Rangers can pounce on Ange's 'gross naivety' as Tottenham boss warned 'you can't get away with this'

Ange Postecoglou has been blasted as 'naive' by a former Premier League star, who doesn't believe the Tottenham boss can get away with his gung-ho style of football much longer.

The Aussie takes his Spurs side to Ibrox to face Rangers in the Europa League tonight off the back of just one win in the last seven games in all competitions, with his team throwing away a 2-0 lead in a dismal 4-2 defeat to London rivals Chelsea last Sunday. Spurs have kept just five clean sheets in 22 games on all fronts so far this season and are currently seven points adrift of the Champions League places.

And ex Liverpool, Aston Villa and England star Stan Collymore has branded the under-fire former Celtic gaffer's preference for front-foot attacking football over defensive stability as 'gross naivety'. He told CaughtOffside: "I’ve got a soft spot for Ange Postecoglou and for anybody that wants to play football on the front foot, attacking, creating chances, scoring goals… because that’s the type of player that I was.

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"He’s managed in Japan, he’s managed in Scotland, however the Premier League is unforgiving. You can’t win a title in the English top-flight without having a real cast-iron defence. Leicester proved you can do it without scoring bucket loads of goals, but it’s telling that only the bottom three in the Premier League have a worse goal difference than Spurs at the moment.

"A couple of weeks ago, Tottenham were the highest scorers in the division, so there’s something structurally, fundamentally wrong at the club. This isn’t just a blip. This is a team that can score goals and create chances, but whatever they do, they can’t keep it out at the other end. I think it’s gross naivety, and the last time a team played like this was in the late 90s when I was playing; Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle.

"The ‘they’ll score three but we’ll score four’ way of playing is all well and good in the lovely days of August, September and October when everybody’s flying, everybody’s fit, everybody’s healthy, but when you start to take international breaks, FA Cup ties, League Cup ties, European commitments, injuries, suspensions and poor form into account, Spurs are not going to get away with it."

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