A fortnight on from their loss to Brighton, described as the worst of Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs tenure, Tottenham needed an emphatic win to ease their manager’s pressure.
An emphatic win is exactly what they got, coming from behind to beat West Ham, with Postecoglou’s “strange” halftime tactical change proving a masterstroke.
For now at least the win, as well as the performance, has silenced the noise around Spurs, providing Postecoglou with a stable foundation to continue building Tottenham into the side he wants them to be.
Get all the latest football news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!
The Australian has come under fire at times during his reign in North London for a lack of ‘Plan B’, as well as some questionable in-game management decisions that have proven costly.
In the Brighton loss Postecoglou failed to make any changes until the 80th minute. Ange’s substitutes that day - Pape Matar Sarr and Yves Bissouma - were unable to effect the result and rescue a point for Spurs.
The same could not be levelled at the 59-year-old against their London rivals after Postecoglou removed attacking midfielder James Maddison at halftime for Sarr, a more traditional, physical midfield presence. He later insisted the move was purely tactical.
Sarr’s introduction provided Spurs with two deeper midfield presences, fortifying central areas against a physical West Ham side, and allowing Dejan Kulusevski to take greater attacking reign.
The move worked, with Sarr winning the ball in his own half and finding Heung-Min Son for the Spurs’ fourth goal.
Writing in the Independent, Miguel Delaney praised Postecoglou’s ‘proactive’ move, as well as Spurs’ general performance, which showed elements of a steeliness widely perceived to be lacking at the club.
Similarly, The Athletic’s Jay Harris and Liam Tharme argued Ange ‘identified a weakness in his team, corrected it and Maddison will surely come to accept it benefitted the team because it helped them achieve the right outcome.’
Generally, the mood in the English media about the substitution is positive, particularly given it could provide Spurs a potential confidence boost moving into their next three games against Palace, Villa and Ipswich respectively.
However, Delaney was quick to add the result isn’t as comprehensive as perhaps some might feel, noting it was ‘a very Spurs win.’
‘At least in terms of really going for it and looking convincing when it’s easy. Not when it’s hard.’
Such criticisms can easily be viewed as harsh. Delaney himself addresses as much, adding: ‘This was still one of those games where you can see how enjoyable a Postecoglou display is when everything works.’
That term Delaney alludes to - ‘Spursy’ - is such a common stick to beat Tottenham with that it even has its own entry in the Collins Dictionary, which defines it as: ‘To have success in reach but ultimately chuck it away.’
The Brighton loss is a fine example of this characteristic, as is Spurs’ 1-1 draw with Leicester to open this season. So too is last year’s 4-1 loss to Chelsea, or that season’s four-game losing streak between rounds 32 and 36 that played a key factor in Spurs’ failure to qualify for the Champions League.
There are countless more examples of Spurs being ‘Spursy’ dating back over a decade, with Mauricio Pochettino, Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham sides all falling victim to this characteristic that’s so deeply ingrained in the North London club.
And while the term is directly associated with Tottenham, Tim Sherwood, who coached the club in 2013-14, insisted his former club weren’t the only Premier League side that show signs of being ‘Spursy’.
“Every team is ‘Spursy,’” he said.
“Let me tell you, unless they’re the Man Cities and the Arsenals of this world, and the Liverpools, everyone has a ‘Spursy’ moment.”
Sherwood insisted Ange is a “top drawer manager,” before praising the current Spurs head coach for facets of his coaching that others have criticised him for
“I think he’s playing his own way,” Sherwood said.
‘Angeball’, as Postecoglou’s style has come to be known, sees his side press high and keep their foot on their opponents’ throat without relenting. At times, an insistence on playing their way regardless of game state has been their Achilles heel.
However, as Delaney noted above, when it all clicks Spurs are both highly entertaining and effective.
This season no Premier League side has scored more goals than Postecoglou’s side, while their widely criticised defence has conceded the same number of goals as Manchester City, and just one more than their highly pragmatic rivals Arsenal.
For this reason, Sherwood insisted Spurs “have to get behind him. Give him more finances to strengthen and let him take this team as far as he can.”
The former Premier League winning captain feels Postecoglou’s coaching should give the club confidence to back him heavily in the transfer market.
“I’ve always criticised the recruitment but I think now, because of this manager, because of the offensive players and Micky Van de Ven who’s been a revelation, I think Ange Postecoglou is shining them in the correct light,” he said.
“All of a sudden the recruitment department must be saying ‘see. We must be doing something right.’ And I think they’re working hand in hand.”
“At the moment, and I know it’s game to game and they need more consistency, because before the international break the Brighton game, second half, they were the whipping boys.
“You can’t criticise that performance.”
As Sherwood alluded to, Spurs need to carry this form into their next few games if they are to truly silence the noise around the club and it’s trajectory.
Club-record signing Dominic Solanke stated as much following their West Ham win.
“Speaking to a couple of the boys after, I think we need to play like this as much as we can because we know we can do it,” he said.
“(In) the last game before this (Brighton) we showed we can do it in one half and not in the second half, but we need to do this consistently.”
Consistency will be crucial for Spurs, and their manager. Few doubt Postecoglou’s coaching ability. He’s said many times, much to the dismay of some UK pundits, that he tends to win things in his second season.
Having laid that marker down the pressure is on Ange to deliver results, and at least one trophy, before season’s end. Doing so and breaking Spurs’ lengthy trophy drought would be a significant step in the right direction for club and manager, one which could set them up for a fortuitous future.
And, when all’s said and done, the catalyst for any success during Ange’s Spurs tenure could be a halftime substitution that showed the Australian’s pragmatic edge and brilliant in game management at a time both were seriously doubted.