Why Europa League glory for Tottenham may not be enough for Ange Postecoglou | OneFootball

Anyone who has watched Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League this season might well be surprised at their camp this week. Many there have total belief they are going to win the Europa League. The group is calm, but focused. The extent of the conviction might seem unusual given recent performances, but there are rational reasons. One is their very Europa League run, as well as three wins from three against Manchester United this season. There is also the conviction of Ange Postecoglou himself, who many players are rowing in behind. “I think he proved all you guys wrong,” Micky van de Ven says.

It’s where statements like "I always win things in my second year”, as Postecoglou has insisted, can start to become so persuasive. One other factor emboldening Spurs is this season’s stirring trend of trophy droughts ending. There has already been Newcastle United, Bologna, Crystal Palace and even Tottenham’s own Harry Kane at Bayern Munich. That feeling can be contagious. Many within Spurs saw what happened at Wembley on Saturday and wondered "what if”…

An alternative view is that it would be vintage Spurs to actually defy all of this and end up losing, as they go for their own first trophy since 2008.

It could also be vintage Spurs in another way. The belief that they will win is only surpassed by conviction about something else. That is Postecoglou is leaving, even if he wins.

Should that departure happen after delivering major silverware, it would only follow the precedents of their last trophy-winning managers. Both 2008 League Cup winner Juande Ramos and 1999 League Cup winner George Graham were sacked shortly afterwards. Despite successes that are now historic for the club due to their very rarity, neither coach has much legacy at the club. That maybe says a bit.

It’s like it couldn't even be a Spurs win without some dysfunction. Fans naturally wouldn't care so long as they just win that trophy, and they would celebrate it like Palace did. Postecoglou may not be too bothered, either. There is a growing suspicion he could just resign, especially after stating “I usually move on the back of success”.

There’s still a more relevant disconnect, which is the real reason that Postecoglou is seen as unlikely to stay. The way Spurs have reached the Europa League final isn’t viewed as conducive to sustainable progress. And the person who most made this argument? Postecoglou himself, in his first weeks in the job.

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Ange Postecoglou is seen as unlikely to stay even if Tottenham win the Europa League (Getty)

“It is not a desperation around just winning something, because I don't think that gets you the sustainable opportunity to be successful,” the Australian said in September 2023. “The root of it is to play a certain way, which brings success.

“I am here because I want to give this club a chance to win trophies on a yearly basis. That's different. Winning the Carabao Cup and finishing 10th is not what this club should be about.” Instead, it might be 17th and the Europa League… but, ultimately, without that “play in a certain way”.

Postecoglou was clearly brought in for the right reasons. He was a coach whose career was on an upward trajectory, where his progressive football seemed perfect for a Tottenham finally trying to build something bigger. There was too long a period when they made reactive “big club appointments”, that didn’t fit what they were. Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte duly displayed extreme pragmatism, that didn’t work.

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Tottenham’s run in the Europa League has perhaps been unsustainable (PA)

Except, for the most part, Postecoglou’s football hasn't worked either. Spurs really should have qualified for the Champions League last season, given they had no European football when Aston Villa did. Form has never been anywhere near as good as those angelic first 10 games. Now, Postecoglou’s football has collapsed along with the Premier League campaign.

There are admittedly numerous reasons for that, but it's also why Spurs’ Europa League run has been so interesting. It is a typical Tottenham irony that Postecoglou has got this far by repeating the approaches of his predecessors.

Rather than adhering to an ideology, he has consistently come up with approaches that suit individual games. It is old-fashioned cup football.

You couldn't have a better illustration than the last round. Tottenham should have had more than enough quality to defeat a side with 1% of their wage bill, like Bodo/Glimt. The semi-final was still fraught with danger, especially with the Norwegian club’s clever approach and Spurs’ injuries in midfield.

Postecoglou consequently eliminated risk. Midfield was bypassed, and Bodo were bludgeoned through long balls up to Dominic Solanke or Richarlison.

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Tottenham overcame Bodo/Glimt in a potentially tricky semi-final (Getty)

That approach actually has a highly relevant parallel. It was practiced by one of Spurs’ most pragmatic recent managers, when he was at Manchester United, in their last Europa League final victory.

Mourinho’s United should have had more than enough quality for a young Ajax in 2017, but he similarly eliminated risk. As the Portuguese explained in a university lecture actually attended by Ruben Amorim, Ajax were allowed 69% of possession, albeit with Matthijs de Ligt pressed rather than Davinson Sanchez. United then bludgeoned them with long balls to Marouane Fellaini.

The Europa League was won. There may be foreshadowing for Wednesday.

Some around Spurs do argue that Postecoglou has gone against his own principles. They are the same people who say he operates like “a CEO” in how he delegates responsibilities, rather than as the hands-on coach that modern ideologues tend to be. There was at one point a sense of Europa League hopes dragging the team through the season, in a competition where Spurs are far wealthier than most.

Others would say that's unfair, especially given criticism that Postecoglou has received for “naive” domestic performances. He has displayed a canniness many accused him of lacking. The quarter-final approach against a good Eintracht Frankfurt was a masterclass. Van de Ven shows he has his backers.

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Tottenham will be without James Maddison for the Europa Leauge final (PA)

None of this is to say either view is right or wrong, but it is all relevant to how a final that is almost a referendum actually ends.

Spurs’ three victories over United this season did primarily come through Postecoglou’s ideology, but it feels misguided to place too much stock in that given the high variability. The first, a 3-0 in the league, was against Erik ten Hag. The second, a 4-3 in the Carabao Cup, was a blow-for-blow free-for-all that this final may end up like. The third, a dismal 1-0, felt more reflective of both sides’ league positions.

Postecoglou’s choice of tactics may actually be limited by his lack of choice in midfield. Spurs’ never-ending injury crisis has led to the loss of Lucas Bergvall, James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski. It would almost be fitting if the major theme of Postecoglou's time, fitness, has the final say.

Spurs could play his way and lose because they don't have that midfield, or the lack of that midfield may just cause them to lose full-stop. Alternatively, could injuries lead Postecoglou to a cannier approach more in-keeping with this Europa League run? They do have the pace United are most vulnerable to, and there are other ways to maximise that.

Postecoglou still has a lot to think about, amid so much emotion. Above all, there is one truth in all this.

Nothing is as sustainable as the memory of glory.