Bring on the old guard to beat the drop: can Ange’s recall be right twist for Spurs? | Max Rushden

If Tottenham are waiting for Pochettino part two, then season three of Postecoglou might bring the right survival vibes

It’s panic time at the bottom of the Premier League and, if the past couple of days are anything to go by, probably don’t go following Ange Postecoglou into a job any time soon. Others who have followed it more closely can do Nottingham Forest and their 4 (four) managers. This is a piece about Tottenham Hotspur, or as I like to call them, my big team who win things.

November 2023 feels like a lifetime ago. Spurs were top of the league. Angeball was at its peak. Dynamic free-flowing football – they were 1-0 up against Chelsea thanks to Dejan Kulusevski (injured). It’s the 14th minute, Spurs neatly play themselves out from the back down the right, it breaks to Pape Sarr who rolls the ball to Destiny Udogie (injured), and Brennan Johnson (Crystal Palace) steams down the left. He plays a perfect first-time ball with his left foot into the path of Son Heung-min (LAFC), who rolls it home. Tottenham are 2-0 up against a team they lose to at least twice a season.

What if Son hadn’t been a quarter of a yard offside? Is that the sliding door? Do Spurs just go the season unbeaten? Postecoglou begins an extraordinary dynasty. Thomas Frank has Brentford ninth still. Mikel Arteta gets sacked for losing the title to his bitter rivals. The Premier League and Manchester City resolve the 100‑plus charges. VAR is abolished. Kamala Harris wins the US election.

As it happens, the goal is ruled out, Cristian Romero (suspended) does one of his trademark get-the-ball-kill-the-opponent challenges in the box and is sent off. Udogie follows him down the tunnel. James Maddison (injured) gets injured. Eric Dier (Monaco) is in the middle of the highest of high lines. Unbelievably, Spurs have a couple of chances to make it 2-2 with nine men. But Chelsea run away with it and Angeball never quite recovers.

I was the last person on the sinking Postecoglou Titanic, there with the string quartet playing Men at Work and John Farnham. We’re all someone’s daughter … we’re all someone’s son. Partly, after working in football in Australia for three years, I’d been brainwashed by Mark Bosnich and everyone in the game here. Their pride in Postecoglou’s achievements is a beautiful thing.

It was romance and vibes. Spurs did a kit reveal some time after the Europa League win, and I was just waiting for Postecoglou to pop up at the end and say: “Get ready for season three, mate.” But by the end it was hard to cling on to the big Ange lifeboat.

There are people in Australia who believe the treatment of Postecoglou was markedly different to that of Frank, and they may have a point. Both had debilitatingly long lists of injured players, and there were certainly fewer parody Danish accents doing the rounds; maybe Frank is just a less meme-able guy.

When Frank arrived from Brentford, it felt very sensible. There was optimism after the Super Cup. A manager who sets up defensively against a better opponent. Kevin Danso hurling some long throws into the box. Praise be, he’s adaptable! And despite “Here we don’t go, Eze and Gibbs-White” there was the win at Manchester City.

Third place after seven games. But since then, only Burnley and Wolves have picked up fewer points, the home form is disastrous. Of all the fatal errors, saying that paying supporters “can’t be real Tottenham fans” for booing during the defeat to Fulham, felt seriously unwise at the time, however you feel about fans turning on their own during a game. It has been bleak and boring. To dare is to play João Palhinha and Rodrigo Bentancur in a double pivot. To dare is to rely solely on Danso long throws.

Last season was a good season to have a bad season: Spurs were never in danger of relegation because the bottom three were so poor. Postecoglou could prioritise Europe. You get the impression that Spurs would have stuck with Frank if relegation wasn’t a real possibility. But it is a real possibility, and who sees Spurs dominating in the Championship? Who’s rolling up their sleeves at Deepdale or the Den, presuming neither Preston nor Millwall come up?

There is the quite real possibility that Postecoglou wasn’t good enough, and neither was Frank. There’s an excellent four-minute clip online about the life of a Brentford manager. Uwe Rösler, Mark Warburton, Dean Smith, Frank, normally hired from within with little experience, then move somewhere bigger and fail. Someone should play it to Keith Andrews and tell him to stay put for as long as he can.

Recent stories coming out of Spurs suggest Frank thought only Pedro Porro was an elite player. Hopefully he didn’t let everyone know. “Lads, gather round, I’m not having any of you.”

But was he right? Is Guglielmo Vicario good? He wouldn’t start for most Premier League teams. Romero and Micky van de Ven are regarded as one of the best defensive partnerships in the division, but Spurs lose regularly when they’re both there. The midfield runs around, which is part of it, but what happens when they get the ball? A series of random attackers just doing their own thing. Richarlison bulletting around, Randal Kolo Muani not quite holding it up, not quite getting in behind. Wilson Odobert doing some stepovers here, Mathys Tel doing some over there.

There are clearly many mitigating factors for Postecoglou and Frank and probably every Spurs manager in recent history, but the Newcastle game was so bad, against a team who are also struggling and also have injuries. And while there was romance with Ange, and there was sometimes good football, there never was with Frank – just a seemingly lovely guy, who now gets millions of pounds for doing a really bad job, however unlucky he may have been.

One fan suggested he wouldn’t get his hair cut until Spurs won one game in a row, another said he would wait until they completed five successive passes. Hard to know which will come sooner. It may be cathartic to ring a phone-in and demand a “complete clearout” from top to bottom, and maybe none of the players, coaches, directors, owners are good enough, but that leaves a phoenix club five points from safety and in the last 16 of the Champions League.

Do they go full Manchester United and look for some DNA? Manchester United DNA is Fergie and injury-time goals, trophies and success, while Spurs DNA is Sissoko’s handball, lasagne and Dr Tottenham.

They probably need three or four wins from the last 12 games to stay up. Vibes can probably do that. So stick Harry Redknapp, Glenn Hoddle, Teddy Sheringham, Jermain Defoe and Gary Doherty in those big blue chairs for the north London derby, close your eyes and just hope. Or maybe call Postecoglou? Is that the twist in season three? Mauricio Pochettino returns in the summer; break him in 18 months. Cut and paste this article in 2029 and wait for Dad to call to tell you Jimmy Greaves was good.