“This idea that you cannot change is alien to me. The game-state dictates how you play,” Jamie Carragher told Sky Sports. “I wake up every morning hoping the sun is shining so I can put some shorts and a T-shirt on, but if it is raining, you put your coat on.”
Carragher’s comments were directed at Tottenham after they conceded four goals in their defeat to Chelsea in December but they were just as applicable on Sunday as Spurs were eliminated from the FA Cup away to Aston Villa. It was clear inside a minute.
Ange Postecoglou himself described Villa afterwards as “one of the best teams in the country at home” – so why was full-back Pedro Porro caught so high up the pitch within seconds? He was behind not only goalscorer Jacob Ramsey but Lucas Digne too.
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Postecoglou defends his players saying criticism is ‘agenda-driven’
Even as Postecoglou launched an impassioned defence of his players, talking of an “agenda-driven” narrative centred around him and his team, there is the suspicion that it is he – rather than anyone outside the club – who is undermining their best efforts.
The statistics still tell us this Tottenham team, for all their struggles this season, play a little differently to everyone else. The principles of play that had Postecoglou’s Spurs five points clear at the top of the table early last season remain in place.
No team in the Premier League has won the ball high up the pitch more times than Tottenham. No team allows so few passes per defensive action. No team plays with more width than Tottenham. By design, it is supposed to be intense and expansive.
Asked why that intensity was not there against Villa, Postecoglou said: “Because they are tired, mate. They can’t. If we had not played on Thursday night and I had rotated that team, do you think it would have been pressing a bit more aggressively today?”
Postecoglou, it seems, was aware that his approach would not be so effective for what was, remember, a one-off cup tie. And yet, too often Spurs’ positioning suggested they were still set up to press. Bodies in advance of the ball. No protection for the defence.
The Australian coach appeared to acknowledge this with a sensible half-time switch, introducing Yves Bissouma in place of Mikey Moore. It gave his side more of a foothold in the game and they went on to enjoy their best spell of the match thereafter.
There had been hints of this more flexible approach in the recent win over Brentford, a game in which Tottenham dropped deeper, soaked up some pressure and then came through it to claim the points. At Villa, the adjustment came much too late.
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Peter Smith explains how Postecoglou adapted his approach at Brentford
This idea persists that to make any compromise whatsoever is to dilute the message, undermine all that hard work. “My responsibility at this club is this group of players and team, to get them to play in the manner I want them to. That will bring us success.”
But the alternative is surely damaging too. Not just for Postecoglou but to these young players, the ones who are, he says, his primary focus. Moore does not want to be hooked at half-time. Antonin Kinsky and Archie Gray are not relishing being so exposed.
“You cannot judge this group of players on what has happened,” says Postecoglou. “They have given everything. Two 18-year-olds, a 17-year-old, a 19-year-old and a 21-year-old goalkeeper.” He added: “It cannot be that people think that is an excuse.”
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Jamie Carragher explains why he was not surprised by Spurs’ 4-0 defeat to Liverpool
He is right, up to a point. But then, few are judging these players. Gray is a real prospect and will enjoy better times in his career than this. Many of them, it is to be hoped, in a Spurs shirt. Lucas Bergvall has shown plenty of promise. It was Mathys Tel’s first start.
No, the frustrations are being directed elsewhere. It was chairman Daniel Levy who was the focus of fans’ ire at Villa Park. It is Postecoglou expected to front up now. Because the argument that these are mere pups ill-equipped for the challenge only goes so far.
Gray and Bergvall accounted for almost £50m of the club’s transfer budget last summer. Much of the rest was spent on Wilson Odobert. Tel, from Bayern Munich, is one of the teenagers he mentions. Kinsky was a £12.5m arrival from Slavia Prague just last month.
The Czech made a promising start against Liverpool so it is a little alarming how his confidence seems to have taken a hit since then. There is a 36-year-old former England goalkeeper on the bench in Fraser Forster. Opting for youth is a choice, not an excuse.
Of course, the idea is that they were there to support, to be eased into a team built around more experienced figures, such as World Cup-winning defender Cristian Romero. Injuries have changed the entire equation, shifting the dynamic, and the results are ugly.
“It is just injuries. I mean, you can walk outside and say, ‘jeez, it is really bright’, and say to yourself, ‘maybe it is not the sun’. But it is the sun, mate. We have just got injuries.” Robbed of 12 first-teamers recently, their injury record has indeed been wretched.
Any team would suffer without their best players but not this badly, and not for so long without making the requisite adjustments. Besides, the difficulty for Postecoglou was that he had exacerbated the issue himself through his decisions and his approach.
Bringing back both Romero and Micky van de Ven for the aforementioned game against Chelsea was a surprise that brought little sympathy his way. The medical team may have signed off on it but the move did not seem prudent even before both broke down.
Misfortune? Perhaps not given that Postecoglou’s Tottenham have made more sprints than any other team in the Premier League this season. The evidence suggests that way of playing comes at a cost. The number of muscle injuries is unlikely to be coincidence.
Supporters will still be divided because the desire to play ambitious, front-foot football with young players feels like a mission statement worth buying into. But it is defeats, not an agenda, that shape the narrative. Waiting for players to get fit might not be enough.
