Postecoglou reaps rewards for stubbornness as Spurs dent Man City's title bid

03 December 2023 , 19:41

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Postecoglou reaps rewards for stubbornness as Spurs dent Man City's title bid

One thing is a given with Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham – they never renege on their duty to entertain.

They may only have earned a solitary point from their last four games, but have provided some epic entertainment along the way – none more so than in this six-goal thriller. Postecoglou may be operating against the backdrop of a lengthy list of absentees, through injury and suspension, but the 58-year-old has refused to adopt a more pragmatic approach

Spurs under Postecoglou embody the same cavalier, gung-ho ethos of Kevin Keegan's Newcastle side of the mid-1990s – thrilling to watch but with a propensity for self-implosion as a result. An epic 4-1 defeat at home to Chelsea, when they were reduced to nine men, was followed by a 2-1 loss at Wolves, who scored twice in added time, then defeat by the same scoreline at Aston Villa.

That pattern looked set to continue here against Manchester City, until Dejan Kulusevski's 90th-minute header capped a madcap afternoon and vindicated Postecoglu's uncompromising, full-throttle approach. With so many players injured or suspended, most managers would have adopted a more pragmatic approach to accommodate such significant losses of personnel, particularly going to City.

But Postecoglou only knows one way to play, which makes for a dazzling, edge-of-the-seat football spectacle, with no-one at the Etihad or watching the game on TV short-changed on the drama front.

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His defence was actually made up of four full-backs, with Ben Davies partnering Emerson Royal at centre-half.

After the defeat at Chelsea, Postecoglou remained bullish, memorably saying “even if we were down to five, we'd still have a go”, refuting any notion of changing his style because of a numerical disadvantage.

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Ange Postecoglou's Spurs battled back from behind twice to leave the Etihad with a point

Here, their pace going forward spread anxiety in City's defence, evidenced by the opening goal from Son, who out-paced Jeremy Doku – no slouch in the speed stakes himself - before benefiting from some obliging goalkeeping from Ederson.

Brennan Johnson got the better of Jokso Gvardiol midway through the first-half, pulling away from him and steering the ball into the path of Son, only for Ruben Dias to make a vital interception.

After relinquishing their lead to trail 2-1, Spurs got back on level terms through Giovani Lo Celso, only to go 3-2 behind, after Yves Bissouma surrendered possession cheaply to Rodri, with Erling Haaland and Jack Grealish doing the rest. But as well as adhering to their manager's demand for an attacking approach, this Spurs side has a formidable collective strength of character, one that ultimately earned them a deserved point.

No wonder Spurs fans feel such an affinity for Postecoglou and have such optimism for what lies ahead under him.

David McDonnell