FootyChatter.com

EPL At the end of Tottenham Hotspur’s last away game in the Premier League, Ange Postecoglou stood on the touchline with his right fist raised triumphantly. For the second time in a few weeks, he had led them to victory over Manchester City. They were superb at the Etihad Stadium, thrashing the Premier League champions 4-0. The feel-good factor was back after the frustration of losing to Ipswich Town just before November’s international break. Advertisement Less than two weeks later, the mood has plummeted. After Thursday night’s dismal 1-0 defeat to Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium, Postecoglou kept his distance while players applauded the away fans. The 59-year-old then strode over and had a tense exchange with the supporters. It was a million miles away from the scenes at the beginning of last season when they would sing “I’m loving Big Ange instead” to the tune of Robbie Williams’ Angels after home games. “They are disappointed, rightly so, ” Postecoglou said. “They gave me some direct feedback, which I guess is taken on board. “I’ve got no issue with it. I didn’t like what was being said because I’m a human being but you’ve got to cop it. I’ve been around long enough to know that if things don’t go well, you’ve got to understand the frustration and disappointment. They’re rightly disappointed tonight because again, we’ve let a game get away from us. I’m OK with all of that. ” The cracks in this relationship are deepening. Impressive performances against Manchester City and Manchester United temporarily masked Tottenham’s poor record on the road. Postecoglou’s side have lost nine of their last 13 away matches in the top flight. A pattern is emerging. The home side take an early lead, sit deep, and invite Spurs to break them down. When Tottenham push too many players forward in a desperate attempt to score, they are picked apart on the counter. Bournemouth’s only goal came from a set piece, another issue that plagues Postecoglou’s side, but they massively outperformed Tottenham on expected goals (3. 31 x G to 0. 58 x G, according to Opta), suggesting the home team created a higher quality of chances. Evanilson, Dango Ouattara and Justin Kluivert were guilty of wasting opportunities on the break that would have ended this contest much earlier. Postecoglou described gifting Dean Huijsen a free header from Marcus Tavernier’s inswinging corner as “madness”. “It is disappointing and not good enough, ” he said. “It is not a one-off. We have done that three or four times and paid a price for it. ”  Tottenham have taken one point from games against Fulham and Bournemouth, their last two opponents. They are 10th, level on points with Brentford and Newcastle United. At this point, it is fair to ask how much significant progress have they made under Postecoglou. Spurs’ playing style has been revolutionised, the squad is much younger and the underlying numbers look favourable. When everything clicks, they are thrilling to watch. The harsh reality is they have lost six out of 14 league games this season. Apart from table-topping Liverpool, the table is bunched — Spurs are one point above Manchester United in 13th but also three points behind Brighton in fifth. There is a great opportunity to qualify for the Champions League (Manchester City are six points ahead in fourth) but with every performance like those against Bournemouth, Crystal Palace (a 1-0 loss) and Ipswich (a 2-1 defeat), Spurs lose momentum. There are mitigating factors. Guglielmo Vicario fractured his ankle and will be sidelined for months. First-choice centre-backs Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero are unavailable too while Ben Davies joined them on the injury list after pulling his hamstring against Bournemouth. If Romero is not fit enough to face Chelsea on Sunday, Postecoglou faces a real dilemma about who should partner Radu Dragusin in the heart of his defence. Advertisement Archie Gray, who made his first Premier League start on Thursday, covered Davies after he was replaced by Pedro Porro. Starting Gray, whose favoured position is central midfield, alongside Dragusin against Chelsea — the division’s top scorers — would be a huge gamble but it is difficult to see an alternative. Postecoglou was frustrated by not being in Europe last season but now Tottenham are struggling to juggle the demands of playing in multiple competitions. Richarlison and Wilson Odobert are ruled out long-term, which places a greater strain on Dominic Solanke and Brennan Johnson. Porro and Destiny Udogie have featured in every Premier League game and have been playing in the Europa League, too (three starts for Porro, two for Udogie). Djed Spence is not in their Europa League squad but has never started a game for Spurs, despite joining them from Nottingham Forest two and a half years ago. Postecoglou cannot rotate his star players as much as he would like to keep them fresh because their backups are either injured or not trusted. What cannot be denied, though, is that this side struggles to deal with adversity. After a bright 10-minute spell, Huijsen’s header dented their confidence. James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski and Solanke failed to connect. Johnson looked uncomfortable on the left wing and Kulusevski kept drifting over to that side in the first half anyway, which meant nobody was stretching Bournemouth’s shape on the opposite flank. Postecoglou made a few bold changes by taking off Pape Matar Sarr and Yves Bissouma, leaving Lucas Bergvall, 18, as the Tottenham’s deepest midfielder for the final 15 minutes. Son Heung-min came off the bench initially at left wing and then dropped into central midfield. It was a bizarre experiment that did not pay off. Spurs had a lot of attacking power on the pitch yet somehow looked toothless. Advertisement Perhaps the most concerning issue of all, which Postecoglou alluded to, is that Tottenham keep repeating the same mistakes. This is a young team in their second season under a head coach with a unique philosophy. Things were always going to take time but constantly losing in the same manner suggests that something is fundamentally not working. Spurs should be adapting to and overcoming these challenges — not tripping up on the same question in every test. Postecoglou needs to find a solution or else the number of disgruntled fans will quickly increase, and so will the pressure. (Top photo: Michael Steele/Getty Images) Get all-access to exclusive stories. Subscribe to The Athletic for in-depth coverage of your favorite players, teams, leagues and clubs. Try a week on us. Jay Harris reports on Tottenham Hotspur for The Athletic. He worked for Sky Sports News for four years before he joined The Athletic in 2021 and spent three seasons covering Brentford. He covered the 2022 World Cup from Qatar and the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast. Follow Jay on Twitter @jaydmharris