Rangers legend Graeme Souness has branded ex Celtic boss Ange Postecolgou “lucky and naive” and claimed it was “MADNESS” not to take any of his own coaching staff to Tottenham Hotspur.
Postecoglou is reeling after blowing a two-goal lead against Brighton & Hove Albion as they lost to the Seagulls which has left the north London outfit sitting in ninth position. Souness rejected the notion that the 59-year-old is a “brave” manager for his all-out attacking style, pointing to the frenzied fixture against Chelsea last season when he continued to chase the game despite going down to NINE men.
Spurs were leading in that match but lost 4-1 and Souness told William Hill’s new podcast, Three Up Front: “When I think of Ange Postecoglou, I go back to that game against Chelsea where they got two players sent off and he still had them playing right up to the halfway line.
“The only time you can do that is when you’ve got 11 players on the pitch and the ball is constantly under pressure. The minute someone can get their head up, you’re in trouble. They could have conceded four or five more goals that game – I thought that was naïve. It’s naïve to talk like that and say that the more open the game is, the better it is. If they’d lost that game seven or eight goals to two, you’ve lost the players as a manager. He wasn’t brave that day, they got lucky.”
Postecoglou failed in a bid to lure John Kennedy from Parkhead to Tottenham when he left the Hoops and Souness continued: “He’s walked into Tottenham without bringing any of his own staff, is he so naïve as to think he can trust any of the coaching staff he’s inherited not to go to the chairman with their tittle-tattle? I would not take a job and think I can just walk into it – it’s madness – you need to go in with people you trust because being a manager is lonely.”
Souness also said Postecoglou should have hammered home the importance of a third goal against Brighton on Sunday. He said: “The Tottenham players should have known better.
"You learn it at school – when you’re 2-0 up the next goal is vital. If you concede, the momentum is suddenly with the opposition but if you go to 3-0 up, the game is over.
“I don’t know if Spurs have any leaders. When they go into the dressing room at half-time, the chat should be, ‘we can’t concede the next goal, this game is far from over’ – that’s what Ange Postecoglou should be telling them. He needed to remind them that if they were to concede, everyone’s going to be all over you.
“The issues at Spurs boil down to the manager and the coaching staff. The only message they needed to give the players in that game when the half-time whistle blew was to play more of the same. Spurs just ended up capitulating which is why Postecoglou was so deflated after the game, he thought he had some warriors in that team and was proven otherwise.”