Football365

Turns out we’re terrible judges of character and coaching quality having flip-flopped over these ten managers from last season to now.

Some are still in their jobs while others have moved on; we misjudged them all.

Ange Postecoglou: Being a great bloke

Tottenham’s descent into perhaps the purest form of Spursiness we’ve ever seen has gone hand in hand with the Aren’t We All Having A Bloody Good Time? mask slipping from their manager’s face to reveal an easily irritated man whose sentence-ending forms of address are becoming more menacing by the day. You’re a bit of a d*ck, mate.

As he approached the away fans after the defeat to Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Thursday, we suspect better-placed audio equipment may have picked up on a Roy Keane-esque request to meet them all in the car park outside.

Mauricio Pochettino: Doing The Impossible Job well

We were Pochettino apologists last season. What was he supposed to do with so many players? If only the Chelsea players could finish chances. Just imagine how much better they would be with a proper goalscorer. Look what he’s done with Cole Palmer. Etc. etc.

Enzo Maresca has exposed him, making The Impossible Job look incredibly easy.

He’s been helped by European football to keep the majority of the players happy, and winning games also means there can be few complaints from those not in the Premier League XI, but clearly defining the positions the players would play in at the start of the season was a simple stroke of genius.

He’s also clearly coached them to finish in training, which sounds obvious now we think of it but didn’t seem possible under Poch. That’s done wonders for Nicolas Jackson, who now looks to be well on his way to being the £100m striker Chelsea apparently needed. And let’s face it, it makes f*** all difference who Palmer is playing for; he will be brilliant in any circumstance.

Mikel Arteta: Next in line

How very annoying it must be to finish second to possibly the greatest Premier League side ever twice in a row only to fail to take advantage when they slip up. We don’t know that for sure of course. Arsenal look a helluva lot better now Martin Odegaard’s back and it’s only a seven-point gap to Liverpool.

But we were all pretty convinced, particularly with Jurgen Klopp leaving, that Arteta was nailed on to be the next manager to win the Premier League, possibly even the next era-defining stalwart, after Guardiola, whether that dominance started this season or – more likely – after the Manchester City boss yielded his crown by leaving the club. No one saw Arne Slot’s Liverpool coming.

Jurgen Klopp: Getting the best out of Liverpool

We don’t want to entirely pooh-pooh the work Jurgen Klopp did at Liverpool last season. Other legendary legacy managers of similarly giant football clubs in England have left with their squads in a decrepit mess, while the German undoubtedly left Liverpool in a far better state than when he arrived. Arne Slot is reaping the rewards of his excellent rebuilding job.

But Klopp could have reaped those rewards too. 78 minutes from one of the most pointless signings in Premier League history aside, Slot has used exactly the same players as Klopp and has got a better tune out of them. How did he not use Ryan Gravenberch as the No.6?

Pep Guardiola: An indomitable force

Now they’ve fallen apart we can’t believe we didn’t see it coming. All it takes is a long-term injury to the best footballer on the planet to expose their lack of prime-age footballers and turn them into a bog-standard football team short of any of the fingerprints of their world-class manager, who apparently doesn’t have an answer for everything.

Rodri got injured and we half expected Phil Foden to become a pace-setting fixer at the base of Manchester City’s midfield or for Guardiola to win games without a midfield at all in a bid to further assert himself as an otherworldly genius whose tactics the brains of us mere mortals aren’t equipped to comprehend.

Turns out he’s just a bit f***ed without Rodri.

Nuno Espirito Santo: A dying brand

Just about kept Nottingham Forest in the Premier League but it felt as though a lot had changed since he had last been in the English top flight. And although we’re all for a team that does something apart from passing the ball out from the back, we couldn’t see how launching it forward to a target man and winning second balls would reap enough reward to keep the Forest fans off his back.

What do we know? Four points off Manchester City and the Champions League spots.

Oliver Glasner: Destined for bigger things

Jean-Philippe had turned into a prime Nicolas Anelka, Adam Wharton got himself on the England plane along with the similarly brilliant Eberechi Eze and – in what retrospectively looks to have been the key to everything – Michael Olise was on fire.

Palace are too good to go down this season, but having been the Premier League’s great entertainers, everyone’s second team at the end of last season, even having to point out that they’re too good to go down suggests quite the shrinking back into the shadows after their brief period in the sun.

David Moyes: Holding West Ham back

There were plenty of times last season when we all looked at the front three of Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta and Mohammed Kudus and thought it would be lovely to see what a less cautious manager might be able to do with them and the Careful What You Wish For brigade were eventually drowned out by those searching for the long lost West Ham Way.

The board believing Julen Lopetegui should be their pioneer in that search was baffling and West Ham have lost all of the pragmatism and efficiency they had under Moyes while predictably gaining none of the attacking fluency they had hilariously misplaced hope in adding to their game under the Spaniard.

Erik ten Hag: Had a plan

We weren’t among the surprising number of people duped into thinking Ten Hag still had A Plan worth backing on the basis of one good performance at the end of last season, but we were all convinced he was the right man for the job at the start of the campaign.

While there perhaps wasn’t a clearly defined style there was a general footballing ethos that we all thought could be built upon and develop into The Ten Hag Way at Old Trafford, before he played Mason Mount and Bruno Fernandes with Casemiro in front of a back four and we questioned whether he had lost his mind or at least all of his tactical acumen.

It got no better from there, with the lack A Plan frequently the sizeable stick to beat him with ahead of an FA Cup final win which briefly and expensively delayed the inevitable.

Eddie Howe: Struggles thanks to Champions League

An often over-used excuse, but in Newcastle’s case – in the PSR era – blaming Premier League form on Champions League commitments felt perfectly valid. They surprised everyone including themselves in qualifying for the European showcase, didn’t have the squad depth to cope and weren’t able to spend anywhere near as lavishly as they would have liked to remedy that problem.

It was something of a free-hit season for Eddie Howe, who had earned a huge amount of leeway through what he had achieved in the previous campaign, and it didn’t go well. They failed to qualify from a very difficult Champions League group and never really got going in the Premier League, finishing the season level on points with Manchester United, God forbid.

But the uplift that we didn’t particularly expect but should have arrived this season if European football was the strong excuse Howe’s allies claimed it was hasn’t happened, with a good performance typically followed by at least one abject one.

Paul Merson reckons Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea will grab a statement victory over Tottenham at the weekend and pile more pressure on Ange Postecoglou.

Despite the narrow 1-0 scoreline, Spurs were battered on Thursday night by Bournemouth with the Cherries missing chance after chance in a dominant performance.

After the match, Postecoglou had a heated exchange with a group of Tottenham supporters who were clearly unhappy by their side’s display at the Vitality Stadium.

The result saw Tottenham slip down to tenth in the Premier League table, while Chelsea’s impressive 5-1 victory at Southampton pushed them up to second in the standings, above third-placed Arsenal on goal difference.

Chelsea, who have been a bit of a surprise package this season, are now up there challenging for the Premier League title under Maresca and Merson expects their good form to continue on the road at Tottenham.

Arsenal legend Merson told Sportskeeda: “The only thing that worries me with Chelsea is that they gave away a couple of really good chances to Southampton, even when they were only playing against 10 men.

“The goalkeeper made a great save at 3-1. If that goes in, it becomes 3-2. I’m not nitpicking with Chelsea, it was still a great result. But that would be my worry about them.

“It does not take anything away from the fact that they won 5-1 while resting many of their key players. That is a masterstroke from Enzo Maresca. When the team sheet came in, I thought, ‘oh my god, what are you doing?

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“This is the Premier League, you can’t be taking any team lightly’. But those changes did not have a detrimental impact on Chelsea.

“I wouldn’t label Chelsea as genuine title contenders though. It’s hard to call them that. They have a good squad, probably the strongest in the Premier League. But they played Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool this season and took just one point. That is why they are not contenders yet.

“If you’re a fan, Tottenham away from home is Chelsea’s biggest game of the season. Chelsea lost in this fixture last season so this is a huge game. If they can win against Spurs, it will send a massive statement. I won’t label Tottenham as one of the ‘big boys’ in the league but they are a team that can beat a lot of teams and we’ve seen that already this season.

“If Chelsea secure a top-four finish and win a trophy, this would become a phenomenal season for them. Anything more than that would be incredible but unlikely.

“Ange Postecoglou wants Tottenham to be entertaining that’s how they try to play. Chelsea have better players in nearly every position and may have too much for Spurs to handle.Prediction: Tottenham Hotspur 1-3 Chelsea.”

Former Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Gus Poyet has picked out one Manchester United player who is “lucky” that Ruben Amorim was appointed.

Man Utd were 13th in the Premier League when he took over and they remain in this position after his first three games in charge. His side picked up four points in his first two games, but they were deservedly beaten 2-0 at the Emirates by Arsenal on Wednesday night.

Amorim is currently in the process of analysing his squad before the January transfer window and he is at least familiar with Manuel Ugarte, who previously played under the head coach at Sporting Lisbon.

One of Man Utd’s summer priorities was to sign a new defensive midfielder and Ugarte was made their top target. They looked at cheaper alternatives but signed the Uruguay international on deadline day for around £42m plus add-ons.

Ugarte was a bit-part player under former boss Ten Hag, but he’s come into the team of late. Poyet thinks the midfielder is “lucky that Amorim joined Man Utd”.

“Manuel Ugarte is lucky that Ruben Amorim has joined Manchester United as the manager,” Poyet said.

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“He wasn’t a regular starter under Erik ten Hag, but now he’ll be working under a manager who he knows well.

“I like the player a lot, I think he can make a big impact at the club under a manager who made great use of his abilities at Sporting Lisbon.

“I was delighted to see him come to the Premier League, but he wasn’t starting under Erik ten Hag.

“Hopefully now he can get an extended run in the starting XI. That will help him to adapt to the Premier League and I hope he can get a good run in the side and make an impact for United.”

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Poyet also believes one player could be “very important as a mentor for Ugarte”.

“Casemiro could be very important for United in acting as a mentor for Ugarte,” Poyet added.

“I said the same thing about Aurelien Tchouameni. I gave him his professional debut for Bordeaux at 18 when I was manager, he then made his move to Real Madrid and had the guidance of Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Casemiro, you can’t ask for much more as a young midfielder.

“He had that time to adapt before going straight into the team, after a month Casemiro had left and Tchouameni was in the team! He hasn’t looked back since and is one of the best defensive midfielders in world football now.

“He had the guidance that prepared him for that, and you need to use these senior players in the right way to guide, whilst giving the young player the time to play. I can see the same situation with Ugarte being guided by Casemiro.”

A new report has revealed Daniel Levy’s current stance on Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou after their 1-0 loss at AFC Bournemouth.

Postecoglou has been under pressure during the early months of this season as Spurs have been incredibly inconsistent in the Premier League.

Tottenham have six wins, two draws and six defeats in their 14 Premier League matches. They are tenth in the table and six points adrift of the Champions League places.

Following Tottenham’s 4-0 hammering of Man City, Postecoglou’s side were tasked with kicking on, though they have failed to win their last two matches against Fulham and Bournemouth.

After being held to a 1-1 draw by Fulham last weekend, Spurs were deservedly beaten 1-0 at Bournemouth on Thursday night.

READ: Postecoglou reaches familiar Spurs manager endgame as Angeball drifts towards despair

After this loss, Postecoglou admitted he was “really disappointed” with his side’s performance and result. He said: “We have to open up. They can sit back. Just really disappointing that it has happened again. Something for me to mull over and do something about.”

Postecoglou is among the favourites to be the next Premier League manager to be sacked and a report from The Boot Room has revealed ‘what Tottenham are saying about’ potentially dismissing the head coach.

It is claimed that ‘Levy and Tottenham are not panicking about Postecoglou’s position at the club’.

‘TBR understands the north London club still hold belief in the Australian to see out the project he has started at Spurs.

‘Tottenham are also well aware of the struggles which Postecoglou is facing putting a side together currently due to injury issues.

‘Although Levy is aware of Tottenham’s standards, it is understood no one is working harder than the 59-year-old to put things right.’

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During his press conference on Friday, Postecoglou admitted he has “no interest” in who is backing him.

“Not a lot of time for reflection, we got back at 2am. It was a disappointing night and we have a lot of work to do,” Postecoglou said.

On the response from angry fans, he added: “They aren’t behind me, they are behind the club.

“I have got no interest in who is behind me. Last night you have to figure the fans who travel to Bournemouth are fairly hardcore supporters.

“They weren’t happy with what they saw and they felt like they needed to give some feedback. I took the feedback onboard and we move on.”

On Sunday’s London derby against Chelsea, he continued: “We have done well against the teams up the top end of the table, not just wins but played really well. Whether that is City or United or Villa.

“But it doesn’t eliminate what happened last night. That still needs to be addressed. We will put that to one side, it is a big game on Sunday.

“Chelsea are going really well, they are in a good space at the moment witha fairly healthy squad and in good form. Always a tough game against them but we are at home and we need to make sure we produce a performance like we have in the other games.”

Alan Shearer was impressed by Dean Huijsen’s display for Bournemouth against Tottenham on Thursday, claiming he “bossed” Dominic Solanke.

The Cherries claimed a 1-0 victory with Huijsen scoring the only goal of the game as he headed home at the back post unmarked from a corner on 17 minutes.

Other than a dodgy moment early in the game where his mistake allowed Solanke a chance on goal, the teenager made the most of his first Premier League start since September and “bossed” the £65m Spurs striker.

Shearer said on Amazon Prime commentary: “He [Huijsen] has been absolutely fantastic tonight. I can’t remember him losing the ball, other than that one in the first half. He has been faultless. He has bossed Solanke, controlled him.”

READ: Postecoglou reaches familiar Spurs manager endgame as Angeball drifts towards despair

Huijsen – who joined Bournemouth from Juventus in a £13m move in the summer – was named Player of the Match and claimed after the game that scoring his first goal was “a goosebumps moment”.

He said: “We know it is difficult to come here. We know we make it difficult for the big teams, and the others as well really. It is a recall exciting win. I think every little boy dreams of playing in the Premier League and I am so happy to be playing in it and to have scored my first goal.

“It is definitely a special memory. A goosebumps moment. It is a special thing to be Bournemouth’s youngest Premier League scorer and I hope to stay in the team now and carry on playing.

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“[The goal] is all down to our trainer. We have scored a few set piece goals this season because of him. It was my job to finish it and I did, so that was great. We will work on that [scoring more goals], but as a team it was great. A good performance and a good win.

“We know Tottenham is also a very physical team so I think it was a great match up and a great match to watch for the fans watching at home and in the stadium.

“First of all we need to avoid relegation but I think we have a bit more in us. Who knows. Maybe we can get a Conference League place or something if we keep working and pushing like this.”

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Former Tottenham striker Les Ferdinand felt that Spurs lacked a threat as they had 12 shots compared to Bournemouth’s 21. He said: “Every time Bournemouth went forward, they looked like scoring. Tottenham didn’t. There was no urgency, no physicality, didn’t win any 50-50 tackles. We didn’t know what Spurs would turn up and it wasn’t this one the fans wanted.”

Ex-Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Jamie O’Hara thinks Ange Postecoglou is on “thin ice” and will be sacked unless there’s one change in the next few weeks.

Postecoglou is under serious pressure as Spurs have been infuriatingly inconsistent at the start of this campaign. They have six wins, two draws and six defeats in their 14 Premier League matches.

It was hoped that Tottenham would kick on after last month’s 4-0 win at Man City, but they have followed up this statement result with a 1-1 draw against Fulham and deserved 1-0 loss at Bournemouth.

Spurs are currently 13th in the Premier League form table and six points adrift of the Champions League places.

Tottenham’s disappointing start to the season leaves Postecoglou as one of the favourites to be the next Premier League manager sacked.

O’Hara admits “this can’t continue” and Postecoglou will be sacked if “Spurs are 101th in the table after Christmas”.

“You know what? I don’t know how much more… Look, I like Ange, I like the football he plays, I do. But, there’s a big but coming, but this is getting old, this football, in terms of set-pieces and playing out from the back,” O’Hara said.

READ: Postecoglou reaches familiar Spurs manager endgame as Angeball drifts towards despair

“Daniel Levy ain’t going to stand for this. I’m telling you now. If he thinks he can go all the way through the season and keep defending like this, keep having set-pieces like this, he will get sacked.

“Daniel Levy is all about Champions League football, Europa League minimum. If Spurs are 10th in the table after Christmas, they will sack Ange. I’m telling you, they will sack him. This can’t continue.

“I feel like he’s starting to run on thin ice. I need to see more. One from the players because the players again tonight let themselves down, but I need more from the manager.”

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O’Hara has also admitted that he is “tired of being a Spurs fan” and sick of “talking about Tottenham”.

“I’m going to be honest, I’m getting tired of talking about Tottenham,” O’Hara added.

“I don’t know what to say. You know, at the end of the day, I come in here and I can talk about Spurs all day long and you clip stuff up and it does my head in.

“I’m tired of being a Spurs fan. It’s hard work. One minute you’re up, then you’re down, then you’re up, then you’re down.

“And you know what? It’s just, it’s painful. We are painful to watch because you know there’s a big performance in there because we’ve seen it.

“Aston Villa. Man City. You go away from home, then you get beat by Bournemouth.”

Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has reacted to his heated confrontation with “disappointed” supporters after his side lost 1-0 at AFC Bournemouth.

It was hoped that Spurs could step up to another level after they demolished Man City last month, winning 4-0 at the Etihad.

However, Postecoglou have subsequently gone two games without a win in the Premier League. They were held to a 1-1 home draw against Fulham before they were deservedly beaten 1-0 by Bournemouth on Thursday night.

Tottenham’s inconsistency is infuriating as they have six wins, two draws and six losses in the Premier League. They are tenth and six points adrift of the Champions League places.

Postecoglou is among the favourites to be the next Premier League manager sacked and he confronted angry supporters after his side’s loss at Bournemouth. He admitted he must “cop it”, but he “didn’t like what was being said”.

“They’re disappointed and rightly so,” said Postecoglou.

READ: Postecoglou reaches familiar Spurs manager endgame as Angeball drifts towards despair

“They gave me some direct feedback, which I’ve taken on board. I didn’t like what was being said because I’m a human being but you’ve got to cop it.

“I’ve been around long enough to know that when things don’t go well you’ve got to understand the frustration and disappointment. And they’re rightly disappointed because we let a game of football get away from us. But that’s OK. I’m OK with all that.

“All I can say is I’m really disappointed and I’m determined to get it right and will keep fighting until we do.”

He added: “It comes down to us as a collective being a lot more determined to control a game of football and not let the opposition take control.”

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Postecoglou has warned supporters against writing off Son Heung-Min, who has been criticised for his performances. He is one of 20 notable players due to be out of contract in 2025.

He continued: “I think there were questions about Mo Salah maybe a year or so ago. I would be wary about doing that, but it might help me if you write him off. Go for it!

“I don’t see that in Sonny, I still think he’s got a hell of a lot of quality and from a physical standpoint, the way he looks after himself, I don’t see his abilities diminishing just due to the age factor at the moment. I don’t see that.

“He’s had a bit of a disrupted start this year where he’s had a couple of setbacks where he hasn’t played regularly.

“I think with Sonny the more regularly he plays, the increase comes in that output. So the answer is no, I don’t think so, and I’d be wary about writing him off.”

It’s damn near non-stop Barclays right now, with the midweek round barely finished before we’re straight into the meat of the weekend with the Merseyside derby. And it doesn’t stop there…

Game to watch: Everton v Liverpool

Yes, there are all manner of workload-related quibbles to be had with the relentless December fixture list. But the other thing you have to remember about having Premier League games almost every day for a fortnight is this: it’s bloody brilliant.

We remain staunch supporters of the Amazon midweek round, one of the most consistent guarantees of elite Barclays yet devised. We would very much like more of them squeezed into the schedule please, and to heck with hamstrings and knees.

What’s also good about the discombobulating nature of a rare full midweek programme is its ability to shift the dynamic in really quite unexpected ways.

Take this Merseyside Derby, for instance. Any big derby is, of course, an absolutely lovely Saturday lunchtime treat to kick off the weekend. Especially when it seems barely five minutes since you were watching Spurs commit atrocities on Thursday night.

But this one is a really hefty Merseyside Derby for both sides. Everton are desperately trying to keep their heads above the relegation fight, while Liverpool are attempting to extend their lead at the top of the table and pile pressure on the chasing pack who follow them into action across the weekend.

Without any added context it’s a big game. With context it’s an even bigger one than usual. And now, thanks to the unique magic of the midweek madness, it also takes place between one team coming in on the back of a rampant 4-0 home win and another rueing their failure to see a match out. And the identity of those teams is entirely the opposite way round to what might be expected.

Given the general direction of travel for the two teams in recent seasons, Everton’s derby record at Goodison isn’t actually too bad. It’s not exactly formbook-out-the-window stuff, but they have lost only one of the last seven and ran out 2-0 winners in April at a time when Jurgen Klopp’s farewell tour was just running out of puff a little bit.

There have been four goalless Goodison draws between these two in those seven games, but we’re going to stick our neck out and say a fifth is unlikely. Everton would probably take it, and have improved sufficiently defensively from their harrowing start to the season to make it plausible, but shutting this Liverpool team out currently appears a plan unlikely to work out.

They’ve scored at least twice in each of their last eight Premier League games, a run that’s included games against Chelsea, Arsenal, Brighton, Aston Villa, Man City and Newcastle.

Despite their fun and frolics against Wolves in the week, you’d imagine Everton will again set their stall out to frustrate and stifle their title-chasing neighbours. It’s worked in the past and will no doubt work again in the future. We don’t think it will work in the present.

Which should be enough to guarantee not only a 0-0, but a 0-0 with zero shots on target from either team.

Team to watch: Tottenham

Tottenham are, of course, an objectively stupid football team. Whether they win or lose, there’s always an element of farce to it all. It generally feels very predictable, and increasingly so in recent weeks.

Alright, we maybe didn’t have 4-0 in mind, but we can’t really say we were shocked to see Spurs pull a performance out of their arse at the Etihad against the bewildered champions, and we’ve been even less shocked by the rotten displays that have followed against Fulham and Bournemouth. Spurs is as Spurs does.

For all their performative, affected “We’re so crazy and unpredictable!” stylings, you actually generally know precisely what you’ll get from Spurs: utter nonsense, in whatever flavour is most (or least, we guess) appropriate to the occasion.

So this Super Sunday game is actually quite interesting because for once we aren’t entirely certain what flavour of Spursiness to really expect. Spursy Logic dictates this should be back in ‘pull performance out of arse’ territory, but the last two games have been so very, very bad that we just can’t quite bring ourselves to predict it with any confidence. Even though we know we should.

Feels more likely, though, that this goes the way of last season’s infamous clash, albeit perhaps with a slightly less surreal and absurdist bent.

Spurs may be ridiculousness personified, but here they are up against a Chelsea side that is – and we can’t quite believe we’re writing this – really quite determinedly sensible this season, on the field at least.

Spurs’ patched-up defence has been outrageously fortunate to concede only two goals across those execrable Fulham and Bournemouth games, and even the clean sheet at City was a bit of a nonsense.

While Spurs have suffered a lot of defeats this season, it does feel like a proper actually mortifying needle-shifting thrashing is overdue. They might very well need some rapid, significant and on the face of it unlikely defensive improvement to dodge that particular fate one more time here.

Manager to watch: Ruben Amorim

Feels like the first game in which it might be fair to draw any kind of firm early judgement on Man United’s bright new manager.

His bow at Ipswich was always likely to feel a bit rushed. Home wins against Bodo/Glimt and Everton were the minimum requirement for a passing grade there, and he is not the first and won’t be the last manager to be set-pieced into oblivion at the Emirates.

Forest at home feels like a far more revealing kind of fixture. Not a gimme like Everton, but also not a game in which anything less than three points can really be acceptable despite the fine start Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have made.

Decent as Forest may be even Manchester City managed to sort them out, so there really is no excuse for Amorim here as he continues his quick-fire introduction to English football with a fifth game in 15 days.

Player to watch: Bernd Leno

Fulham and their keeper have sorted themselves out in the last couple of games after conceding four goals at home to Wolves for some reason.

And that’s just as well, because now he goes up against Arsenal and their unstoppable set-piece machine.

Leno, who left Arsenal just before their return to relevance, has a little more skin in the game than most against his former team. Can he succeed where so many others have failed against the M&S Stoke?

Football League game to watch: West Brom v Sheffield United

It’s shaping up to be an absolute doozy of a promotion race in the Championship, and this weekend the current leaders Sheffield United face a tricky trip to a West Brom side who have embarked on a fascinating if surely misguided policy of drawing all of their games.

It is now, improbably, nine draws for the Baggies in what must go down as the greatest 10-match unbeaten run of all time.

The Blades are on a good unbeaten run of their own but have opted instead to mainly win rather than draw. We have to say, we think that’s the better strategy. But something has to give this weekend.

European game to watch: Napoli v Lazio

Serie A also looks to be throwing up something for the ages, with just four points separating table-toppers Napoli from fifth-placed Lazio heading into their clash this weekend. Atalanta, Inter and Fiorentina will all be keen observers of this.

We don’t need to go too far back into the mists of time for a bit of form guide either. We’re looking back as far as, well, yesterday for clues from a 3-1 home win for Lazio over the league leaders in the last 16 of the Coppa Italia.

If Lazio can do something similar on Napoli’s patch this weekend then the prospect of a six-way title fight really does loom.

Spurs have had a lot of different managers with a lot of different approaches. But the endgame always has the same feel.

A growing, gnawing, nagging sense that whatever talent you know or believe yourself to possess as a coach, you are not going to be able to stop Spurs being Spurs. Eventually there comes a game that crystallises all those doubts and ends the debate. Some managers come to this conclusion slowly and sadly, some take a more Antonio Conte route, but they all get there in the end.

It really feels like we’re there with Postecoglou now. Spurs haven’t just been terrible since the ridiculousness of the Man City game – although they have been that – they’ve been predictably terrible.

Everyone inside and outside Tottenham knew this would happen. Absolutely not one person with any experience of them at all watched Spurs utterly dismantle the defending champions and thought to themselves it might be the start of something rather than just their latest bit of Spursy pantomime. The 4-0 at City was never the punchline, only ever the set-up.

Which is also why the “At least it’s exciting!” defence doesn’t really wash. Because it isn’t exciting, not really, not if you know it cannot lead anywhere. It was exciting at the start of last season precisely because we couldn’t 100 per cent know for sure that Angeball wasn’t the one chance in 14000605 for Spurs to actually win something. Now, of course, we all know better.

They were bad against Fulham but burgled a point. They absolutely stunk the place out here. When things come to the end for a Spurs manager, it’s usually on the back of precisely this kind of non-performance. A game where they are out-thought mentally and bullied relentlessly physically. We’re sure there must have been a 50-50 ball that emerged Spurs’ way at some point during this game, it’s just that we can’t remember it at this time.

You can’t say for sure that the players aren’t trying but it also doesn’t really matter. Whether they were trying or not it’s almost impossible to conjure an image of how it might look any worse.

Spurs have very often been bad this season, but we truly can’t remember it looking quite this disorganised, this shambolic, and most damningly this uninterested.

Angeball has failed, that much is now clear. There is sympathy for the fact he is without some key players at the back, but none for the way he insists that Fraser Forster, Radu Dragusin and Archie Gray should play in precisely the same way as Guglielmo Vicario, Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven.

Sticking to your principles no matter what isn’t noble or visionary; it’s stubborn and stupid. Spurs and Postecoglou threw themselves over that precipice here. At full strength, Spurs have the players to play that way and the positives outweigh the negatives. That is, plainly, not the case when this many changes are required.

What was somehow Bournemouth’s only goal was a genuine disaster for Spurs’ patched-up defence, the excellent Dean Huijsen making a straightforward arcing run to the back post that inexplicably earned him three yards of prime penalty area real estate in which to nod past Forster.

Spurs had actually been okay for the 15 minutes or so before that, but that was the end of any hint of competence from the visitors, who were rattled into oblivion by their own incompetence. If there’s something Spurs should be used to by now, it’s their own incompetence. One of the great bits that it always seems to catch them by surprise. The players, that is. Not the fans. Nothing about this caught them on the hop.

There was the brief threat of a rally early in the second half. Son Heung-Min got the ball in the net but had strayed needlessly offside. But there was simply no wit or purpose to Spurs’ attacking play beyond getting the ball to Dejan Kulusevski and hoping for the best. Their number-one second-half strategy was James Maddison whipping corners into the air in the hope the blustery wind might blow them into the net. It’s the sort of thing that might have a decent chance of working against Spurs, but not really against anyone else.

Whatever sympathy may exist with regards to the reduced numbers at the back doesn’t apply to the frontline either. With Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke – who took classy touches to a whole new level with an entire muted performance at his former club – restored Spurs were at full-strength going forward.

This was a night to suck the air right out of a football club. Just a blank empty space where the performance should be. Where it’s not clear whether or not the players even care, and you can’t even decide which option is the more damning anyway.

As with so many men before him, Postecoglou is not the cause of Tottenham’s ennui. It’s not his fault this is a club going nowhere. But never has it looked more stark than tonight that he is not the solution either.

It’s almost impossible to know who might be. Spurs could do worse than consider the man in the opposition dugout here; it would be an appointment to the one time they nearly got it right with Mauricio Pochettino anyway: a foreign coach with clear and interesting ideas making his way up in the game.

They’ve tried elite winners. They’ve tried leftfield Australians who have 15 different intonations of the word mate, able with subtle alterations to make it mean everything from, well, ‘mate’ to ‘c*nt’. They’ve tried desperately appointing Nuno Espirito Santo because literally every other human on earth has said no.

What they try next probably won’t work out either. But tonight was a night that sharpened the mind and made it clear that we’ll find out pretty soon.

Postecoglou is on borrowed time after a game that should have had a far more harrowing final score. The last half-hour in which Spurs were, in theory, chasing an equaliser, was instead an exercise in just how many chances Bournemouth could waste to settle it. The final tally was 23 attempts for the home side – their Premier League high for the season – and a lot of them were very, very presentable.

Profligacy, offside flags and Forster’s tree-trunk limbs kept the scoreline respectable, but the performance could not be saved. It seems absurd that a manager can look this cooked less than a fortnight after a 4-0 win at the defending champions, but Spurs are absurd. Always and forever, for better or usually worse.

It was Chelsea’s visit to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last November that first popped the Angeball bubble. It seems entirely possible and fitting they will return a year and a month later to land the fatal blow.

Man Utd now see Tottenham star Son Heung-min as a ‘viable target’ but could be forced to sell academy stars to make major transfers, according to reports.

The Red Devils lost their first match in four under new head coach Ruben Amorim on Wednesday night with Man Utd defeated 2-0 by Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

The match highlighted Amorim’s need for time and support in the transfer market as his Man Utd players get used to his 3-4-3 formation and philosophy.

Amorim still needs players who suit his high-energy style and formation better than some of his current squad and Tottenham star Son is one player who has now been linked.

Son’s contract at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is up in the summer of 2026 and GiveMeSport now claim that he is now considered a ‘viable target’ by Man Utd.

Man Utd have often been criticised for their attempts to bring older players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Edinson Cavani and Cristiano Ronaldo to the club – but Red Devils fans would no doubt be pleased to see the South Korean – who has scored 166 goals for Tottenham in all competitions – sign at Old Trafford.

GiveMeSport report:

‘But could United be about to revisit the practice?

‘There’s plenty of chat around Old Trafford that Tottenham star Son Heung-min is a viable target with the 32-year-old South Korean attacker out of contract next summer.

‘Son – described as being “world-class” by Ange Postecoglou – would certainly be welcomed by United fans who still regret losing out to Bayern Munich who signed Harry Kane – Son’s partner in crime at Spurs.’

But Man Utd could have to sell more academy products over the next couple of transfer windows to allow them room to bring in big signings to improve Amorim’s side.

Former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson told Football Insider: “On the cost side, it’s quite materially worse when you look at the PSR test.

“United did have a decent buffer going into this year because of one of the historic years that they lost and because they have had various allowances over time.

“But I think a lot of that buffer has been eaten up now by the change of manager and the redundancy costs.

“We will have to see. I suspect they won’t be doing a lot in the January window, if anything.

“If they can get to the end of the year and sell again like they did last summer, where they sold youth players Greenwood and McTominay, they can put themselves in a better position from a PSR perspective if they can do that next summer.

“But they are quite close to the edge on PSR for the current season because of the roughly £30million they have spent so far on exceptional expenses that they wouldn’t have necessarily budgeted for.”