Towards the end of Ange Postecoglou’s press conference, after his Tottenham Hotspur side lost the north London derby away to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, he was asked if the only positives to take from the game were the performances of Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall.
It was an opportunity to acknowledge two teenagers excelling in difficult circumstances and end a bad evening on a hopeful note. Gray prefers to play in midfield but has started the past 10 games in all competitions at centre-back, while Bergvall has arguably been Spurs’ most impressive performer in recent weeks.
Instead of praising Gray and Bergvall, who 12 months ago were playing in the second tier of English football and Sweden’s top flight respectively, Postecoglou fired a warning shot.
“I hope not. I want them disappointed,” he said. “This can’t be accepted by anyone at the club. Us losing so many games in a league season is not right. I know we are going through a tough trot and are asking big jobs (of people), but I hope they are hurting, the 18-year-olds, as much as anybody else in terms of us not being able to deliver on a big night.”
Postecoglou’s frustration was understandable.
Tottenham withstood 20 minutes of intense pressure from Arsenal, then took the lead through Son Heung-min, only to concede twice just before half-time. There was an element of misfortune about Dominic Solanke’s own goal but Yves Bissouma was easily dispossessed by Thomas Partey in the build-up to Leandro Trossard’s winner. Postecoglou said his team were “too passive” and “nowhere near the level they needed to be”, describing the one they are playing at as “not acceptable”.
It was a complete contrast to how Declan Rice talked about Arsenal’s display on TNT Sports, the game’s live UK broadcaster. “Tonight meant more than anything, from the first minute,” Rice said. “First 45 minutes was pure domination. We showed that intent, that pressure, that desire. You could tell it was a derby. We are unlucky we didn’t score 10 tonight, that’s the feeling.”
This is the 11th time Spurs have lost in the Premier League this season in 21 matches — the only teams who have suffered more defeats are Wolverhampton Wanderers, Leicester City (both 13) and Southampton (16). Or, to describe them another way, the three sides in the relegation places.
Tottenham have taken only 24 points from those 21 games and are closer to the bottom three than the four Champions League qualification spots. They have won once in nine league games, and that was against a Southampton side currently eight points adrift in last place. All of the goodwill from beating league leaders Liverpool in the home first leg of a Carabao Cup semi-final this time a week ago has slipped away following Wednesday night’s flat display.
In the first few minutes of the game, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Jurrien Timber made interceptions high up the pitch that led to Arsenal attacks. Gray, Bissouma and Djed Spence found it difficult to progress the ball up Spurs’ left wing. Then Kai Havertz blocked goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky’s pass in the box and nearly scored.
Tottenham were overwhelmed and struggled to string a sequence of passes together. Son, Dejan Kulusevski and Solanke were peripheral figures. Bissouma and Pape Sarr were replaced with Brennan Johnson and James Maddison at half-time as Postecoglou tried to find “a different intent in our football”.
“It’s not who we are,” the head coach said. “Allowing Arsenal to play to their tempo. It just wasn’t good enough.”
This is not the first time Postecoglou has made drastic changes at the break. Injuries have hit Spurs but their midfield has been left relatively unscathed, apart from Rodrigo Bentancur suffering two separate concussions. Halfway through his second season, Postecoglou is still trying to figure out his most effective midfield combination.
In the Premier League, Maddison is leading the way, with Son, in the squad for direct goal involvements (12), yet has started the past four games on the bench. The 28-year-old England international has not completed a full 90 minutes in the league once this season and has been substituted more times (14) than any of his team-mates. Paradoxically, Maddison is either the first to be taken off when Spurs are underperforming or is asked to perform a rescue act coming on from the bench.
Bergvall is showing promise as the deepest-lying midfielder but it is a lot of responsibility to place on a young and inexperienced player. Kulusevski is often tasked with switching between a central role and the right wing in the same game and has racked up Spurs’ second-highest number of league minutes (1,681) this season after only Pedro Porro (1,716) and needs a rest.
If Postecoglou only tweaked his midfield on certain occasions, you could argue he was tailoring his approach to nullify the strengths, or capitalise on the weaknesses, of specific opponents. Instead, it feels like he tinkers too much and it is difficult for the team to build any consistency.
Postecoglou’s comments about how this poor run of form “can’t be accepted by anyone at the club” can be interpreted in two ways.
Was it a brutally honest admission he is running out of time to change this dire situation? Or was he applying soft pressure to chairman Daniel Levy and technical director Johan Lange to seek solutions to their problems in the final two weeks of the winter transfer market? Richarlison made his first appearance since the beginning of November last night after recovering from a hamstring injury but Solanke needs more help up front. Tottenham were interested in signing France international forward Randal Kolo Muani on loan from Paris Saint-Germain but he is now expected to join Juventus.
It is always frustrating to lose a derby but Postecoglou has now failed to beat Arsenal once in his four attempts. Spurs have looked more solid when they defend set pieces but this is the second time this season that Arsenal have scored from a corner against them.
Mikel Arteta’s side came into last night’s match reeling from back-to-back defeats in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, and the long-term loss of Gabriel Jesus to an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee injury.
If Spurs had reached half-time in the lead or level, the frustration and nerves inside the stadium would have increased. Tottenham could have capitalised on the tension by sitting slightly deeper and hitting Arsenal on the break. Instead, they made costly individual errors and failed to create high-quality chances, things that have happened on countless occasions over the past six months.
If Manchester United beat Southampton at Old Trafford tonight as expected, Spurs will be 14th in the 20-team Premier League table.
Postecoglou can only lean on their impressive performances in the Carabao Cup for so long before serious questions are asked about his long-term future.
As the 59-year-old admitted, their form “is nowhere near good enough and it needs to change”.
(Top photo: Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)