‘Turned to the dark arts’: How Ange ‘masterminded’ epic Europa win and silenced big Spurs doubt — UK View
“I’ll correct myself,” Ange Postecoglou told reporters after Tottenham’s 1-0 loss to Arsenal in September last year.
“I don’t usually win things, I always win things in my second year.
“Nothing’s changed. I’ve said it now. I don’t say things unless I believe them.”
It was a confident claim from the Australian, one that opened himself up to ridicule, especially with Tottenham having won just one of their first four games in the Premier League season at the time.
But Postecoglou was insistent. He would find a way because, again, he always wins in his second year.
It won’t be in the Premier League, with Spurs languishing in 16th — their worst ever league position in the 20-team era.
But Spurs’ Europa League dream is still alive after Postecoglou oversaw a clinical 2-0 win over Bodø/Glimt to book a date with Manchester United in the final.
And when reminded on Friday morning of the fact he said he “always delivers trophies in the second season”, Postecoglou once again stood by his words.
“Well yeah, I mean, you know, it’s just stating a fact,” he said.
“And we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing.”
MORE: Ange shuts down ‘raging’ Europa League debate in press conference
In the case of the Europa League, Postecoglou and Tottenham will just keep on winning and if they can continue that on May 22 against Manchester United, The Telegraph’s Matt Law went as far as to claim it would deliver “one of football’s great mic drops”.
While expectations of Postecoglou and Tottenham were high ahead of Friday’s game, not everything was working in their favour either.
Their two most in-form midfielders, Lucas Bergvall and James Maddison, were both out injured. Spurs struggled on the artificial pitch when they beat Tamworth in the FA Cup.
But Postecoglou still found a way, and it meant departing from what he knew best and what had earned the Australian some of his harshest critics early in his Tottenham tenure.
Postecoglou said after the game he felt there was “just too much risk to play out” when asked about Guglielmo Vicario’s tendency to take his time with goal-kicks before sending them long.
“We wanted to knock the rhythm out of them. I just felt tonight made sense for us to be a bit more direct,” Postecoglou added.
“Today was going to be a different game. We just needed to take our time and try to take any rhythm out of the game.
“They like to play at a high tempo, high intensity and we tried to take that rhythm out of them. We were still aggressive with our press and didn’t really let them get in our half too many times.”
Former Premier League goalkeeper Paul Robinson called it an “outstanding performance” from Tottenham.
“Organised, structured, defensively sound. Not pretty, not a great watch but effective,” he said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
Dan Kilpatrick, chief football correspondent for the Evening Standard, described it as “Ange-ball but with hard edges and dark arts”.
The Athletic’s Jack Pitt-Brooke, meanwhile, credited Postecoglou’s pragmatic approach.
“The fact that Spurs did it like this, managing the game, shutting down Bodo/Glimt, frustrating the noisy home crowd, will be of huge satisfaction to Postecoglou,” Pitt-Brooke wrote.
“All season he has been criticised for being too ideological, too committed to his aggressive style of play. But he has managed Spurs all the way through to their first European final since 2019, masterminding a 1-0 win at Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-final second leg and now this.”
More specifically, Pitt-Brooke pointed to the different ways Tottenham “turned to the dark arts” in order to “take time out of the game”.
“One of the features of Tottenham under Postecoglou has been their relentlessness, their commitment to getting the ball back into play as fast as possible. It is one of the hallmarks of Angeball at its most intense,” Pitt-Brooke wrote.
“But this was not a night for Angeball. It was a night for getting over the line. And it was striking from the start how happy Spurs were to take time out of the game, taking as long as possible over every re-start, to the fury of the crowd and the frustration of referee Maurizio Mariani.”
Pitt-Brooke went on to note the ball was in play for less than 26 minutes in the first half, which marked the second-shortest time from all of Tottenham’s Europa League first halves this season.
“From corners and throw-ins, Spurs waited, changed their taker, then waited again. From goal-kicks Guglielmo Vicario took as long as possible, before invariably going long, looking for Solanke or Richarlison. He was finally booked in the second half,” Pitt-Brooke continued.
“Later in the game, substituted players gently ambled off the field. And why not? Given the pitch, the opposition and the match situation, this strategy made perfect sense.
“Much like Spurs’ quarter-final second leg at Eintracht Frankfurt, it proved that Postecoglou is far readier than many expected to put his ideology to one side, in pursuit of winning this competition.”
The Athletic’s Elias Burke, meanwhile, singled out Postecoglou’s flexibility in changing the 4-3-3 formation he has typically run in the Premier League with a 4-2-3-1 variation in Frankfurt and both games against Bodø/Glimt.
“Credit to Postecoglou, his willingness to alter his Premier League approach for the Europa League has proven crucial in Spurs’ run to the final,” Burke wrote.
But regardless of whether Postecoglou wins the silverware or not, ex-Socceroos captain Craig Foster said on Stan Sport that the Tottenham coach has “already created a new level for Australian coaches”, having become the first male Australian football manager to reach the final of a major European final.
“Ange has broken a lot of barriers, and he has broken another one here. First Australian coach in a major European final,” Foster said.
“That’s big. Win or otherwise, it doesn’t matter. He has already created a new level for Australian coaches… for Australian football generally it is a very big moment.”
It was a very big moment in Postecoglou’s tenure at Tottenham too. He may end up being sacked regardless of whether Spurs lifts the trophy before the end of the month, but defeat against Bodø/Glimt would have all but sealed his fate.
Instead, Postecoglou has a chance to silence his critics. Again, it may not end up saving his job, but even if it doesn’t, as Law wrote, he can leave in a “blaze of glory”.
“How his critics laughed, when Postecoglou told them that he wins trophies in his second season at clubs. This, after all, is Tottenham, lads,” Law continued.
“But one more victory, over Manchester United in the Europa League final in Bilbao, will force those who mocked him to eat their words and hand Tottenham a first European trophy for 41 years.
“It could also allow Postecoglou to exit Tottenham in a blaze of glory, leaving on his terms and having become the first Spurs manager since Juane Ramos in 2008 to clinch silverware.”
