Ange Postecoglou (Tottenham Hotspur)

[K]

This was no ‘mea culpa’ from Ange. If anything, he doubled down

May 18, 2024

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/this-was-no-mea-culpa-from-ange-if-anything-he-doubled-down-20240518-p5jena.html

'Ange Postecoglou thought he conquered the language barrier in Japan, where almost every conversation he was involved in necessitated the presence of a third party, a translator, to make sense of it.

In Scotland, he confronted a similar challenge, although there it was more of an accent barrier: deciphering the various grunts, noises and intonations made via the impossibly thick Glaswegian brogue into words, sentences, and then ultimately, some form of intelligible message. Somehow he managed.

Who would have thought it was in England where he’d be most misunderstood?

In fairness, Postecoglou has himself partially contributed to a situation where there has been ample room for misinterpretation – wilful and otherwise.
...

Postecoglou is often criticised as a “naive” manager in a tactical sense. Here, maybe he was culturally naive, which is perhaps more surprising. This was a once-in-a-generation storm of events that left Spurs fans in a difficult position: of course their preference would be to beat City and keep their hopes of Champions League qualification alive, but not if it meant Arsenal would be able to gloat about helping them win the title. They would have rather cut off their nose to spite their face.
...

There was one other area where Postecoglou feels he’s been lost in translation. Spurs played with a different shape against City for the first time during his tenure – a 4-4-2 with no out-and-out strikers but two wingers. It was not unlike the system he used at Melbourne Victory and is perhaps a pointer to how they will play next season and beyond.

His critics seized upon the change as proof that Postecoglou does have a “Plan B” after all, but the only change was how they set up, rather than the way they played.

“It’s probably one of the biggest misconceptions about me, that I’ve got just one plan. I’ve used every system in the world in my career, mate,” he said. “It’s a lot easier than people think to tweak those things, as long as your principles stay the same. And that’s where I am.”'