The last and only previous Carabao Cup game of Ange Postecoglou’s time at Tottenham was at Craven Cottage, on 29 August last year. It was just the fourth game of Postecoglou’s tenure and he decided it was a good opportunity to take a look at some players he had not used much in the Premier League. So he made nine changes to the team who had just won 2-0 at Bournemouth. Spurs drew 1-1 with Fulham and then lost on penalties. Afterwards, Postecoglou insisted that in making so many changes he had not deprioritised the League Cup. “There is no European football, so how am I going to find out about our players? What opportunity would I have to do that other than the game? They are all part of our club. We’re very much at the discovery stage so we need to find out and give the players the opportunity to contribute, because that’s why they’re here.” In one sense, it did not matter. Spurs went back to their first-choice team for their league game at Burnley four days later and won 5-2, continuing their brilliant start to the Premier League season — a standard they have struggled to live up to ever since. But in another sense, it was a wasted opportunity. Because Spurs were not in Europe, they were always going to have a light fixture load last season — all the more reason to invest resources into the League Cup and push for that first trophy. And while we do not know exactly what Postecoglou learned from the players he started that evening, few of them contributed too much more for Spurs last year.
Facing a Similar Dilemma
One year on, Postecoglou now has a similar dilemma. Spurs go to Coventry City on Wednesday night to start their League Cup campaign (now that Spurs are in Europe, they enter the League Cup in the third rather than second round). And Postecoglou will have to ask himself again whether this is a game he wants to use to learn about his players or a game that he wants to win. There will certainly be a temptation to try out some new players at the Coventry Building Society Arena. Neither Lucas Bergvall nor Archie Gray has yet started a competitive game for Spurs. Djed Spence has still never started for Spurs, despite making his debut more than two years ago. Timo Werner has not started yet this season. Some fans will want a first proper look at Mikey Moore.
The Risks of Wholesale Changes
And yet making wholesale changes to the first team going into Wednesday’s game now feels fraught with risk for Postecoglou. When he made those changes last season, he did so from a position of strength. He had started well at Spurs, they were winning games and Postecoglou already had credit in the bank. The fact that Spurs continued winning league games after their Fulham exit meant that this bad night was swiftly forgotten. But the picture is different right now. Spurs have played four games so far this season and won just once. They are not playing especially badly: the defence looks better in the main than it was in the second half of last season. They are consistently dominating possession, but just struggling to turn that possession into chances and goals. But the vibes are largely determined by the results, rather than by the performances. The fanbase is not quite as unified behind the manager as it was this time last year. And going out of the League Cup at the first hurdle for the second year in a row would damage the mood even further.
Doubling Down on Principles
Nobody could accuse Postecoglou of not aiming high. Last season, he was insistent that he was not aiming for mere Champions League qualification for Tottenham because he wanted them to aim to win the Premier League itself. “I don’t see the sense in trying to aim for something other than No 1,” he said. And even after the Arsenal game, he said in his Sky Sports interview: “I don’t usually win things, I always win things in my second year, nothing’s changed.” Whether intentionally or not, Postecoglou provided the soundbite that this season may well be judged against. But if we accept that the Premier League is likely to be beyond Spurs this season, then that puts added pressure on winning (or at least going about trying to win) one of their three cup competitions. Of course, it is impossible to plan around trying to win a knockout cup competition, given the randomness involved.
The Challenge of Keeping Spurs Alive
Spurs might have had a good FA Cup run last season, but then they drew Manchester City in the fourth round and that was the end of that. If the history of Tottenham since 2008 teaches us anything, it is that you can be a good team in the league and not see that translated into cup success. Part of the challenge of this season will be keeping Spurs alive in all four competitions simultaneously for as long as possible. Whether they have a deep enough squad to do that will only be revealed in time. But they will certainly need their front-line players — Son Heung-min, Dominic Solanke, James Maddison, Brennan Johnson — in form and playing well. They need to start attacking with confidence, fluidity and trust in one another.
A good win and a few goals at Coventry City might well help kickstart that. Yes, they will eventually need to rotate but their eight games in the Europa League group stage might give better opportunities to do that. There is never a good time to get knocked out of a cup, but this week would be an especially bad time to get knocked out of this one. We are still only in mid-September and the pressure on the Europa League and FA Cup would be greater than ever.
The “Relentless” Postecoglou
In John Greechan’s loving portrait of Ange Postecoglou, Revolution, there is a story told by Thomas Broich, his talisman at Brisbane Roar. Postecoglou arrived halfway through a season where the club finished second-bottom of the A-League. Across the next two campaigns, they became its first back-to-back champions, set an unbeaten record and played stuff Australia had never seen before, earning the nickname ‘Roarcelona’. The A-League involves a regular season then a play-off series. Roar delivered their second title by winning the play-offs after being runners-up in the regular campaign. Players were still celebrating when Postecoglou addressed the dressing room. “If you think it’s good enough to come second in this league, think again,” he thundered, killing the jollity with one of his glares. “He’s relentless. And only perfection will do,” Broich says. “He can be very, very grumpy, actually. You really have to play the best football, the hardest way you can — and then he might walk off the pitch with a smile. Might!”
Postecoglou is a blend of traits England is still getting to know. The “Big Ange” tag suggests an avuncular Aussie bloke, but the more you watch and listen to him closely, the more you’re struck by the sighs and glowers. The tension is between someone whose football is optimistic but whose mood seems perpetually to regret that things aren’t better. He’s an unusual type of martinet, as hard to cheer up as José Mourinho, as easy to cheer (for how his teams play) as Jürgen Klopp. Maybe he’s just chasing a rainbow too distant to get near. Chris Davies, Postecoglou’s former No2 and now the Birmingham City manager, remarked how distinct his principles were. Postecoglou said: “I just want to create something special and new.”
Doubling Down on Angeball
It has been fascinating, but not surprising, to observe how Postecoglou has been approaching the new campaign. In the 2023-24 season, Tottenham Hotspur took 26 points from their first ten games but only 40 points from their remaining 28, going from a Manchester City season (on course for 99 points) to a Crystal Palace one (accumulating at a 54-points-season rate), and never quite recovering after a bonkers defeat by Chelsea. That raised questions about “Angeball”, that distinctive all-out style developed across a 28-year coaching career. It may have worked in Australia and Scotland but was it sustainable in the Premier League? The harshest criticism came during a four-game losing streak in April/May, that included the last north London derby, a game where a furious Tottenham comeback was not enough after Arsenal exploited defensive looseness — especially at set pieces — to lead 3-0 at half-time. “Angebull”, mockers said.
The response has been not to dial down, but to double down on his principles. Three games into this season, Spurs are up in a number of metrics associated with intensity, risk and commitment to attacking. Their defensive line is even further up the pitch and they’re taking more shots, more touches in the opposition box and more passes in the final third. Their pressing stats have spiked, giving them the league’s most high turnovers and best PPDA (passes per defensive action — a measure of pressing intensity), while in the league’s top five for most ball receptions under pressure in the final third are three Spurs players, including the right back Pedro Porro. Yet results could not have been more middling — a draw, a win, a loss — and so the questions remain, leading their former captain Robbie Keane to fret about Spurs going into Sunday’s derby: “You just don’t know which team is going to turn up.”
Postecoglou? He hates those who “just look at the scoreboard and that’s their only measure” to the extent that, when doing analysis, he has the scoreline left off the screen because what he is interested in is “playing our football” regardless of the game situation. His verdict on Spurs’ start to 2024-25 is “three strong performances” and it is true that in each of their games there has been classic Angeball on show. Porro scored after running into a second striker position in an away draw against Leicester City and defeat came at Newcastle United despite 66 per cent possession, 20 shots and 50 touches in the opposition box. Meanwhile, a 4-0 thrashing of Everton involved one goal created by high pressing, another by a centre back (Micky van de Ven) running 60 yards with the ball and another featuring wide play, one-twos and dribbling, before a James Maddison set-up and an exceptional Yves Bissouma finish.
The New Era at Tottenham
Maddison spoke this week about the need to keep the faith. He said Postecoglou, 59, is at a stage where “he could retire and go to a lovely holiday and into the sunset. But he cares so much about winning and football, and his love of football, that he’s so still hungry to get the best out of us, and go and win more. That’s enough of a golden nugget for us to believe in him and trust in him and come along on this journey.” The one thing that does seem different this season is Spurs’ focus at set pieces. They have scored from one (Cristian Romero at a corner against Everton) and managed not to concede. Their underlying stats, for and against, are also slightly improved. The analytical Spurs podcast, The Extra Inch, studied video to suggest a change in set-up when defending corners, with two more players marking man-to-man and two fewer marking zonally (compared to last season). The man-markers now include the team’s two best aerial players, Romero and Van de Ven, who were previously in the zonal marking group.
Spurs were among the league’s worst set-piece defenders last season and conceded from two corners when Arsenal won at their stadium, but Postecoglou steadfastly rejected the idea they should follow Arsenal in hiring a set-piece coach. Speculation that he relented, and there is a specialist secretly at work at the Tottenham training ground, is untrue — but there is a new man overseeing routines. Nick Montgomery, who joined as an assistant in June, is looking after set pieces as part of his wider duties. A former Sheffield United midfielder, he counts Neil Warnock as a formative influence. Very un-Angeball — but the rest of Montgomery’s history actually suggests he, too, is part of Postecoglou’s doubling down. Montgomery forged his coaching reputation in the A-League with a buccaneering, underdog side — Central Coast Mariners — who became Australian champions by blitzing favourites, Melbourne City, 6-1 in the 2023 Grand Final.
There were shades of Postecoglou, not only in the football but Montgomery’s powers of motivation. On a wall he put up a picture of Mariners’ first title-winning squad (from 2013), of which he was part. He told his players, “every time you win a game I’m going to add two of your faces to the photo” and it became a thing. “As the wins started coming, belief grew. More of the boys wanted their face on that photograph,” he told The Coaches’ Voice. It’s significant Montgomery’s champions were the youngest side in the A-League. So, too, that another coach Spurs hired in the summer, Sérgio Raimundo, Montgomery’s former assistant at Mariners, has a background in youth coaching and speaks seven languages, including Wolof. Then there is Matt Wells, promoted to No2 after Davies’s departure, who began at Spurs’ academy working alongside Kieran McKenna under the now FA technical director, John McDermott.
The coaching team built around Postecoglou reflects Spurs also doubling down — on him and what he offers. Having worked extensively in development coaching, Postecoglou’s successes in the senior game have often involved extensively rebuilding a squad with younger players after cutting loose a senior old guard. Perhaps youth helps a player to play Angeball. The mind is more open to daring ideas and the legs ready to embrace his key message to the squad last year: “Guys. Our football. You’re just going to have to run.” Over summer, Spurs disposed of a clutch of older players including Ivan Perisic, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, and Eric Dier. In came a record signing, £65million Dominic Solanke, but also Archie Gray, 18, Lucas Bergvall, 18, and Wilson Odobert, 19. This built on last season’s trading, where the squad age reduced markedly with Van de Ven (23), Radu Dragusin (22) and Brennan Johnson (23) among the key recruits.
The “No Dickheads” Policy
Recruiting is overseen by Johan Lange, who in October 2023 joined as technical director from Aston Villa, where his coups included signing Ollie Watkins, Emi Martínez and Matty Cash. At Spurs his challenge has been addressing a neglect of long-term planning and future-proofing by previous regimes. An example is that in the present squad there are only two players classed as “club-trained” for the purposes of meeting quotas for Uefa competition. Both are back-up goalkeepers. Data-driven and strategic, Lange targeted a senior striker with the athletic, pressing and technical gifts to play in Postecoglou’s style (Solanke) and exciting young talents who can be classed as club-trained (defined as a player who developed for at least three years by a club before 21) in future, but can also play in the first team straight away. The midfielder Bergvall, who made his competitive Sweden debut last week, turned down Barcelona to join while Gray, an England Under-21 international, was a target for Liverpool and Odobert, an under-21 international for France, caught discerning eyes at Burnley last season. In the new CIES Football Observatory “Top 100 Teenagers in World Football” list, Tottenham have the only squad in England containing three.
Bergvall, Gray and Odobert — like Solanke and another Lange signing, Dragusin — were identified as having the athletic capacity to deal with Postecoglou’s high intensity. Postecoglou’s emphasis on character is also reflected in the work put into researching recruits’ backgrounds, so that a “no dickheads” policy is upheld. Of course, Arsenal are a template, their journey under Arteta being one of refreshing a squad with youth and investing in a manager and his strong beliefs, through downs as well as ups. Asked what he admires about Arsenal, Postecoglou cited their consistency and relentless — and of course that was a message. Wherever Angeball is going, it’s not going to change.
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