Change is hard.
People instinctively resist change. Even when the change is beneficial, there is something inside us that pushes back against the new; and said resistance can be completely subconscious. You could actively choose to commit to a new way of doing things, but overcoming your psyche to stay motivated, engaged, and dedicated when your day-to-day has been turned upside down is easier said than done; especially when perhaps the new way of doing things is not something that comes naturally to you.
That’s exactly what is happening within the squad at Tottenham Hotspur according to Ange Postecoglou. The Australian was interviewed ahead of Sunday’s fixture away at Liverpool, and was equal parts comforting and harsh when asked about the state of Spurs’ squad following a drop-off in form in recent months, especially as it related to the poor performance at Chelsea:
“We lacked a real sort of conviction and positive mindset in our football. We didn’t really have any fluency, any sort of aggression with and without the ball. It’s a bit unlike us because if nothing else we’ve always been competitive, especially in the first half it was missing today.”
Interviewer: “Why have players lost conviction and belief?”
“There’s a number of reasons and they all may be individual, so it’s not a blanket. It’s not surprising either because it’s part of the nature of change. Change is difficult, it’s relentless, it’s uncompromising, it’s challenging, it doesn’t leave you a lot of leeway to feel comfortable. It’s part of that process and my job is to navigate through that.”
In recent weeks, certain sections of the fandom have started raising questions around Ange, certain decisions, and the squad – some of the questions valid – but one thing that hasn’t been helpful is soundbites taken out of context. A couple of snippets taken from quotes like the one above have referenced motivation within the squad, and without that all-important context have appeared to communicate that some players are starting to rebel against Ange-ball. This has understandably made fans nervy, perhaps indicating a squad revolt is on the cards. Thankfully, this is not the case, with Ange adding that all-important context above, taking responsibility for the lack of motivation before saying very clearly the players are all working hard:
Interviewer: “You said what you’re trying to do with the players is uncomfortable for them constantly, do you think some have shirked that or in the last few games has shown they’re not willing to put themselves out of their comfort zone?”
“No, I don’t think so. I don’t think anyone has shirked it and I don’t think it’s for a lack of effort or desire. But like I said, if you haven’t been put in that situation before it’s confronting, challenging and it’s how you navigate your way through that. Like I said, sometimes it’s on an individual basis. My kind of role in that is always the collective, about the environment, how we can create an environment that they feel like they can embrace that challenge.
“I don’t think it’s for a want of trying, I really don’t. I don’t think it’s through a lack of effort in any way as for me I go on and measure that with the way we’re training and the way we’re sort of playing in games. Last night was disappointing from a defensive pressing aspect because that has been pretty consistent all year, so that was the one area I was really disappointed with but in general the lads were still trying to play and embed our principles.”
This is good! Clearly Ange feels like the squad are on board with Ange-ball and trying to implement it; but sometimes, like I said above, there’s a subconscious barrier to enacting change. I’ve said this on the site before, but too often we think of footballers as mindless automatons who are able to follow instructions to the letter without question, and are not affected by things like change, conflict, or challenge. Sure, they are arguably better equipped to deal with these things, and demonstrably have done so by succeeding as a professional athlete, but that doesn’t mean they don’t struggle with new ways of doing things – especially (as I mentioned in the opening paragraph) when those new things are outside your comfort zone.
And that’s what takes us to the squad.
The early success of Ange-ball papered over a lot of cracks and perhaps set unrealistic expectations with the fans, but Postecoglou has been consistent in his messaging from the start that this team was not where he wanted them to be – and the underlying data backed that assertion up. Spurs performed well above their xGD in the opening months of the season, and we’ve discussed in the masthead chat at length the gaps in the squad (especially around passing ability). Ange alluded to his consistent messaging again in his presser, and made it clear he is well aware of the ongoing challenge before him:
“We’ve already made tough decisions, we let some experienced players leave the club at the beginning of the year, some by choice. But again, I feel like if we’re really going to change, that means change.
“You have to make decisions. Some of those decisions aren’t that tough because whether it’s a player or a staff member, they realize it themselves and say ‘you know what, I’ve got a better path somewhere else and you’ve got a better path here’. So they’re not that tough, but some of them you have to make just because of change, not necessarily because they don’t fit in the picture but you still have to change.
“I’ve got to change this squad, I have to. Because I’ve got to build a squad I think can play our football. For that to happen, there has to be exits. I can’t just keep everyone here and keep bringing in players. So sometimes you let people go who you think ‘he’s a good player’ but how am I going to change if I don’t do that.”
Some fans have taken a couple of these quotes (again) out of context to mean that there is potentially mass dissension in the squad, but that’s pretty clearly not Ange’s intention. Instead, he’s very clear in the above interview that this doesn’t mean his team are not putting in the effort, though he does make the point that some of the squad just don’t have the skillset to play Ange-ball. He then clarifies that this also doesn’t mean they’re not good players!
The reality is that the current Spurs squad is still a hodge-podge of parts glued together to serve multiple conflicting philosophies over a number of years, with no overarching strategy or direction to the recruitment. Even last summer’s transfer window under Postecoglou was largely done without the new-look front office, with Technical Director Johan Lange not starting in his role until October.
What this means is for the Ange Postecoglou project to really take off, we’ll need to be patient. We’ll also probably see players we know and love leave the club. And it also means there’ll probably be a bit of short-term pain before we see long-term gain. This is a process, and the club seemingly trusts Ange’s approach:
“All I can say is that at the moment I feel like the club has bought into my vision and it’s up to me…it’s not about patience, it’s about belief that I need to keep working and taking us forward in a manner that there is belief in the club that they should continue to support my vision for it.”
Daniel Levy trusts Ange. So should we. But for success to come, change is needed. Change has already happened. And more change is coming.