By CALUM CROWE
Published: 12:23 EST, 9 December 2024 | Updated: 12:23 EST, 9 December 2024
Master of all he surveyed during two trophy-laden seasons in Glasgow, Ange Postecoglou now finds himself mired in a crisis as he heads back to Scotland this week.
Clinging to his job and rapidly losing the support of the club’s fanbase, Postecoglou’s days as the manager of Tottenham Hotspur would seem to be numbered.
A calamitous 4-3 defeat to Chelsea on Sunday, which had seen his team squander an early two-goal lead, leaves him on the brink ahead of Thursday night’s Europa League clash with Rangers at Ibrox.
Having perfected the art of Angeball during his two years in charge of Celtic, that ball looks to be burst for the big Australian as he heads back to the city he once called home.
What unfolded at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday afternoon was the perfect microcosm of what this team have become under Postecoglou.
For the first 15 minutes or so, they were outstanding. Pressing high up the pitch and playing with pace and ambition, they were all over Chelsea.
Ange Postecoglou can't look as his side throw away a two-goal lead against Chelsea
The Aussie boss returns to face old rivals Rangers later this week in the Europa League
Postecoglou enjoyed much success over Rangers in his spell as Celtic manager
Goals from Dominic Solanke and Dejan Kulusevski put Spurs 2-0 ahead after barely 10 minutes. They were brilliant to watch and it felt reminiscent of how Celtic would play under Postecoglou.
It became a defining feature of his time in charge that Celtic would start fast, score two or three goals, and blow teams away by half-time.
But there aren’t many Cole Palmers or Jadon Sanchos operating in the SPFL. Slowly but surely, Chelsea just picked Spurs apart, pouncing on their errors at the back and brutally exposing them.
By the end, Postecoglou had a distant look in his eyes. He wore the look of a man almost resigned to his fate, like when you turn to the checkout assistant and signal for help after an unexpected item has appeared in your bagging area.
He looked bemused as to why the same gung-ho approach that had been so fruitful against the likes of Ross County and St Johnstone simply weren’t cutting it against the most expensively-assembled squad on the planet.
The defeat leaves Tottenham languishing in 11th place in the table and, only a few weeks ago, Postecoglou admitted that he would be in trouble if Spurs were still in mid-table by Christmas.
Speaking on Sky Sports on Sunday, Jamie Carragher insisted that the under-fire manager must change his tactical approach if he is to remain in charge.
‘The manager keeps telling us he won’t change,’ said Carragher. ‘I can’t imagine any manager when I played for Liverpool, after conceding four goals, saying that we played well.
‘I wake up every morning, and if the sun’s shining, I put on a pair of trainers, shorts and a t-shirt. We all want to do that.
‘But if it’s raining, you put your coat on. You can’t have this idea that “we’re just going to do this” and play our way of playing football. It won’t work. If it doesn’t change, then he won’t be here next season.’
Postecoglou was asked about those comments from Carragher afterwards and whether the defeat had stemmed from his own reluctance to change Tottenham’s tactical approach.
‘It was good enough to get us ahead in the game, so I am not sure why we should change our approach,’ he said. ‘It was a game of big moments.
‘If we score at 2-2 and go 3-2 ahead, then the pressure is on them and they have to open up like we did when we conceded. But, like I said, disappointing that we let them get the advantage in a way that was self-inflicted. Their penalties were poor from our behalf.
‘We didn’t need to make those challenges and it was hard for us to claw it back. I think sometimes when you are in this position we are, you are desperate to do the right thing.
‘You probably need a calmer approach. The guys are desperate to do the right thing and unfortunately it cost us.’
Postecoglou differs to a lot of other managers in terms of his dealings with the media. When things are going well, his dry sense of humour shines through and often makes for great copy and soundbites.
But when things aren’t going so well, there’s a darker side to him. It’s just that we saw it so rarely at Celtic, given that they were battering teams on a weekly basis.
Postecoglou is now under pressure at Spurs after an indifferent run of form in the league
When he’s being grilled by journalists and in the midst of a poor run of form, he can be rude and dismissive at times.
Over the past year or so, there have been several occasions when his tone has bordered on patronising and he’s snapped back at perfectly reasonable questions from journalists. He will often refer to reporters as ‘mate’, but rarely has it been used as a term of endearment.
The temperamental side to his personality doesn’t solely exist in press conferences. We’ve seen it out on the touchline as well, when he’s become embroiled in some unseemly spats with supporters.
After a 1-0 loss at Bournemouth last week, Postecoglou got involved in some verbals after full-time during a heated exchange with some angry supporters.
He later explained that one or two supporters had offered him some ‘fairly direct feedback’. It hardly needed forensic analysis to deduce that he felt one or two fans had overstepped the mark.
Managers will always have a right to defend themselves. If they feel they are being verbally abused, they wouldn’t be human if they didn’t speak up.
But this isn’t an isolated incident with Postecoglou. We saw it at times last season as well. When a manager starts arguing with punters this often, it leaves the impression of them being thin-skinned and temperamental.
All of this, of course, doesn’t make him a bad manager. When he has the right tools at his disposal, Postecoglou remains an outstanding coach whose commitment to attacking football is relentless.
His style of play is a joy to watch when he has the biggest budget and best squad in the league, as was the case at Celtic.
But, given how things are unravelling at Tottenham, he is being exposed as an idealist. A one-trick pony whose tactical inflexibility and refusal to change will almost certainly cost him his job.
For all he was a terrific manager at Celtic, there was always a distinct possibility that he could be exposed at a higher level given his refusal to adapt or tweak his style.
Spurs are now on a run of just one win in their last seven matches in all competitions. In keeping with the boom-bust nature of Postecoglou’s style of play, that win was a 4-0 thrashing away at Man City last month.
But it is their capacity for heinous acts of self-sabotage which leaves Postecoglou fighting to save his job as he heads back to Glasgow.
Going up against a seemingly rejuvenated Rangers side, the match suddenly looks far more awkward for the Spurs boss than it would have done six weeks ago.
Back in September, Postecoglou went out of his way to stress that he always gets things right in his second season in charge.
‘I’ll correct myself — I don’t usually win things, I always win things in my second year,’ he said. ‘Nothing’s changed.’
It felt like a slightly ill-judged comment at the time. All the more so now for a manager under major pressure. At this rate, Postecoglou won’t even see the end of his second season.
Victory at Ibrox wouldn’t change much in terms of his long-term job security. It’s the Premier League Tottenham fans care most about. But a defeat would surely push him closer to the exit door.