By early December, Ange Postecoglou will have been in the Tottenham Hotspur hotseat for 18 months… a long enough period, most would agree, for a head coach to be judged.
With eleven games of the league campaign played – again, a decent enough sample size for analysis, Spurs find themselves in tenth place in the table, having lost five of their outings.
It’s a reason why some sections of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium are starting to lose faith in the manager.
They long for the days of Mauricio Pochettino, while some would even settle for the Antonio Conte era: yes, the Italian was a prickly character, but when he was sacked Spurs sat fourth in the table… a luxurious position, to where they find themselves now.
So has the Postecoglou era really been that bad? And how does his record compare to that of Pochettino and co?
Fixing the Leak
Those that have a bet on football are able to have a flutter on pre-match odds once the referee has blown their whistle to start the contest.
And it’s the fragility of Spurs defensively under Postecoglou that sees many punters bet against Tottenham in those odds on live matches.
Why? Because they are so adept at conceding goals and throwing away a lead.
They did it against Leicester City in the opening round of fixtures in 2024/25 and they did it spectacularly against Brighton – from 2-0 up and comfortable to a 2-3 defeat.
And then there’s the goals conceded column of the league table. Tottenham have conceded at least once in nine of their eleven league outings to date, to go with the mammoth 61 goals they conceded in 38 games last term.
It’s these characteristics that show Postecoglou’s reign in its harshest light and which compare so unfavourably to the record of Pochettino. In his time, Spurs conceded fewer than a goal per game, on average, in four of his five completed seasons in the league.
Tottenham’s average final league position under Pochettino was third; success built on a foundation of defensive solidity.
That’s Entertainment
Maybe some supporters value entertainment and value for money over league position and winning games of football.
You would think that Postecoglou has the wood over Pochettino in that regard, but that’s not actually the case. In the Aussie-Grecian’s sole completed league season so far, Tottenham scored 74 goals.
But under Pochettino, the ‘goals for’ column of the table in his four completed campaigns reached 69, 86, 74 and 67.
It’s true that Postecoglou is more of a free spirit tactically than Pochettino, with the high pressing style – and that attacking 4-3-3 shape – lending itself to attractive, heart thumping football.
But they say that football is a numbers game and that the league table never lies. In that sense, Pochettino had Spurs playing better defensively than Postecoglou… without much, if any, diminishment of their attacking output.
Points Make Prizes
Mauricio Pochettino was sacked as Tottenham manager with a win ratio of 54.27%.
Antonio Conte was sacked as Tottenham manager with a win ratio of 53.95%.
Ange Postecoglou, at the time of writing, has a win ratio at Tottenham of 53.45%.
It’s true that Tottenham were regressing under Pochettino at the time of his dismissal, while Conte’s outspoken nature and conservative tactics eventually wore down Daniel Levy.
Postecoglou is more of a people-pleaser than Conte ever was, but are Spurs going backwards under his leadership? They certainly are compared to the 2023/24 season, so if that was reason enough to fire Pochettino – Tottenham’s most successful head coach of the modern era, you wonder how long the 59-year-old has left to oversee an improvement.
