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Published on Dec, 09 2024
Jamie Carragher believes Ange Postecoglou must adapt his style if he is to remain Tottenham boss after suffering back-to-back defeats following a 4-3 home loss to Chelsea.
The Australian claimed his side "played well" in the defeat, which saw his side blow a two-goal lead as Spurs gave away two rash penalties to allow their London rivals to come back.
A second loss in four days after Thursday's 1-0 defeat at Bournemouth has seen Tottenham drop to 11th in the Premier League, seven points off the top four and they have just one win in their last seven games in all competitions.
Speaking after the loss to Chelsea, Postecoglou told Sky Sports: "It's a sore one. Painful.
"We started really well and then we lose Cristian Romero - nothing has run smoothly for us and we have to reshuffle before they get a goal. I thought we had big moments to get a third. Second-half was a ding-dong and we had a big chance with (Heung-Min) Son to swing the game our way. Then the two penalties weren't great on our behalf - we need more discipline in the box.
"We didn't play well against Bournemouth but we played well today. They're a good side. A top team. We got disrupted in key moments and the key moments decided the game.
"When we are playing our football we are tough to stop and we need to maintain our discipline. There was no need for them as the game was in the balance. When you play these top teams these momentum shifts can happen quickly."
But Postecoglou's comments have caused alarm for Carragher, who believes the 59-year-old is in danger of losing his job if he does not change his attacking style of play.
Indeed, in his 53 Premier League games in charge, Tottenham have both scored and conceded in 36 of them (68 per cent) - only Ossie Ardiles' games had a higher ratio of seeing both sides score (69 per cent).
Carragher told Sky Sports: "Ange said how well they played. I can't imagine any Liverpool manager I played for - and we conceded four in a game - would say in the interview we played well. If you play this way you'll get the result like at Manchester City but you'd also get results like this one where you're 2-0 up. I've never got my head around managers saying we play a 'certain way and we will never change' - I think it started with Pep Guardiola at Barcelona.
"This idea that wherever they play, they will play their way. But that was the best team I've ever seen. Pep Guardiola then had to change his Man City team who were winning the leagues every season, putting centre-backs at full-back. This idea that you can't change is alien to me. The game-state dictates how you play, not all the time but if you go away to a tough away ground you shouldn't play the same way as you do against a team at the bottom.
"There's this idea of playing a pure game and the Tottenham fans singing 'We've got our Tottenham back' but you won't win anything, you won't challenge.
"I wake up every morning hoping the sun is shining, so I can put some shorts and a T-shirt on but if it's raining, you put your coat on. You can't have this idea about playing one way, it won't work. If it doesn't change, he won't be here next season."
Redknapp: Spurs should prioritise Carabao Cup
Spurs are still in the hunt for a trophy under Postecoglou, with his side going well in the Europa League and looking forward to a Carabao Cup quarter-final this month at home against Manchester United, live on Sky Sports.
They will also fully expect to be in the FA Cup fourth round after being drawn away to non-league Tamworth next month.
Postecoglou said in his post-match press conference: "There's still plenty to play for us in terms between now and January just to make sure that we keep performing.
"I still sense within this squad there's a real kind of conviction in what we're doing, and if we maintain that, then we'll turn our season around and hopefully at some point we hit some smoother waters just in terms of some of the things that are happening at the moment. Some of it's self-inflicted, but hopefully, we can get some more consistency."
Postecoglou claimed earlier this season he "always wins things" in his second year in charge and Jamie Redknapp believes that ending the club's 16-year trophy drought will be his priority amid an underwhelming league campaign.
Redknapp told Sky Sports: "They have to win a trophy - that's the stick they are beaten with. If they win a trophy this year it will give them confidence and belief that they can get top four.
"They need to change the history of this club. For too long they've had an attitude of not being successful and letting people down. Whereas if they win a trophy it will give Ange a bit of breathing space.
"They've got Manchester United in the Carabao Cup, they can win that. If you look at the winners of that trophy recently it's either been Man City, Man Utd or Liverpool. Winning that is more important than finishing top four.
"The owners may disagree, but it would be great for the fanbase and the players."
The former Spurs midfielder added: "For a Tottenham fan, they had [Antonio] Conte, who was pragmatic; they had [Jose] Mourinho - didn't work; they had Nuno [Espirito Santo] - didn't work here.
"Now you've got to the complete opposite [end of the] scale and for Tottenham fans for 10, 15 games last season, they thought, 'This is it, we've found it. This guy is going make us play beautiful football, expansive, we're going to win'.
"You've gone from one extreme to the other and it feels like we've said the same thing for the last 10 years of coming to watch Tottenham.
"I just don't know really which way they're going to go next because if you sack him, then where else do you go?"
Postecoglou's Spurs flatter to deceive again
Sky Sports' Adam Bate:
Postecoglou pointed to fine margins as his Tottenham team came out on the wrong side of a seven-goal thriller against Chelsea and a generous interpretation of events might conclude that he had a point. The same could be said of Spurs' season.
Six more points and they would be handily placed in fifth, one point behind Manchester City. A couple of wins from games against Crystal Palace, Ipswich and Bournemouth would have been enough. Or how about holding on to that two-goal lead at Brighton?
But the reality is that Postecoglou's Tottenham keep leaking those two-goal leads and they keep leaking points. It is not bad luck. It is beginning to feel like a consequence of the coach's mantra, one that prioritises style of play over navigating the game's nuances.
There was no hint of control even when gifted two goals by Marc Cucurella's early slips. The result is that as fine as those margins may be, Spurs now sit in the bottom half of the Premier League table after 15 games. They have lost more than they have won.
In fact, of the 17 teams that have been in the Premier League both this season and last, only two have lost more games in the competition than Tottenham since Christmas. Dominic Solanke arrived in the summer but the other additions were young prospects.
As a result, are the signs of progress imminent? For all the talk of trophies in the second season, maybe this is his Spurs. "Tottenham are so close to being a good side," said Carragher on co-commentary for Sky Sports. "But they always let you down.
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