Ange Postecoglou faces the same two questions over and over again in his press conferences – one brings a grin and a shake of the head and the other bewildered exasperation.
The sheer number of different journalists that pass through Premier League and European press conferences, either at matches or at the training ground before games, means you’re going to end up with repetition because there’s only a handful of regular reporters that cover a club so most don’t know what’s already been asked before, again and again.
For Postecoglou, the main question he has always been asked since arriving at Tottenham Hotspur is ‘will you be pragmatic’ in match A, B or C. It’s asked in plenty of different ways but essentially it’s always posed with the same intent, to get the Australian to rip up 26 years or so of coaching and suddenly decide he wants to park the bus or even just hold on to a result.
The other oft-repeated question, which irks him far more, is about set pieces. Spurs conceded from a set piece on Thursday night as Roma’s Evan Ndicka’s shoulder deflected a Paulo Dybala free-kick up and in off the crossbar with a looping trajectory.
Spurs have improved their set piece defending hugely this season, helped by the work of coach Nick Montgomery, but on this occasion the 6ft 3ins Ndicka managed to get a shoulder to the ball.
“I will ask simply, is there any way your team can improve their set piece defending?” came the almost pitying question from an Italian reporter in the press conference after the draw.
Postecoglou exhaled and shook his head, before replying: “I don’t even know what to say to that. I think that’s the third set piece goal we’ve conceded from this season in about 20 games. I get it, but I don’t know what to say. Let’s move on.”
When it comes to the ‘pragmatic’ question, you sense Postecoglou takes it less seriously and almost has fun trying to explain why he doesn’t want to fit inside the neatly constructed box managers are placed into.
On Wednesday night, the Australian was asked whether the draw against Roma meant the priority of the next three Europa League games is to simply win ahead of artistic merit and make sure Tottenham finish in the top eight in the big table to bypass the play-off round.
Postecoglou had a think, looked to one side and then swept his head back across to the reporter and uttered an almost gentle ‘no’, bringing a laugh from the assembled media before he broke into a grin himself.
“No,” he said again with another smile. “Why can’t it just be entertaining mate? Isn’t it why we all come? Would you really prefer us to sketch out a couple of 0-0 draws and a 1-0 win and we get through.
“I don’t know. I would much rather we’re exciting to watch and maybe it is edge of the seat stuff and sometimes we don’t get the reward, like we could have tonight, but no, I think if you want those kind of games, there are plenty in world football you can watch every weekend. I’d like to think when you tune into us you’ll get entertained.”
Postecoglou has had this question put to him so many times across his career that he pretty much plays with the person asking now. He could quite easily have said ‘why can’t it be both?’ in response, but he likes to toy with the reporter.
The Australian wants to win. Of course he does and he has repeatedly done so wherever he’s gone. It would be folly to think that Postecoglou just wants to be the greatest showman without the silverware to show for it.
He’s ambitious and demands that those around him are as well, but most of all he wants to do it in style – his teams playing the kind of football that his father Jim would have been proud to watch.
It’s an in-built basic instinct to please his dad essentially. That desire to play the sport in the way he and his father spent their time together longing to see in the early hours on their TV screen when he was a child back in Melbourne.
Contrary to popular belief, there’s a Plan A, B, C and many more sides to his football within that overarching philosophy.
The players have a lot to take on within a system that has been adapted and sculpted over almost three decades of coaching. Yet they love it because at its heart is the kind of football they would choose to play if they could.
Less than 12 hours after that late press conference within the bowels of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Postecoglou was back in front of reporters at another press conference in Enfield at Hotspur Way to preview Sunday’s game against Fulham.
“Is there a scenario where maybe you would need to be a bit more pragmatic,” asked one reporter.
Even as the question was being asked, Postecoglou closed his eyes and sighed before letting out a little exhale of laughter through his nostrils.
He then tried to sum it up for the 112th time of asking since arriving at Tottenham.
“Look, I don’t know how many ways I can say this. I understand it. Look, there’s plenty of room for pragmatism in walks of life and in football as well, but I’m just not interested in it,” said the 59-year-old.
“I don’t know why I need to change my approach to be like everyone else wants me to be. I’ll continue to push this team to be a bit different, to play football in a different way and maybe when I’m long gone you’ll all pine for my entertainment, and you’ll have had your fill of pragmatism.
“But look, if we were pragmatic I’d say at 2-0 up at City away, we’d have probably settled and we wouldn’t have got the victory we did and made it a special moment for our club. I always think of the possibilities of what could be if we continue down this road, rather than holding on to what we have.
“Because at the moment what do we have? We don’t have a hell of a lot. We haven’t achieved anything yet, we haven’t had success, we haven’t done all the things we want to do.
“So if I start being pragmatic now, maybe we’ll never get there. Last night we weren’t at our highest level but, jeez, I thought for 20 minutes we were as exciting as we’ve been since I’ve been here. I loved our last 20 minutes of the first half. We should have got a third goal to kill the game off but we were exciting to watch, and that’s what I want.”
It’s all within that answer. A desire to entertain but also a clear statement that there’s an end game to it, the possibilities that lie at the end of Postecoglou’s road.
Spurs have had pragmatism in recent years and it’s stunk the place out. Few enjoyed going to watch the north London side.
Even when there’s been a balance with some managers, they’ve still often attacked, got a lead and then sat back, invited pressure and conceded a goal that was always coming. The fans understandably have been furious at their docile collapse.
Under Postecoglou, the plan is never to sit back and protect what you have. It’s to be merciless, push on and destroy. It’s pretty much what everyone has been calling for at Spurs for years.
At this stage in his rebuild, with a young side and six key players missing – seven if you count Rodrigo Bentancur in the Premier League – you’re going to have missteps as Spurs don’t push home that advantage and they will still concede late frustrating goals.
Thursday night was the perfect example. Spurs had 24 shots at goal, scored twice, hit the woodwork three times and sent 12 of their efforts on target. Roma keeper Mile Svilar had to make nine saves on the night.
The hosts should have buried Roma in a flood of goals, but when they didn’t they instead allowed their visitors little openings to claw back the eventual point.
Whether that’s a lack of fresh key players to bring on during games to press home an advantage or whether it’s just profligacy at one end and switching off at the other, Tottenham are almost there but not quite and that’s where the inconsistency comes from.
Certainly though, it would be unwise to doubt Postecoglou’s desire to win. If you need to see that in action, just watch how he exploded in anger at Brennan Johnson towards the end of the first half on Thursday night.
The Wales international had already scored a beautiful goal – his ninth of the season – in sweeping home a crisp first-time left-footed finish from Dejan Kulusevski’s low ball into the box.
However, in one moment soon after when Postecoglou sensed Johnson was coming back towards his own half, passing backwards and not being positive in his play, the Australian went mad at him, flinging his arms around, thrusting them in a forward motion and appearing to say to the 23-year-old: “Brennan get it forward, you’re going back, run in behind.”
When asked about that moment the following morning, Postecoglou said that’s exactly what he meant.
“Yeah, [this football is] always a work in progress. That’s my role to just keep driving the guys. There can be a tendency at times to want to go back from full throttle and ease and I just felt at that point we were on top of them and Brennan was looking dangerous every time we went forward and we were looking good,” he said.
“I just thought, and it’s human nature, we were winning 2-1 at the time and to just keep the ball but that’s not who we want to be. In those moments it’s more about me trying to empower and embolden the players not to fear playing that way. So yeah I think your lip reading was pretty good mate.”
Johnson himself spoke about the incident after the game and revealed that Postecoglou had explained further at half-time about what he was trying to say.
“It’s important, he’s such a good manager and I think his view can be a lot better than mine at times,” Johnson told TNT Sports. “In the game, it’s easier to get into your own head a little bit so at half-time he told me a bit of information that was definitely helpful and nothing more than that really.”
He added: “He just said about keep being more positive and that’s all he needs from all of our players, trying to be positive, on the front foot, play forward. I think that in the first-half I was guilty of playing back too much, so that was definitely something I took on board.”
Johnson is Tottenham’s top scorer and while there are times when he doesn’t drive on, there are also plenty of times when he does and it’s in key moments. It was his run and ball across to Pape Matar Sarr that brought the early penalty that Son Heung-min dispatched and then came that expert finish to fire Spurs back into the lead.
“I think some of it is you get confidence and self-belief,” said Postecoglou of Johnson’s improvement in front of goal this season. “The biggest thing is a real discipline about the positions he takes up. He is always in the right areas.
“The way we play, if you get yourself into the right areas then you get the benefit or the rewards of it. I think because he has got the reward he is really making sure he is really disciplined about always being there.
“It is easy to say because of the way we play but sometimes it takes great concentration and focus in those moments. Whether it is on the weekend against Man City he sort of knew it was likely Timo would be hitting that far post and even last night that Kulusevski would hit a certain area and he is always there. He is a good finisher.
“I still think there is more though. I wasn’t as happy with some parts of his game last night, particularly around just being a bit more positive and even the pressing was not great from our front three. It hasn’t been as good. But that comes back to the player himself wanting to improve and not settle for just scoring some goals. I think he can be better and I want him to be better.”
Seven of Johnson’s 10 goals in the Premier League since he signed for Spurs from Nottingham Forest have come in the six-yard box and Postecoglou made it very clear that his right wingers will always have a ball in the box.
“Go watch Celtic play, go watch Yokohama Marinos plays, go watch Brisbane Roar play, go watch the Socceroos play mate. You will see that I would love to be a right winger in my team mate, I would score bags of goals,” he said.
Alongside Johnson, Dominic Solanke continued to look bright and busy even his finishing was a little wayward on this occasion. He had an acrobatic effort saved in the first half and later in the game sent one header against the crossbar from Archie Gray’s cross. He had earlier had tested the keeper with a shot from a tight angle when James Maddison was open to a square ball into the six-yard box.
The 27-year-old striker fell awkwardly in the first half as a tackle made him spread his legs more than anyone wants to and he looked to have hurt his groin but he kept on going and Postecoglou said that while Solanke was still sore, it was nothing serious.
Son was busy on the left with his attempts to open Roma up. After that early penalty, he blazed one effort over the bar before forcing Svilar into a flying save.
Like Johnson, he was quieter in the second half. The South Korean has not found his rhythm yet during this injury-interrupted season and Postecoglou was asked if his captain is lacking confidence, having only mustered four goals so far when he’s normally more free-scoring.
“I don’t know if he’s lacking confidence. Sonny’s had a disrupted year for us, so that doesn’t help. Yeah, he had some good chances tonight to get the goal and he’s getting in those areas,” said the Tottenham head coach.
“Look, he’s got the quality to take those chances and we know he’s done it consistently for almost a decade, but he’s had a disrupted season being in and out. You can see he is getting back to full fitness now, which is the main thing for us.
“We’re quite thin in those wide areas, so he’s playing and we’ve got to make sure we are careful with him, Brennan and Timo because they are the only wingers we’ve got left and will have for the foreseeable future.
“I thought tonight, it wasn’t just Sonny. There were quite a few really good chances, we hit the post three times as well and a couple cleared off the line. I still felt there were a couple of occasions where a bit more composure would have finished the game off.”
Bentancur was back in the line-up but rather than refreshed looked off his game and tired as the match wore on, Postecoglou replacing him in the 76th minute.
One man who did look sharp was Fraser Forster. All eyes were on the 36-year-old as he began what will be months in place of the injured Guglielmo Vicario.
There was little to worry about. He could do little about either goal, Ndicka’s shoulder deflected the ball far out of his reach and in off the crossbar in the first half and then Yves Bissouma managed to play half of the Roma team onside by hugging the post and Mats Hummels was left alone at the back post to tap in.
Forster was confident in gathering crosses and set pieces on the whole and made a couple of smart low stops from Paulo Dybala in the first half.
He bailed out Pedro Porro late in the game after his weak back header, saving from Artem Dovbyk. It was a moment that stirred echoes of Porro’s poor knock back that ended in Vicario’s fractured foot.
That late equaliser was all the more painful because Foster had made an incredible reaction save to push over Mancini’s close range volley even though he would have seen it at the last second.
Postecoglou dismissed the suggestion that the experienced keeper needed a performance like that to boost his confidence.
“I don’t think he’s lacking in confidence. He is an experienced guy and has probably thought to himself that, that is why he is there, if needed to come in and be that reliable goalkeeper for us,” he said.
“It’s helped he’s already played this year, it wasn’t his first game. He’s played his part tonight and it’s just disappointing we weren’t able to capitalise on the football we played to get the three points. I don’t think he’s lacking in confidence, but always good for him to least pull off a couple of big saves for us tonight and get him back into the group.”
Forster just needs more games and rhythm. It’s worth noting that his last stretch of games for Spurs, when he replaced the injured Hugo Lloris early last year, ended with him getting a recall to the England squad.
Just in front and to Forster’s left was a man half his age again proving what a talent he is as 18-year-old Archie Gray was asked to start at left-back. The teenager grew and grew into the game, putting in dangerous crosses, one of which led to Solanke hitting the crossbar.
football.london asked Postecoglou on Friday where the tactically mature and versatile Gray sat in the list of those youngsters he’s coached over the years.
“There’s a real maturity at only 18. We asked him to play left-back, he has never played that position in his life but does it with a real efficiency and calmness,” said the Australian.
“I am so excited by Archie and that’s another positive for us that we have another 18-year-old who just plays and no one mentions that he is 18, they just measure his performance and, like I said, I am asking him to do different jobs.
“It would probably be more comfortable for him if he was settled in one position but he is playing football at a really high level in Europe and the Premier League. That’s going to set us up really well for the player that he is going to become. I thought Lucas [Bergvall] was really good when he came on last night, he made an impact. With everything else we’re building, there is some real excitement around the young players as well.”
Bergvall did supply a string of defensive headers in his own box from set pieces and looked to contribute more after his previous disappointing European performance in Istanbul.
Alongside Gray was Ben Davies, who continues to put his body on the line for the club. It was revealed this week that the club intend to take up an option in the Welshman’s contract to extend it until 2026, which will take the 31-year-old up to 12 years at the club if he were to see it out.
Ahead of this game, football.london asked Postecoglou whether Davies gets the credit he deserves outside the walls of the club for his reliable displays.
“It’s hard to say with perceptions because it depends what your barometer is. There’s so many these days, where depending on what rabbit hole you go into, you can get any outcome you want,” he said.
“I doubt anyone who has any sort of real passion for this football club or real passion for football wouldn’t say that he’d be very highly respected within or outside of this football club.
“He’s captain of his country. Testament to his ability is the fact that a number of coaches at this football have all trusted him at different times. Whether that’s my opinion or Jose, Antonio or Mauricio or anyone else he’s been managed by. It just goes to show that Ben’s very well-respected within the game.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt that Ben’s well-respected within the game, and he’s still performing at a very good level. He’s captain of his nation. With us, he’s really grown into that defensive role of playing centre-back. At the weekend, him and Radu were outstanding.”
It’s somewhat fitting that both close friends Son and Davies have options that Spurs intend to take up this season if neither do end up signing new contract anyway.
Davies and Dragusin were part of a reshuffled defence that conceded some chances but also kept a good offside line, which caught Roma out three times with ruled out efforts. Maddison once pointed out that people see the many offside goals ruled out against Spurs and think they are chances when in fact they’re moments of good defending.
It was Bissouma who messed up that offside line for the late leveller and the Mali international will need to be back to his best on Sunday as Bentancur returns to his suspension.
