Tottenham Hotspur were beaten by Arsenal on Sunday afternoon and Ange Postecoglou has pointed out a real problem from his players.
Tottenham Hotspur’s start to the season has left many fans with questions about Ange Postecoglou.
Spurs dominated at Leicester City for large spells but lost control of the game and could only draw before hammering a dismal Everton side.
Tottenham then battered Newcastle United but contrived to lose the game before falling to Arsenal in the North London derby at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Gabriel Magalhaes scored the only goal of the game, powering a header home from a corner as Tottenham once again conceding from a set piece against Arsenal.
Postecoglou didn’t criticise his players for that but questions are being asked about whether Tottenham can move forward under the Australian.
Ange Postecoglou spots Tottenham Hotspur problem
Not only are Spurs still susceptible from set pieces but the attacking play just hasn’t been good enough.
If a team is going to play as high as Tottenham do, it needs to come with strong attacking play to justify being open at the back.
Tottenham are going sideways and backwards too much and the enthralling attacking intent we saw last season has been replaced with more pedestrian showings.
That is something for Postecoglou to figure out but the Australian has now pinpointed another issue he spotted against Arsenal.
Speaking to Football London, Postecoglou noted that Arsenal wanted to slow the game down but Tottenham played into that too.
Postecoglou feels that Spurs ‘unnecessarily’ slowed the game down and ‘took ages’ to get the ball back in play from goal kicks.
The Spurs boss added that Tottenham gave Arsenal a break and weren’t quick enough at keeping the Gunners under pressure.
“It was quite obvious Arsenal were quite keen to slow the game down,” said Postecoglou. “I thought we did that at times unnecessarily in the first half as well. A couple of times from goal kicks where we took ages to get started. We allowed them to get the break they wanted. At the end of the game it is always going to be difficult because they are really good at sitting deep, they’ve got a really strong presence inside their defensive box.
“So going a goal behind was always going to be difficult for us to open them up or generate any tempo in the game. I thought there were missed opportunities, particularly in the first half when we were on top and continued to be relentless. There was a lot of slowing down of the game when they were in control of it. When we slowed it down we kind of contributed to it as well,” he added.
Postecoglou must beat Coventry City
Tottenham fans are looking for a response against Coventry City in the EFL Cup and nothing short of a victory will suffice.
Postecoglou isn’t under immediate pressure in terms of losing his job but Spurs fans need to see progress.
Four points from the first four Premier League games is not the start fans had in mind and Spurs must deal with Championship opposition in order to advance in a key competition.
Postecoglou maintains that he can win trophies and has even been branded ‘rude’ for his stance on his own ability as a manager.
The EFL Cup is a legitimate change for Tottenham to win a trophy and fans will be expecting a strong performance when Spurs take on the Sky Blues on Wednesday night.
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