Are Tottenham more ‘Spursy’ than ever under Ange Postecoglou ahead of trip to in-form Rangers? | OneFootball

After Tottenham lost from yet another winning position against Chelsea last weekend, Ange Postecoglou will be scratching his head over how to fix this flaw as his team jet off to Glasgow.

Spurs are very much the masters of their own downfall after giving up 10 points from losing positions this season. That’s only one fewer than relegation favourites Southampton and Wolves, showing how their game management ability is among the worst in the league.

This isn’t a new trend, either. Spurs are one of five Premier League teams who have dropped more than 30 points from winning positions since the start of last season, when Postecoglou first took over. That puts them in the same league as Bournemouth and Crystal Palace, who have dropped 32. Only Nottingham Forest (37) and Brentford (44) have dropped more.

The word ‘Spursy’ has been thrown around a lot. Postecoglou’s remit was to make Tottenham tougher to beat and get them challenging the Premier League’s elite, but it looks like he has a long way to go. Their 4-3 loss to Chelsea was the 11th time Spurs have lost a Premier League game despite having been more than 2-0 up, at least four more than any other team in the competition’s history.

Postecoglou himself has come into the firing line this season for his refusal to adapt tactically and perhaps with justification. Only Harry Redknapp (3) has overseen more of those 11 defeats than Postecoglou (2), who is also the only Tottenham manager to oversee two of them in the same season. The other came in the 3-2 loss to Brighton in October. He still could break the unwanted record held by Gary O’Neil, whose Bournemouth side lost three games after going more than two goals up in 2022-23.

That disastrous nature to Tottenham’s play was evident against Chelsea, with Jadon Sancho firing in a rocket from distance before Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr both conceded needless penalties. Cole Palmer did the rest with two strikes from the spot either side of Enzo Fernandez’s volley. They had chances to add to their 2-0 lead against Chelsea after Son Heung-min and Solanke both missed great opportunities, only going to show how Spurs have shot themselves in the foot of late.

Postecoglou’s insistence on attacking teams throughout the game, rather than playing conservatively to see out results, has reaped benefits. You only have to look at the 4-0 win at Manchester City and the 3-0 win at Manchester United.

But the team philosophy was agonisingly exposed in the 2-1 home loss to Ipswich, the 1-1 home draw to Fulham, in which they led, and last week’s 1-0 loss to Bournemouth.

Tottenham are 11th in the Premier League table and it perfectly reflects the Jekyll and Hyde nature to their performances this season. Six wins and seven defeats sums up their alarming lack of consistency that Postecoglou still doesn’t have an answer for.

The Australian’s decision to field both Cristian Romero and Mickey van de Ven against Chelsea, despite both struggling with fitness issues, backfired as both players went off injured. Thankfully Van de Ven has not suffered any major issues but Romero is set for a further six weeks out.

Tottenham will now look to put their Chelsea defeat to bed with a trip to Rangers in the Europa League, but any suggestions that the Scottish Premiership side will be an easy touch should be dismissed given their electric recent form. The Gers might be struggling in the SPL, trailing leaders Celtic by 11 points, but in their last four games in all competitions they’ve scored 14 goals and conceded only once.

Spurs and Rangers are both level with 10 points in the Europa League standings and are only three points off leaders Lazio – so a win would be crucial for either side. Rangers sent out a warning in their last Europa League game by thumping Nice 4-1 away from home, with Hamza Igamane stealing the show with a double. Tottenham’s last result in Europe didn’t come as a surprise and will only serve to motivate Rangers. They twice took the lead against Roma before conceding a stoppage time equaliser to draw 2-2.