Well, Ipswich did the unthinkable: they upset Tottenham 2-1 on Sunday away from home, breathing a little easier as they climbed out of the relegation zone of the Premier League. Fighting to establish itself in the top division, the newly-promoted team now has eight points and sits in 17th place, one point above Crystal Palace, which is now in the drop zone. Meanwhile, Tottenham are 10th with 16 points and have been going through a tough period of their season under its manager Ange Postecoglou. And as far as Postecoglou is concerned, the blame for this erratic performance is firmly upon his shoulders.
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Ange Postecoglou off to Rocky Start
Speaking to the media, Postecoglou has admitted that Tottenham have been through quite a bit of ups and downs lately, and he did not hold himself back from assuming responsibility for the inconsistency of his team. "It's on me. This is my responsibility," he told reporters following the defeat at Ipswich. This up-and-down pattern that started working its way into the table result is basically a consequence of the approach that definitely needs tuning, he considered. The inconsistency we're having this year ultimately comes back to me and my approach," he added.
While the team did make it through to the Carabao Cup quarterfinals and started their Europa League campaign on a high note with three wins on the trot, the latest defeat at the hands of Galatasaray has given the chinks in their armor. Postecoglou is aware of the fact that he needs to get a better grip on how to respond when things aren't going in the desired direction, more so in the context of the Premier League, where Tottenham are yet to win more than two back-to-back matches.
Lack of Intensity: A Root Problem
He has been quite candid about perhaps Tottenham's most debilitating feature at the moment: an utter lack of intensity, frequently right from the start of games. "We didn't start well. It was all a bit passive, with and without the ball," he said. His team started lethargically against Ipswich, even lazily, as if they weren't fully prepared for this test. "I felt like we didn't get the rhythm or intensity right," bemoaned Postecoglou, essentially handing the first half over to his opponents.
Lack of early intensity is becoming something of a repetitive trait, not only against Ipswich. Against Aston Villa, for example, Tottenham were also behind, if from a decidedly different performance. "When we went behind to Villa, we were playing well. We weren't playing well today," Ange explained, emphasizing that while both games saw Tottenham lose, the situation against Ipswich was unique and even tougher. "We gave ourselves a mountain to climb."
This self-criticism comes as part of a quest to understand why this team keeps making certain mistakes repeatedly. He wants Tottenham to approach the beginnings of games with more aggression and energy, but so far, this change in attitude hasn't really been translated to the pitch.
European Competitions Impact
Even though Tottenham has been addressing the issues of finding a tight-roster balance between the Premier League and the Europa League, it is inevitable that at one point, this physical burden may come into play with individual performances. When questioned about playing Thursdays and then Sundays, Postecoglou dismissed any notion of a fatigue factor, claiming the team isn't feeling this strain of physical exertion toward the end of games.
"I shouldn't be thinking like that. I don't think so. If we were seeing it, we'd probably feel it more at the end of games, and we're not feeling it at the end of games," he added. His argument is, therefore, less about collective exhaustion being felt by the full-time whistle, more about how Tottenham begins games-all too often sluggishly-without the drive and energy required to remain competitive.