When Tottenham Hotspur left the Etihad Stadium 4-0 winners, it looked like they had finally turned a corner under Ange Postecoglou, however, his side are now winless in three and are coming off the back of a defeat at Bournemouth.
Postecoglou’s job at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is now under threat with Spurs looking at replacements for the Australian. Following their defeat to Bournemouth, they have now dropped into 12th place and next up is an in-form Chelsea side.
Tottenham fans have been left bemused over what has changed since their win over Manchester City but Postecoglou has just explained why he thinks results have not gone their way.
Postecoglou explains reasoning behind Tottenham’s recent struggles
Ange Postecoglou claims a mixture of things have gone wrong since Tottenham beat Manchester City, including injuries, fatigue, a lack of competition for places and an inability to hold players accountable right now.
Spurs lost Guglielmo Vicario to injury and Dominic Solanke to illness since their trip to Manchester adding to an already long list of injuries. Postecoglou was without five key starters against Fulham plus a handful of other players which had a big impact on the team he was able to select.
Postecoglou told Sky Sports: “I think it’s a combination of things, we lost key personnel in a couple of those games. Vicario went down, and we lost Dom [Solanke] last week with an already thin squad.”
The 59-year-old expressed his disappointment at “the sloppy goals” his team were conceding and the way in which his team allowed Bournemouth to dictate the game on Thursday.
“But there has been this theme of us conceding really sloppy goals in key moments which is allowing oppositions to get into games where we shouldn’t be allowing them get into. We didn’t do it against City, United away or Villa at home. Our wins this year have been pretty compelling, they haven’t been just getting over the line but that doesn’t diminish the fact we’ve been poor in other areas,” added the Spurs boss.
Why Postecoglou can’t currently hold Tottenham’s player accountable
The Tottenham manager also explained how he has been unable to hold his players accountable for these poor mistakes and failure to control matches. With his options limited, there is little room for changes in personnel and players to be dropped for bad performances.
Postecoglou claimed: “What I can’t do is hold people accountable as much as I would like to because we don’t have the squad to do that. I think competition for places which keeps people on edge and gives them accountability doesn’t exist with us at the moment.
“So you’ve got to find different ways to give the players the realisation that going to Bournemouth anytime is difficult, what you don’t want to do is to give them the opportunity to play the game on their terms either that is the realisation for them or I’ve got to find other ways to make sure it sinks in.”
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