Ange Postecoglou looked very happy; Ange Postecoglou didn’t look very happy. Ange Postecoglou sounded satisfied; Ange Postecoglou sounded peeved.
Thursday night in the Arctic Circle and Tottenham Hotspur had just reached the Europa League final in faraway Bilbao against Manchester United. The significance of the achievement will multiply by millions – literally – should Spurs win in the Basque country. Victory brings entry into next season’s Champions League, its expanded format and serious extra revenue.
Postecoglou was being asked about his pleasure at seeing Spurs handle the unique threat of Norway’s Bodo/Glimt, their plastic pitch, formidable home record and freezing rain. He talked his way through the game and said his Spurs players had “grown in maturity” as the competition developed.
Then he was asked about his “winning things in the second season” quote and Postecoglou’s face hardened. It does that.
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“Yeah, well, you know, we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing,” he said. The interview ended.
Minutes later, elsewhere in the stadium, Postecoglou talked of his love of winning: “That’s what I’ve done my whole career. People will dismiss it, that’s fine. But I love winning.”
The winning culture he wants at Tottenham, and which he spoke of pre-match, comes from doing just that – winning – he said. Now Spurs have the possibility of winning a first European trophy in 41 years and a first trophy of any kind since the League Cup in 2008. Victory in Bilbao would be a step-change for Spurs’ culture, he suggested. It might even keep Postecoglou in the job.
But before the Bilbao chance arrives, Spurs go back to the league and back to addressing the dominant theme of their domestic season, which is not winning, but losing.
This is the Postecoglou paradox and these are the parallel lines Tottenham have walked uncertainly all season. There have been 19 defeats in the Premier League this season. With a visit to Aston Villa next Friday, that looks likely to be 20. Only the relegated bottom three and dreary West Ham have worse away records.
You could feel it coming, that’s the thing. Rewind to last season, Postecoglou’s first in charge at Tottenham and after a great opening – Spurs were top as November began and fourth in early April – they lost five of their last seven games. Those were against Newcastle, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City, so the fixture list had been kind.
Eventually, Spurs came fifth and it was Villa who occupied fourth and entered the Champions League. Villa made a lot and did a lot in that competition.
Their apparent perception is that pragmatism is an insult, a slight on their entire world-view
This season started on the Monday night of the league’s opening weekend. Spurs travelled to Leicester City. Leicester, back in the big time after winning the Championship, were going to be stimulated. It was new manager Steve Cooper’s first game.
Back then, we did not know how flimsy Leicester would be, but the first few minutes alarmed locals as Spurs attacked with ease. It should have been 1-0 long before Pedro Porro made it so on the half hour. At half-time plenty of Leicester fans were expecting a second-half avalanche. But it didn’t come. Spurs faded, Jamie Vardy equalised for Leicester and Postecoglou spoke of frustration. The thought was this could be a tricky old season, especially away from home.
Sure enough, the next away game was a defeat at Newcastle and when the next was also lost, painfully, at home to Arsenal (minus Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard), Postecoglou responded by clarifying a pre-season statement that “usually in my second season I win things”.
Now he said: “I’ll correct myself – I don’t usually win things, I always win things in my second year. Nothing’s changed. I’ve said it now. I don’t say things unless I believe in them.”
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Spurs exited the FA Cup and League Cup in the space of three days. Having won once between the end of November and the beginning of February in the Premier League, that left Europe.
A persistent coaching criticism of Postecoglou surrounds his perceived inflexibility. Yet in Europe he has been prepared to bend, there has been a new willingness to adapt to opponents and the overall game situation. Some call this football management.
Others call it pragmatism, which causes coaches to stare back. Their apparent perception is that pragmatism is an insult, a slight on their entire world-view.
It is not: pragmatism is a compliment. Pragmatism is analysing a situation, balancing the positives and negatives and reacting to it appropriately. It is thinking-on-your-feet intelligence. It is awareness of the reality in front of you. It is showing respect to your opponent.
Pragmatism is an opposite of dogmatism. Dogmatism is an attitude that gets dressed up as philosophy in the new language of football, where people somehow cannot say “tackles”, so they say duels; somehow cannot say “breakaway”, so they say “transition”; somehow cannot say “pragmatic” at all, as if it is a weakness.
Tottenham rightly earned praise for their tackling, discipline and sheer hard work on Thursday. Of course Postecoglou has a preferred way of playing and a daily desire to pursue it on the training pitch. In John Greechan’s biography of the Australian, Postecoglou is quoted saying: “My utopia is still going back to the 1974 World Cup and Total Football, freeing players of positional constrictions.”
This is both interesting and admirable, but if you have the disruptive injuries Spurs have had and if you’re faced with opposition of a particular nature, then pragmatism is a quality, not a contradiction or an erasure of core beliefs. Especially if it’s all about winning.
It turned out Bodo/Glimt lacked the pragmatism to overcome Spurs’ resilience. The Norwegians have fluent passers and you can see their sharp style, but it did not vary even as it became evident it was blunt against Postecoglou’s first-choice back four. Let’s not overdo it, Spurs were not brilliant, they were professionally competent, and that’s good.
What happens next? Greechan quotes Postecoglou saying: “I’ve always tried to coach in the future. I’m building teams for five years’ time.” He is contracted to the club until June 2027 and in a way it would be great if he sees that out. We could see what he can build.
It just doesn’t feel like that. It feels like every result brings a new Postecoglou referendum. It feels like the Erik ten Hag precedent at Manchester United retains relevance – United gave Ten Hag another chance after winning the FA Cup, then regretted it.
It is why it will be Ruben Amorim facing Postecoglou in Bilbao, in a final where Postecoglou could both win and lose.
