Why Ange Postecoglou needs to change his stubborn principles

In other seasons this may be fine, but it’s a damning portrait of how inconsistent Spurs have been this season.

Spurs are still a team that enthrals when the attack purrs as they're the highest scorers in the league, but the number of chances squandered in the early few games of the season leads you to think they should’ve scored more.

As well as failing to capitalise on chances they’ve failed to capitalise whenever it feels like some momentum is being created, they've only won back-to-back Premier League games this season once. For a side that wants to move away from being in the Europa League to challenging in the Champions League, five defeats from eleven games is nowhere near good enough.

It doesn't help that they keep conceding first, this has happened in six games this season losing three to Newcastle United, Crystal Palace and more recently Ipswich Town. As soon as you think Tottenham have turned a corner, they remind you of why they're still a flawed team.

Unsustainable intensity

Against Brighton and Leicester City, Spurs raced into leads and were irresistible. Their sustained, aggressive attacks overwhelmed both teams. With Spurs 2-0 up at Brighton and 1-0 up against Leicester, it felt like there was only going to be one winner, and yet, they only picked up a point from these two games.

It's remarkably gung-ho when Spurs attack, they push up seven players at once so there is inevitably a drop-off in intensity. It may be wise for them to tweak this approach slightly. If they were to instead focus on taking the sting out of games after going up, it would decrease the level of intensity of their overall performances giving them a needed breather, making games less chaotic.

Smarter game management is needed, but because Postecoglou is religiously sticking to his style, Spurs will continue to push forward again and again. When they do, and an attacking move breaks down, teams can find plenty of joy on the counter.

Spurs will spend large parts of a game camped in the opponent's half, so they're not even giving up many shots on target.

Against their last five opponents, Spurs have conceded 18 shots on target, conceding goals from 8 of them, meaning 44% of the shots on target they've conceded end up being goals. You don't need many shots on target to score against this Tottenham side.

Build-up Issues leading to turnovers

The loss to Ipswich highlights a lot of the recurring issues Tottenham are dealing with this season.

Tottenham's build-up contributes to their issues in rest defence. The way they're positioned in attack isn't to prevent counter attacks from happening, it's to show their intent going forward.

It’s extraordinary to see eight Tottenham players so far up the pitch. When the ball is played long and wide, it’s not a dangerous pass but Radu Dragusin fluffs his header.

You could say Dragusin should be dealing with the clearance better, but even if he does, there aren't that many Tottenham players around him.

It eventually leads to an Ipswich corner where they go close to opening the scoring. While Tottenham have improved at defending set-pieces, Ipswich flooded either the near post or front post to almost score on two separate occasions.

The main problem versus Ipswich was that Tottenham frequently only play with two players in build-up: their two centre-backs. It’s bold to push almost every other player up the pitch but it also leaves few options to progress the ball.

Teams like Ipswich are becoming smarter in the league, not only resorting to mid-block and defending but using the fact that Tottenham only have two players in build-up to turn the ball over.

Keiran Mckenna instructed his strikers to push up and press both of them, with his midfielders marking Pape Sarr and a defender coming out of the back line to Destiny Udogie, it leaves Tottenham with few options to progress the ball.

Above you can see that when Sarr is dropping for the ball, rather than letting him receive, turn and pick a pass, he’s being followed by an Ipswich midfielder.

Later on in the same move, Ipswich pushed Tottenham so far back when Cristian Romero received the ball and the strikers pressed, eventually they just hoof the ball down the line.

This occurred on many occasions, Ipswich’s front two press Tottenham’s back line, the midfielders go with Bentancur, Sarr or Porro when they drop, Spurs struggle to get the ball smoothly from defence into attack and the ball is turned over.

The screen grab below is the best example, Liam Delap and Omari Hutchinson are ready to jump on Romero and Dragusin. Just behind them, Sammie Szmodics is excellently placed in between Bentancur and an inverting Porro, with Delap covering the passing lane. Sam Morsy is marking Sarr, whilst a player has also covered Udogie on the right wing. What it means is there isn’t an out ball for Tottenham.

Spurs have plenty of players high up the pitch, but struggle to get the ball to them in space.

Pressure mounting on Postecoglou

Teams aren’t just sitting back, they’re pressing Tottenham and turning the ball over. It’s a cause for concern for both the attack and defence.

It’s a peculiar Premier League season. With only Liverpool setting the pace and everyone else dropping points, teams like Brighton, Fulham and Nottingham Forest are punching above their weight proving if you aren’t good enough the standard of the league will catch you out.

With Manchester City next up for Tottenham, if Postecoglou isn’t able to address the clear issues his Tottenham team are having, he could risk falling into the bottom half of the table.

For the Australian manager to continue his journey with the North Londoners, he may finally be forced to change his stubborn principles.

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