LONDON — Tottenham Hotspur‘s commitment to “Angeball” was so complete last season that their supporters reacted to a 4-1 home defeat to Chelsea in November 2023 by serenading manager Ange Postecoglou.
On Sunday, 13 months later, following a 4-3 loss to the same opposition, those same fans were left questioning more than ever whether he is the right man to take them forward.
There were boos at full-time, but the atmosphere was not mutinous. Son Heung-Min‘s 96th-minute consolation goal drew some of the sting from any hostility, although in truth, thousands of Spurs fans had long since headed for the exits after Chelsea’s fourth goal ended the contest more than 10 minutes earlier.
When the dust settles on another undeniably entertaining but utterly manic afternoon, though, there will be many of the view that there has to be some sort of control added to all of this chaos for Postecoglou to point to progress.
After the dour football Antonio Conte served up during his 16 months in charge, Postecoglou’s expansive approach felt liberating to many in this part of north London. The swashbuckling, uncompromising style was more in keeping with the club’s traditions, so much so that the usually reserved chairman Daniel Levy felt sufficiently moved to declare “We’ve got our Tottenham back” at a fans’ forum event in September 2023, barely three months after appointing Postecoglou.
What a distant memory that feels now. In fact, this game is in danger of resembling a metaphor for Postecoglou’s time at Spurs: start well, generate dizzying excitement, lose players to injury, look increasingly one-dimensional and end up defeated.
Those still keeping faith with Postecoglou will point to the first 15 minutes when Spurs were mesmeric. They required two embarrassing slips from Marc Cucurella: the first punished ruthlessly by Brennan Johnson crossing for Dominic Solanke to steer home a fifth-minute strike; the second gifted a chance that Dejan Kulusevski took brilliantly, working an opening on his left foot and firing low past Robert Sánchez.
Chelsea’s ongoing teething problems in playing out from the back were brutally exposed, but when Jadon Sancho jinked his way in off the left and produced a superb low finish in off Fraser Forster‘s left post to halve the deficit on 18 minutes, suddenly it was Tottenham’s fragility that looked more obvious.
Blues boss Enzo Maresca cited an important tactical tweak at half-time. Romeo Lavia felt a hamstring injury and was withdrawn as a precaution, prompting Malo Gusto‘s introduction, with Moisés Caicedo switching from right-back to a more natural defensive midfield role.
“Watching the way they were pressing, we had Cole Palmer on one side and Enzo Fernández on the other side, second half we had Palmer on one side and Cucurella on the other side and we changed something in behind,” Maresca said after the match. “It worked quite well.”
Maresca is benefitting from a deeper squad to make such changes than Postecoglou has available to him, but there will be some disgruntled Spurs fans who question whether their manager is capable of making them, such is his resolute commitment to attack.
Tottenham’s lengthy absentee list does not help him. Spurs had already lost one of their centre-backs to injury after Postecoglou gambled on the fitness of Cristian Romero, who returned to the lineup after participating in one training session on Saturday following a toe injury that kept him out for nearly a month. He lasted 15 minutes before suffering an unrelated problem with his quad.
Johnson lasted 53 minutes, forced off with illness, as the momentum and energy fell away from Spurs’ performance.
A Chelsea equaliser felt inevitable, and so it proved when Yves Bissouma recklessly brought down Caicedo in the box and Palmer slotted home the resulting spot kick. Palmer probed again and his deflected shot fell perfectly for Enzo Fernandez to fire Chelsea in front with 17 minutes left.
Micky van de Ven, thrown in ahead of schedule following a hamstring injury after training well, could only play 79 minutes.
Pape Matar Sarr fouled Palmer for second penalty he converted on 84 minutes to become the player with the best conversion rate in Premier League history, now standing at 12 from 12. In fact, Palmer’s 50th goal involvement — 33 goals and 17 assists — came in his 48th Premier League game, and only Erling Haaland for Manchester City (39), Andy Cole for Newcastle United (43), and Mohamed Salah for Liverpool (46) have ever reached that total in fewer appearances.
Son reduced the arrears late on, but by that stage the debate about Postecoglou was in full swing. The Australian suggested officials “froze” out of fear of making a difficult decision when the VAR ruled that Caicedo did not use excessive force in his late first-half challenge on Sarr.
Fan unrest has been bubbling underneath the surface. Thursday’s 1-0 defeat at AFC Bournemouth ended with ugly scenes in which Postecoglou confronted angry travelling supporters, following on from similar flashpoints, including when losing at home to Ipswich Town last month.
“Fair play to them, I thought the crowd were good today, they got behind the team but when the season has gone like it has for us … at 2-0 to lose your centre-back, it does disrupt you,” Posetcoglou said. “You started the game so well and you have to make substitution, which means you are hampered making substitutions in the second half. These things come along and you go, ‘Here we go, another challenge for us and nothing is running smoothly.’ The crowd probably senses that as well. It almost becomes a self-fulfilling thing where you are expecting things to go wrong.
“It is a tough moment because there are all these tools you could possibly use as a manager when you are in tough moments to turn things around, and our limited resources from a playing perspective doesn’t allow us to do that, so we’ve got to find other ways. It is not through a lack of effort. The players who are constantly out there because we can’t rotate are giving all they can. It diminishes performance as well because they probably need a rest.
“It is something we need to tackle head on. Keep pushing on. There is still plenty to play for, for us. I still sense within this squad there is a real conviction in what we are doing, and if we maintain that, we’ll turn our season around. At some point hopefully we hit some smoother waters.”
Tottenham need to change course quickly for Postecoglou not to be thrown overboard.