When Ange Postecoglou arrived at Tottenham Hotspur, he had achieved plenty in smaller leagues – most notably at Celtic in Scotland – but had yet to take charge of a club in one of Europe’s elite divisions. He quickly won admiration in north London, however, with his eye-catching football, which was played with an admirable recklessness.
His time at Spurs started well, too, as the club went unbeaten in their first 10 Premier League games, picking up two more points than Arsenal over the same period during their Invincibles era. Unfortunately for the Australian, though, that would prove to be the peak of his time at Tottenham so far.
Indeed, his bold approach to football led to a vulnerability which rival teams quickly figured out how to exploit. Now into his second season with the Lillywhites, things couldn’t be going much worse.
They are currently 15th in the Premier League, just two points above West Ham in 17th, having just lost their 17th league match of the season. Following that most recent 4-2 loss vs Wolves, some comments on Postecoglou’s methods on the training ground have been recirculated online.
Eric Dier Claimed Postecoglou’s Doesn’t Work on Tactics
Spurs boss his own coaching method instead
Eric Dier left Tottenham in January of Postecoglou’s first season in charge, moving to Bayern on loan initially before completing a permanent transfer in the summer. Not long after his move to Germany, the defender was quizzed about the Australian’s tactics in an interview with Gary Neville.
The pundit asked if Postecoglou was the ‘most tactically aware coach’ Dier had worked under, praising Spurs’ unique style of play. The response was eye-opening, to say the least, as it was revealed that tactics aren’t even really worked on:
“Interestingly, he doesn’t do barely any tactical work. What he does is, every single training drill, from Monday to Friday, is drawn up to represent the way he wants to play.”
In an era where every aspect of football seems to be so carefully worked on, it’s quite amazing to learn that Postecoglou isn’t particularly interested in tactics. However, he was famously reluctant to hire a set-piece coach at Spurs, so he evidently has a lot of faith in his own methods.
With the club struggling, though, and his job now at risk, perhaps it would be wise to revert to some more traditional managerial practices.
