Ange Postecoglou ‘destroyed’ after depleted Tottenham lost again, maintains ‘we deserved to win’

LONDON — Ange Postecoglou adapted. His idealistic vision of how Tottenham should play football has been dimmed in recent games, and it was again today. However, many adjustments can only be made when the cracks have become fissures. Any manager, whatever his inclinations towards pragmatism, would find that there are no reasonable adjustments to the numerical crisis in which Tottenham find themselves.

It was bad enough before Destiny Udogie injured her hamstring against Wolves, let alone when illness overtook Fraser Forster. When Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon took a look at the team sheet on Saturday morning, you would have seen them lining up against Tottenham’s third-choice goalkeeper, third-choice centre-back, second- or third-choice right-back on the flank opposite, Radu Dragusin and an 18-year-old player. old midfielder moonlighting as a central defender. The latter two “literally got up from their sick beds to play together,” Postecoglou said. Dragusin, “destroyed at half-time” failed to return for the second half, leaving debutant Brandon Austin protected by Archie Gray and Djed Spence.

Long before that, Postecoglou had made his adjustments. Since Spurs blew a 2-0 home lead against Chelsea, they have been lining up with a double pivot in midfield instead of their manager’s favored 4-3-3. Given the need to protect the backline, it was immediately apparent today that the intensity of Tottenham’s press was not what it was before. The line was still extremely high (some things will never change), but reasonable adjustments had been made in light of the situation the Spurs find themselves in.

With Rodrigo Bentancur suspended and abandoning Yves Bissouma, it was Lucas Bergvall’s turn to intervene alongside Pape Matar Sarr. He did it bravely for an hour and earned praise from his manager. “It was incredible that today Lucas played in that position when he was 18 years old. I see a lot of positive things.”

Bergvall accepted the pressure that came from Newcastle’s robust and dynamic midfield of experienced internationals. The teenager carried the ball fearlessly as he evaded the attention of Joelinton and Bruno Guimaraes. If it hadn’t been for that, Pedro Porro would never have seen the space to sneak up and deliver the cross with which Dominic Solanke opened the scoring.

The thing is that at the most decisive moment, Bergvall was one of many young players whose inexperience was punished. Gray was closer to the Newcastle press than he should have been to receive Brandon Austin’s pass, but of course he was. Another 18-year-old, who plays as a central defender despite being a natural midfielder, in his first season in the Premier League can be forgiven for not understanding why he needed to be outside the penalty area rather than in front of it. .

Bergvall wanted to push the ball past Joelinton and send the Spurs flying down the field. Just 90 seconds earlier, what had led to his team’s first goal, would now lead Newcastle to an equaliser. The ball hit the Brazilian instead of going around him, Guimaraes put Anthony Gordon in and the lead was lost with a low shot that a more experienced goalkeeper than Austin could have hit.

Postecoglou seemed to believe that this was the moment when the game would change. He was “angrier than ever in my career that the players have been denied proper reward for a fantastic performance.” If he never verbalized exactly what he meant, he would eventually suggest that a non-handball, in the build-up to the goal, was the cause of his fury.

“I’m gutted that the boys didn’t get the reward they deserved,” he added. “Our football was excellent against a very good opponent who is in shape and in a good place. I think it was brilliant, outstanding and a game we deserved to win.

“I know what everyone wants me to say [about the goal]. “All I will say is that on any other day, on a fair and equal playing field, we would have won that game.”

Under the letter of the law, the goal should have been maintained. Ahead of the 2020–21 season, the rules of handball were changed so that, while a goal would still be ruled out if its scorer accidentally touched it, it would no longer be disallowed if the same thing happened to a teammate in the build-up. Likewise, it’s easy to see why Postecoglou feels aggrieved. He it feels As if Newcastle gained too much benefit because the ball inadvertently hit Joelinton’s hand.

Instead, it was just the latest stroke of bad luck for a manager who will face more questions over his future with Tottenham even closer to the relegation places than the Europeans. Luck is simply not on your side. In fact, it was almost a surprise that when Austin went down in the second half he was able to escape a hit. Until Thursday, this team only had 11 fit players in training.

With this in mind, it is worth noting how impressive Tottenham ultimately were in passing. In the first half they held up as well as expected given the disparity in talent between the two teams, particularly in the midfield. It took an excellent combination of strength and technique to finally secure Newcastle’s lead, the visitors taking the ball from a Spurs shot before Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali worked the ball from left to right and Jacob Murphy. His low cross demanded an exhausted Dragusin do something. All he could do was deflect the ball into Isak’s boot.

From there, Newcastle would hardly be a threat again. Some of that is in them. For all the talent with which they attacked their early deficit, they seemed determined to play like an underdog desperately clinging to a lead from about the hour mark onwards. Likewise, introducing James Maddison, Heung-Min Son and Bissouma at the same time gave Spurs more control in the Newcastle half, less energy but more guile.

Even before that, Postecoglou’s men had refused to give in to the seeming impossibility of the task with only one starting defender in their eleven. Sarr had advanced from a good place from the start. Solanke had opportunities to add another. Parity never came, but it was easy to see why Tottenham’s head coach felt bad.

After all, he has done what his critics have asked of him. Against a more powerful opponent, Postecoglou had approached this task with a degree of caution, modifying his system to hold Tottenham rather than take the game to his opponent. The fact that it hasn’t paid off says more about how challenging his task is right now. There just aren’t any players to do much.