Unravelling of Ange Postecoglou from affable Aussie who was everyone’s ‘mate’ to death stares and snapping at reporters
ANGE POSTECOGLOU arrived in England with a stellar managerial record, a witty sense of humour and an exciting box of tactical tricks.
However, 18 months on things look very bleak for the affable Aussie.
Tottenham are inexplicably staring down a relegation battle as the end of the January transfer window approaches, one just one Premier League win since the start of December.
Postecoglou’s team has been ravaged by injury throughout the season, with many fans blaming a lack of backing from chairman Daniel Levy for exacerbating the issue.
And following the latest defeat to relegation-threatened Leicester who were themselves on a seven-game run without a win, it is by far the darkest moment of Postecoglou’s career in England.
The man himself is the most clear example typifying Spurs’ beleaguered season so far.
Gone are the days when Postecoglou would crack jokes with reporters, giving way to snapping at questions in press conferences and death stares aimed at fans.
In the early days of his reign, Spurs were winning for fun and seemed to genuinely be in a title race even with the loss of record goalscorer Harry Kane.
After a 2-0 win against Bournemouth, Postecoglou joked: “I just copied Pep,” after his inverted full-backs were highlighted.
Things were so good in fact that the ex-Celtic boss won a hat-trick of Manager of the Month awards for his first three months in charge.
But after ten unbeaten games, Spurs and their bold high line finally became unstuck against Chelsea as they went down to nine men in a 4-1 drubbing.
Yet Postecoglou, 59, caught almost no flak for the heavy defeat and was instead widely praised.
The team were in fact, clapped off the pitch in acknowledgement of their efforts.
His press conference was a sign of things to come as he said: “If we go down to five men, mate, we’ll have a crack. It’s who we are mate.”
That Chelsea game gave way to a run of four more games without a win before Spurs found their feet again.
And despite a largely positive campaign, in which Spurs could never be accused of not having a crack, their season ended on a sour note.
A 4-0 defeat to Newcastle in April – the heaviest of his reign to date – saw him double down in his tactics, saying: “It’s part of our growth, sometimes growth is painful.”
Four defeats in six before the end of the season – albeit in an extraordinarily tough run of games – added to the pain.
What was obvious from the first season was that reinforcements were needed, badly.
Injuries had taken their toll on the squad and without recruitment in the right areas they were doomed to simply have another false dawn. And so it has proved.
Four players arrived in the summer, but only Dominic Solanke was above the age of 20. Good signings for the future sure, but what about the present?
That lack of vision has come back to bite Spurs, with Daniel Levy and transfer chief Johan Lange taking a huge portion of the blame from fans.
Yet it has been Postecoglou on the frontline trying to put out fires and continue on this death march.
Following Tottenham’s 1-0 defeat to Arsenal in September, Postecoglou boldly proclaimed he always wins trophies in his second season.
Hit-and-miss performances have followed since then, with Spurs managing to beat the likes of Man City 4-0 but then losing at home to Ipswich and getting thrashed 6-3 by Liverpool.
December, however, is where the mental strain truly started to show after results took a major plunge.
With fan disgruntlement on the up, Postecoglou declared he had “no interest” whether fans backed him up so as they supported the team.
Postecoglou was seen confronting fans after losing to Bournemouth, saying he “didn’t like what was being said”, before calling the exchange “some direct feedback”.
The silver lining of the month came with a 5-0 win over Bournemouth, following which Postecoglou said being a manager was harder than being the prime minister, joking that he has an “election every weekend”.
But things then took a U-turn when he threatened to stop answering questions from a BBC journalist after questioning his tactics.
He said: “I’m just going to stop answering these questions. If people can’t see the obvious, I’m not going to point it out. Make of it what you want, yes we’re conceding goals.
“If you want to discount the fact we’re missing a goalkeeper, two centre-backs and a left-back and that hasn’t coincided with what we’re doing… I don’t know what to say anymore.”
A controversial VAR decision when playing Newcastle in January did not improve his mood, saying he was the “angriest I have ever been,” as his side lost 2-1.
Responses to questions from multiple outlets after that game are said to have been “really spiky and a little bit disrespectful to reporters” according to Faye Carruthers on the Seaman Says podcast.
Defeats to Arsenal and Everton followed, with the latter seeing him snap after a reporter asked if it was a “familiar story” to see defeat.
Postecoglou had said: “Familiar story? Yeah okay. Great way to start an interview.”
But despite all that has been thrown his way, Postecoglou does still have his witty sense of humour, at least pre-game and in a gallows humour sense.
Ahead of Tottenham’s Europa League clash with Hoffenheim, Postecoglou’s translator had a coughing fit, to which he joked: “We’ve lost the translator as well, even my translator is injured.”
A 3-2 win followed, but it did nothing to solve their league form, and Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Leicester ended up with Spurs being booed off the pitch.
As Postecoglou walked down the tunnel, one fan could be heard saying: “We’re going down with you.”
Postecoglou then backtracked and glared up at the fan, before a club official ushered him on, marking the latest flashpoint in his Spurs career.
Tottenham have confirmed the under-fire manager will take their press conference for their Europa League clash against Elfsborg on Thursday.
It’s clear he still has the burning fire to try and fight through this horror run and try and fulfil his promise of winning a trophy for the club.
But how long he will be given by Levy remains to be seen, with every loss tipping the scales more and more towards his seemingly inevitable exit.
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