The Postecoglou Situation

What do Tottenham do with their manager?

    After winning their first trophy in 17 years, and their first European trophy since 1984, Tottenham fans will be rejoicing, but the question in the board room will be about Ange Postecoglou. 

    The Aussie manager joined Tottenham two seasons ago, and his time at the club has been a rollercoaster. A first season that was nothing special ended in European qualification, but this season, domestically, questions have been asked about Tottenham, and they have been unable to answer them. 

    Spurs head into the season’s final day in 17th, their lowest finish in almost 50 years. Whilst signings this season were indeed something to be questioned, Ange Postecoglou has failed to answer the question of what he could do in the league. 

    Postecoglou’s situation with the fans got so toxic that they called for the sack, and it looked like it was coming. The belief was that even if he did bring the Europa League to Spurs, he would still be sacked, but now, the question has changed.    

    Postecoglou has managed to do what many managers couldn’t: Conte, Mourinho, Pochettino, and Nuno Espirito Santos tried and failed to bring glory to Tottenham. Postecoglou is now royalty amongst Tottenham fans, but the poor league form means a finger needs to be pointed somewhere. 

    One can point the finger at the board; their seeming lack of a desire to win means that managers struggle, get blamed, and then get chucked out the door in a never-ending cycle. Surely now, Tottenham cannot sack Postecoglou, although they have lost 25 games this season, he has managed to keep the dressing room together to drive them to a European trophy. 

    As I have said before, the issue with Big Ange seems to be his need to play a high line, and the fact that he refuses to change it, but in the final, it seemed that he could change it, with Spurs having one of the best defensive performances I have seen from them, remarkably how disciplined they were with their defensive line, and how comfortable they were with a start stop game. 

    If Postecoglou can play his team the way they did in the Europa League Final, and find a suitable backup for their two centre-backs, who, however good they are, are very injury-prone and don’t seem to last a season. The problem with Micky Van de Ven seems to be that he runs too fast for his size, so he struggles with hamstring injuries. 

    With signings next season, Postecoglou can deliver a good season for Spurs, which will undoubtedly be a good thing for the board, as players have time to settle, rather than constantly changing managers, helping attract more players to the club. The Europa League final determined which team would sign better players, Spurs or United, as one or the other would have European football, something so crucial to any player.

    Should Postecoglou stay, Tottenham must show that it is serious and active in the transfer market. Postecoglou must now come up with his plan B, so that a side of the so-called “Big 6” is not to be ridiculed, similar to United.

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