Ange Postecoglou drastic Tottenham decision shows true colours and pays off immediately
Ange Postecoglou made a very unexpected Tottenham decision that paid off immediately against West Ham. Spurs fell behind to a Mohammed Kudus goal in their return to Premier League action following the October international break, but they were not losing for very long.
Just nine minutes before half-time, Dejan Kulusevski grabbed the equaliser with a left-footed effort that hit both posts before trickling in. The Lilywhites then carried over their first-half domination into the second period with three goals scored in just seven minutes.
Yves Bissouma put Tottenham in front before an own goal from Jean-Clair Todibo put daylight between the two teams only for Son Heung-min to fire in a fourth. The Tottenham captain then hit the post mere seconds later with the Hammers defensively all over the place.
Exactly what changed to allow Spurs' flurry of goals is unclear but a surprising substitution by Postecoglou could have been the major catalyst. As the players came back out from the interval, James Maddison was not among those spotted which initially sparked major injury concern.
However, it has since been revealed that it was a tactical switch by Postecoglou with Pape Matar Sarr coming on in his place. That particular change is surprising for two reasons with the first being that it was Maddison being withdrawn given Postecoglou's attacking methods and how he is integral to that.
Secondly, based on his comments after defeat to Brighton, about the timing of substitutions, Postecoglou making a change so early is very unexpected. "Yeah I could have," he said when asked if changes should've been made sooner. "But those things are totally irrelevant to me. Substitutions and all those kind of things.
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"If you're not competitive, it doesn't matter what you do, you're not going to get rewards, you don't deserve to win. We didn't deserve on our second-half performance, irrespective of subs or anything else, to get something out of the game. But I think if you do get something out of the game, you're falsely rewarded and I don't want to get falsely rewarded."
Because of how Spurs collapsed at Brighton before the international break, plenty has been said about Postecoglou and his methods with the man himself again having to defend his beliefs in an interview with fellow Aussie Mark Schwarzer.
Though concern was high when Kudus opened the scoring, the four Tottenham goals that followed were proof of how his ideas have been instilled in the squad. Very rarely do Spurs keep clean sheets but what the second half showed was that Postecoglou can adapt before a worrying situation plays out, something he has been criticised for not doing in the past.
It may not always work but in this case it paid off immediately for Spurs and Postecoglou with how Sarr coming on freed up Kulusevski with Destiny Udogie also allowed more space which resulted in him setting up Bissouma's decisive goal.
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