Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has continued to stick with the same tactics despite a glut of injuries
Tottenham Hotspur’s gloomy season in the Premier League continued after they succumbed to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day.
Ange Postecoglou would have expected a response from his boys after the 6-3 battering by Liverpool at home. However, they didn’t as Anthony Elanga’s first-half strike was enough to sink Spurs into their ninth defeat of the Premier League season. They now sit 11th in the table after 18 games, and for a club of Spurs’ size, that’s nowhere near good enough.
The defeat to Nottingham Forest was a new low for the Greek-Aussie tactician, who has received a lot of stick in recent weeks and months for his team’s incredibly inconsistent displays. There have been certain pundits like former Spurs midfielder Jamie O’Hara who have given up on the veteran coach sacked.
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Ange Postecoglou has faced an unprecedented injury situation in his second season in charge of Tottenham—the first-ever he has witnessed in his vast managerial career. Guglielmo Vicario, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Wilson Odobert, Ben Davies and Richarlison are all currently out with injuries, while academy starlet Mikey Moore has not played for over a month following a bad virus.
TalkSPORT pundit Gabby Agbonlahor thinks Postecoglou has been “stubborn” to not shake up things a bit despite his squad being hit badly with injuries. He doesn’t understand why Tottenham have been “playing so open” in every game when not having the players to execute the coach’s plan.
“Think change a bit for each game. For him [Postecoglou] to be so stubborn to not do that he will lose his job eventually. It’s not about injuries, yes you have been unlucky with Romero and Van den Ven, but that’s football you change the way you play. When you have got injuries, why are you playing so open when you got them players out? Change how you play then because you are not at your strongest,” Gabby Agbonlahor said to Andy Goldstein on talkSPORT.
Big Ange’s stubbornness to stick with similar tactics and style of play despite having several first-teamers on the sidelines has not done him any favours. The Australian’s fearless and open tactics have not suited the personnel currently at his disposal and cost him dearly in many games, especially recently against Liverpool.
To compound more misery, Radu Dragusin was forced off with an ankle problem in the closing stages of the Forest game. And with Davies suffering a setback in his recovery from hamstring injury during training means Spurs are likely to have no natural centre-backs available for the game against Wolves.
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All eyes will be on how Big Ange sets his team up vs Wolves on Sunday. Anything other than three points should only increase the inquest on him.
