The shadow of Chelsea’s last trip to Tottenham loomed as Ange Postecoglou fielded questions about misfiring form and urged fans to hold their nerve.
That 4-1 defeat in November 2023 was his first as Spurs boss. The Ange Ball revolution was ablaze on a wild night in north London as he refused to yield his high-line principles, despite two red cards and two key injuries.
His sheer b*llsy intent was celebrated by fans convinced their club had recaptured its soul and yet the Blues make the same journey across the capital on Sunday amid evidence that patience might be wearing thin in N17 after some faltering results.
‘That will be dependent on what people see, what people feel,’ said Postecoglou on the question of his bond with supporters. ‘The only way I can affect that is by what we produce on game days.’
And it felt as if he had Mikel Arteta’s haphazard first phase as Arsenal boss in mind when he said: ‘If you stick to a plan and get through difficult moments when there’s dissension among supporters, you forget about that when you’re on the other side. It’s about winning but it’s about belief as well. You look beyond the results. That’s what happened at the start of my tenure. We lost against Chelsea but there was a sense we were building something. Obviously, it kind of went off the rails after that game. It’s not just about winning, but where we are right now it will certainly help.’
Spurs have lost as many as they have won in the Premier League since that Chelsea defeat. They sit 10th after Thursday’s 1-0 defeat at Bournemouth, which was flattering and prompted fans in the away end to turn on Postecoglou when he crossed the pitch to hear what they wanted to get off their chests.
Ange Postecoglou has urged Tottenham fans to look beyond their recent rotten results
Postecoglou confronted angry supporters following Spurs’ disappointing loss to Bournemouth
Tottenham continue to be inconsistent and have won and lost six league games this season
‘Maybe people thought it wasn’t the right thing to do,’ said Postecoglou. ‘My wife certainly didn’t, so I got some feedback there as well. But that’s OK. I’m not going to change. It’s who I am. I’ve been like that my whole career and I won’t change.
‘It’s on me and whatever you’ve got to direct, direct it at me. And I’m listening. I’m listening, I’m looking, I’m understanding.’
Only a fortnight earlier, the away end had been rapturous as Spurs beat Manchester City 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium. They won 3-0 at Manchester United this season. They put four past Aston Villa, Everton and West Ham.
‘When we’ve won we’ve been compelling,’ said Postecoglou. ‘It’s not been struggling victories. Just about every game we’ve won we’ve been very, very dominant and the team we want to be but that gets diminished by performances like the one at Bournemouth.’
Yet the summer transfer strategy combined with a long casualty list leaves the squad looking callow, and short of natural leaders.
From this perspective it seems remiss to have encouraged Eric Dier, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Emerson Royal to leave. Not only did they offer experience but defensive instinct, something else Spurs lack until you realise Postecoglou recoils against cautious, safety-first football.
He wants defenders squeezing out to win the ball in midfield. He wants midfielders pressing in step with the forwards. He does not want anybody dropping deep to mop up danger. Instead, they must be quick to recover or cynical enough to stop counter-attacking moves at source.
‘We can’t change if I keep everyone,’ said Postecoglou. ‘I can’t just keep adding to the squad and I couldn’t let a 28-year-old go and sign a 28-year-old because that wasn’t where we were at. We had to sign younger players and start building. If I was worried about my own existence, I’d have fought tooth and nail to block Harry Kane leaving but it wasn’t the right decision for the club because he was in the last year of his contract. The decisions we made around signing young players are the right decisions for this club for where we are at right now and they will bear fruit.’
At their best Spurs can be electric, as evidenced in the 4-0 win over Manchester City last month
Spurs face Chelsea with the shadow of last season’s game looming, when Tottenham lost 4-1 and had two men sent off, but gained plaudits for sticking to Postecoglou’s brave style of play
Still, two weeks into a five-week cycle of Thursday-Sunday fixtures and the squad looks desperately thin. Cristian Romero could return against Chelsea as Ben Davies joins three others with hamstring injuries.
There is, however, little scope to wriggle with selection or make changes from the bench — vital in a high-tempo style and with five subs available and in stark contrast to the wealth of options at Enzo Maresca’s disposal.
Chelsea will have had a day’s more rest than Spurs for this one. Maresca rested half his first team and coasted past 10-man Southampton on Wednesday.
Postecoglou does not have that luxury, and he goes straight from a London derby into the hostility of Rangers at Ibrox in the Europa League, before a trip to Southampton and home games against Manchester United, in the Carabao Cup, and Liverpool.
It is a brutal schedule for a team on their knees and a manager fighting to persuade the world it will all be fine in the end.