and still lose. Despite this, Postecoglou has been vocal at persisting with this style, stating he will not change his style of play despite criticism.
These words could be his damning. After seven losses in the Premier League, and a run of three without a win in the Europa League, momentum is non-existent. How a team goes from being within two points of the Champions League places to struggling in the bottom half of the Premier League is a question a manager surely needs to answer.
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