Ange Postecoglou is on the road to trouble if he’s going to get embroiled in public spats with supporters.
After Tottenham’s uninspired 1-0 defeat at Bournemouth, Big Ange marched across to the away fans’ section and confronted a group of supporters because he “didn’t like what was being said.” Sorry, but it goes with the territory that the punters are going to be unhappy with six defeats in 14 games and 10th in the table.
And I don’t understand who Postecoglou thought would benefit by arguing with the fans - certainly not him. You can’t win in those situations - they are best avoided.
The Spurs boss would be better served by solving the riddle of his team’s inconsistency and finding a better balance between entertainment and winning football matches. Only Liverpool and Chelsea have scored more goals than Tottenham this season, but the balance doesn’t seem to be right. Big Ange may have to sacrifice a bit of flair to make them more solid and more consistent.
Look, I love the way his Tottenham teams play. It’s never a dull watch. But if Postecoglou goes into a board meeting and tells the directors, “Don’t worry, we’re entertaining the fans,” they are likely to return serve by pointing out Spurs are 10th and potentially missing out on £40million of income if they don’t finish in the top four.
Are Tottenham any closer to winning a first trophy in 16 years because they are enjoyable to watch? No. Are they any better off than they were last season, when they were top of the league after 10 games? No. Is 10th in the Premier League going to be good enough to keep the board and some of the fans happy? Probably not.
At some point, surely Big Ange has to adapt his approach and sacrifice a little bit of swagger for more substance, because for every manager the holy grail is three points. Winning is what matters most in football.
Russell Martin has stuck to his principles at Southampton and where has it got him? Bottom of the league, tanked 5-1 at home by Chelsea. I doubt if Saints fans went home saying how pretty the football had been.
Postecoglou has more to lose than to gain by being stubborn and standing by his pledge to entertain the supporters. Spurs were 1-0 down at the break against Bournemouth on Thursday night, the game was getting away from them, and yet he didn’t make any changes at the break.
I’ve only been a manager five minutes, and he’s not going to take much notice of a novice head coach in the Northern Premier League. But I’ve spent 32 years in football, and I recognised Macclesfield’s shape and defensively-minded wing-backs were not working at Workington last weekend, so I changed the formation, threw on two wingers, took off my top scorer - and we won 1-0.
I understand that Spurs fans are enjoying their football again after the less expansive styles of Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, but where is the enjoyment of losing at home to Ipswich? Where is the merit of losing at Brighton and Crystal Palace, or drawing at home to Fulham?
That kind of inconsistency is not going to get you in the top four. I don’t understand why Big Ange won’t modify his approach. And arguing with fans is only going to make it worse.