Daniel Levy shouldn't want his Tottenham back because Ange Postecoglou can end dreadful déjà vu

We've been here before. This was a Tottenham performance that has been wheeled out year after year.

Give Spurs something to aim for, give them a visiting opponent without a win in the Premier League for 22 years and they will contrive to slap that gift out of your hand. Dr Tottenham will see you now, as the old cliché goes.

Only the north London side can manage to head into an international break in 10th place when a win at home against a team in the bottom three would have put them third. The problem is you have to play as if that opponent is in the top three. If a door opens, Tottenham really will kick it shut with all their mediocre might.

Ange Postecoglou called the performance against Ipswich "unacceptable" and tenth place is a position which entirely fits his side's Premier League form and the win-loss-win-loss pattern that has dogged them.

It's a familiar pattern for Spurs fans as it's exactly what happened under Antonio Conte and many before him. The Italian's Tottenham had the poor first halves, the early conceded goals and the need to fight back, which sometimes worked and sometimes proved too much. The inconsistency was remarkably consistent with that win-loss pattern.

Spurs' insistence on leaving their supporters with two weeks of misery to stew upon through an international break continued for the fifth consecutive occasion. That's just cruelty on a ridiculous level.

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Postecoglou is finding out just what life at Tottenham Hotspur is really like, even if he was trying to take the blame for this latest lacklustre showing from his squad on his own shoulders.

"That's down to me. That's my responsibility. The inconsistency we're having this year, ultimately it comes down to me and my approach and something I need to try and fix and see if I can help the players in that area," he said.

"We didn't start the game well at all. It was all sort of passive, without the ball, with the ball. I felt we didn't get the tempo right or intensity right and then we gave ourselves a mountain to climb. Second half we were in the ascendancy and had opportunities obviously but we didn't do enough with them."

Postecoglou was taking the hit for the players on this occasion. He put out a more than good team to overcome a side in the bottom three without a Premier League win to their name, but once again the Spurs players seemed to believe that victory comes as a given.

The Australian has often said that while he wants the players to believe in the football he gives them to play, they cannot believe that it alone wins them matches. They have to work relentlessly to ensure the opposition are blown away.

If they don't compete, days like this and the one at Selhurst Park, and the overconfidence in the second half at the Amex Stadium all reach out to slap them in the face. It made the decision to make seven changes for the game at Galatasaray pretty much redundant.

Postecoglou was hampered by a bench that offered little to change Tottenham's fortunes and attitude in the final third. He was missing the battling Richarlison, the speedy Wilson Odobert and even the young fearlessness of Mikey Moore. Instead he had only Timo Werner, who presumably is still carrying his groin injury, and an out of form James Maddison.

Postecoglou's system thrives upon a raft of changes around the hour mark with fresh legs that don't drop the quality levels. When he can't do that, it's often noticeable in the performance.

That's not to excuse the Australian. He was taking the hit for his players with his post-match comments but he's also right. It's down to him to find a solution because as is always the way in football, the players are never sacked because of performances. At Tottenham especially, it's the manager or head coach who is always the one the finger points towards.

Spurs went into the game as the Premier League's top scorers and with only three sides having conceded fewer games. They remain the former but the latter has increased to five other sides with better defensive records after they allowed Kieran McKenna to claim his first top flight win at the club where he began both his playing and coaching career.

For Tottenham to have a plus 10 goal difference - the second best behind Liverpool - yet sitting in 10th says everything about the unpredictability of their performances this season in the Premier League.

Sunday brought more daft errors in their own box and the amount of goals they concede from the right-hand side of the six-yard box, in the space between Pedro Porro and Cristian Romero are mounting up.

Brennan Johnson also had a part to play in the opener on the half hour mark, failing to make any challenge to get to the ball in the box and allowing Sammie Szmodics all the time in the world to hit an unmarked overhead effort into the bottom right corner.

The second goal before the break was another gift. The hosts could not convert a break at one end with a Son Heung-min pass into the Ipswich box and the visitors swept up the other end of the pitch.

Romero had pushed up and left a big gap in behind where Szmodics ran and hit a low cross. That was palmed out by Guglielmo Vicario against Radu Dragusin and the ball rolled back off the young Romanian towards the goal line where Liam Delap smashed it in.

It was a comedy of errors, only the Tottenham fans were certainly not laughing behind the goal in that big south stand.

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Spurs thought they had scored in the second half when Dominic Solanke, who had jarred his knee in the first period, fired home from a corner. However, VAR spotted that his strike had hit his hand on the way in. Regardless of whether his hand had been forced up by the defender's challenge on him, the rules state it's a handball, harsh or otherwise.

Tottenham did grab a goal back on 69 minutes when Rodrigo Bentancur powered home a header from Pedro Porro's corner. It was the Uruguayan's first strike of the season and just reward for another good performance.

There's a certain irony to the fact that Bentancur is starting to find his pre-cruciate ligament injury form just when he has a potential ban hanging over him and waiting to take him out of commission. The 27-year-old is also on four yellow cards in the Premier League so one more booking would add another suspension to the potential pile.

Keep an eye on Micky van de Ven, who is also on four yellow cards in the league when he returns.

Tottenham huffed and puffed but they could not find a way to an equaliser. That's the problem with consistently starting games slowly. You're not always going to be able to climb up the hill or mountain you leave yourself.

Spurs had 66% of the ball on the day with 552 passes to Ipswich's 278. The hosts had 17 shots on goal to Ipswich's eight and Vicario only had to make one save compared to Arijanet Muric's five.

Yet Ipswich kept them at bay, with 33 clearances and three blocks. Even in the final moments, Solanke - who had played well despite his injury - was denied by the legs of Muric out wide in the six-yard box.

"It was a very disappointing afternoon, the result but also the performance," said Spurs captain Son Heung-min. "We have to be better because we missed an opportunity to go ahead. We made the game a difficult situation by ourselves, which is very disappointing.

"Before they scored we had a couple of chances from which we could have scored the goal to go ahead, but we didn't and we conceded two very silly goals, which is also very painful. We know how important it is inside the box to defend our goal like it's our home. We didn't. We all have to take responsibility and I'd like to say sorry about the result."

The Tottenham players tried to walk around and apologise to the supporters. Porro was met by anger from some of the frustrated fans in the south stand. Postecoglou got similar as he walked down the tunnel.

"As a team we have to take accountability for these results," Porro posted on Instagram after the game. "We must come together to be better and will now look forward to coming back stronger after the break. The effort you put into supporting us must be reflected in our effort on the pitch and it is something we will never take for granted. See you after the break."

Few players came out of the game with credit. Dragusin had another shaky time with a loose header early on leading to Vicario making his one save of the game. He was drawn out to the left touchline for Ipswich's first goal, bringing the whole back four across with him and away from Szmodics.

The young Romanian did get better, making six clearances, one tackle and one interception while blocking one shot, but his passing is still a work in progress.

The 22-year-old looks better when Spurs are under siege to a strong team. When they need to open up a side and the centre-backs are required to be more attacking, he's more leaden-footed and they miss Van de Ven's pace, movement on the ball and quick passing.

It's tough to criticise Dragusin for his part in the visitors' second goal because he didn't know much about the ball hitting him and it's more on Vicario for palming the cross into his six-yard box, a trait he used to be criticised for with saves in Serie A.

Porro did provide four key passes, including that assist for Bentancur, but was all at sea for both Ipswich goals.

Destiny Udogie contributed going forward but the young left-back is still far too hesitant when going into 50-50 challenges, perhaps a hangover from his red card last season against Chelsea.

In the midfield, Pape Matar Sarr tried to use his mobility to get Spurs up the pitch and did so on the whole despite taking big hits in either half, the second forcing him off.

Dejan Kulusevski was unable to reach the heights of many fine games in his excellent season. He contributed three key passes, but was nowhere near his normal levels.

Brennan Johnson touched a big early chance from a great Son ball just wide of goal but offered little else, while being poor for the visitors' opening goal. He cramped up towards the end, showing his overuse in recent games as someone who contributes more than people realise in the defensive third.

Son was creative, with two key passes, two dribbles, four shots, two accurate crosses and two accurate long balls but the captain also failed to find a way through.

Werner when he came on was direct, forcing Muric into one flying save after a run, but produced a classic moment from his catalogue when he played a one-two with Son only to blaze an effort over the crossbar from the edge of the box.

Maddison offered little when he entered the fray, with just nine passes in the 15 minutes or so he was on the pitch. He will likely believe he should have been given longer to influence the game but his recent performances - the free-kick against Villa aside - have not exactly demanded that he should have got that. Postecoglou appeared to suggest that in his pre-match press conference.

It was just a bland performance all round and Son believes the players came away from Postecoglou's structure and plan too much on the day, one which had worked in the previous games.

"You've got to believe even more because we could be a bright team, a really strong team," said the South Korea captain. "You can see it and everyone's seen it.

"In these type of games you've got to think in a really mentally strong way because teams like Villa you've got to go really strong and then next game you go against Ipswich and it's the same opponent and same competition, and everyone is expecting we win this game. But in football you never get a free win, you have to earn it and work hard.

"We've got to believe more and then we have to be more disciplined. That's for sure, everybody has to be more disciplined with the structure and the plan, you've got to just follow it. I think this is the main part of our strength and we can make it even stronger. I hope we can be stronger when we come back from the international break."

This frustrating defeat showcased the fine margins in football. If Spurs won this one home game everything would have a better look to it.

They would be currently sitting in the top three, nestled above Chelsea and Arsenal, while also taking their place in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup and in a strong position in the Europa League with three wins from their four matches at the halfway point of the big group stage.

Yet two poor moments of defending and some stuttering attacking play and Spurs instead lie in mid-table, admittedly in a ridiculously tight league in which three points separate third from 11th.

The frustrations are enough that some on social media are calling for Postecoglou's head, even if Spurs have won nine of their past 13 matches, including those recent wins against Villa, City and United.

The frustration at results is understandable. There has been far too much inconsistency in the performances with too many games marked by excellent periods rather than complete displays. Then there are the win-lose nature of the Premier League results, with only one set of back-to-back wins, and the problems in getting positive away results regardless of how the team plays.

That's all something Postecoglou must fix and the Australian's way has plenty still to tweak within it until it is anywhere near what he wants it to be, not least the attitude of the players going into games they should be winning.

The stats show the fixes required are perhaps more minor than they feel after such a painful defeat, particularly in a league where so few are able to find consistency.

Spurs are the Premier League's top scorers and have recorded the second most shots on goal per game in the Premier League (17.2) as well as the second most off target (6.3). They have created the third most chances in the Premier League this season with 137 and have duly missed the joint-third highest number of big chances (24).

They have the second highest XG in the Premier League (20.28) and have allowed the second fewest amount of shots per game in the competition (7.8). They have still only conceded from two set pieces in the league all season and scored from four (the joint second most in the Premier League)..

They actually have the third best overall defensive rating in WhoScored's stats, which take into account shots allowed, tackles, interceptions, fouls and offsides per game.

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Yet there are clearly improvements to be made. Spurs have lost too many games in the Premier League, more than anyone else in the top half of the table, and Tottenham have fallen 1-0 behind in 13 home Premier League matches in 2024. Postecoglou will have to work quickly because the schedule ahead after this international break is an unforgiving one.

Spurs travel to Manchester City next with Pep Guardiola's men likely to be smarting after their recent defeats, including the one at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Then comes the visit of Roma in the Europa League and Fulham in the Premier League, followed by a trip to a Bournemouth side that can beat anyone on their day, before Chelsea step across the capital and then Tottenham travel up across the border for their match at Rangers.

It's a big run of six games for Postecoglou because it comes at the same time as last season's Spurs started to stutter and stumble amid the injuries. Van de Ven will return but Richarlison and Odobert sound like long term absentees according to Postecoglou, which does not bode well for his attacking options, while Bentancur's potential ban hangs over him.

It might be that Postecoglou begins to turn to youth in the shape of Moore more often, Will Lankshear in moments up front and especially the temptation to start using Archie Gray in the midfield with his technical ability and engine must be growing more tempting after defeats like this. The 18-year-old is not lacking for attitude and desire to win and he could get his chance sooner rather than later.

Lucas Bergvall is still adapting to the English game but it will click for the Swedish playmaker as the weeks go on and Djed Spence can offer something when the full-backs need shaking up.

The problem for Postecoglou is that all of the above, barring Spence, are teenagers. He wants to bring them through at the right pace rather than be forced to rely on them and that is a shortcoming of the recruitment policy that he claims he initiated but feels more in keeping with the club's model.

That means the Australian's senior players must step up and that could well be the crux of how successful the coming period is, not least that Carabao Cup quarter-final later in December when Manchester United will have Ruben Amorim in charge.

Tottenham Hotspur are a painful team to support. In the modern era they bring as much sorrow as they do joy and at the moment Postecoglou is still only able to blend glimpses of something different and exciting with alarming reminders of a gloomy, inconsistent past.

The Australian is trying to change the mentality within a club that has often been more mediocre than marvellous and unsurprisingly it's not an easy process.

Spurs have had a conveyor belt of managers, many with silverware galore on their CV, come through the front door only to tumble out of the back as the scapegoats of the subsequent failure, because they never truly get the entire club to buy in to the changes required.

That's what Postecoglou constantly calls for and until that happens there will always be less daring and certainly less doing in N17.

There's a reason this defeat to Ipswich felt so familiar and now more than ever, Postecoglou has to cut through the noise and the club must have the bravery to push through with something for once.

"We've got our Tottenham back," declared chairman Daniel Levy prematurely just a month into Postecoglou's reign. It was never going to be that quick nor easy and it's debatable whether the club actually needs anything back.

It needs something new and better on the pitch than what the decades have brought under Levy's watch as he's switched between managers and their philosophies like someone surfing TV channels and never really stopping and paying attention to anything.

The top clubs in the Premier League have been built on stability, whether that's Guardiola's years of success or even Arne Slot currently building on top of what Jurgen Klopp constructed.

Spurs seem allergic to stability beneath boardroom level, a trait all too common across modern football. It's time to let Postecoglou work and construct something different to what's come before in N17 otherwise that dreadful feeling of déjà vu is never going to go away.

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