Manager Watch: Ange Postecoglou

[cliff jones]

Sorry to pick your post but it's the most recent one of a few (too many IMO) saying this.

Willing to give him longer? TBH we haven't scratched the surface yet of how long we should be giving to start with.

Moving away from that...............I think there's been a loss of perspective amongst some people, I don't think it's anywhere near as bad as some people are suggesting

No need to apologize, not that you were!

Take it at face value, running out of patience with the set piece shite, less so with being countered.

Hope they're fkin practicing corners all week. With Romero, Jedinak and Ange himself all attacking them

 

[Mattyhp]

The lack of perspective and patience is baffling. 5 games left and on the same points as the total from last season, on track to be way ahead on Goals scored and have a decent chance of improving on goals conceded. Of course there are some key areas to improve on but Ange has had 2 windows and lost the best striker in world football. Style has improved, commitment and consistency in performances massively improved, culture within the club has significantly improved and yet all people seem to dumb down on is how many we’ve conceded from set pieces. Far more to be optimistic about for next season than negative, but no doubt some will be calling for Ange to be sacked if we lose to Chelsea. Mental.

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

no doubt some will be calling for Ange to be sacked if we lose to Chelsea. Mental.

I think some people thrive on seeing the world burn. If there were an apocalypse, you'd see them on top of a mountain somewhere with a biblical quotation on a sandwich board hanging around their necks, furiously tugging away at their private parts

 

[E17yid]

I think some people thrive on seeing the world burn. If there were an apocalypse, you'd see them on top of a mountain somewhere with a biblical quotation on a sandwich board hanging around their necks, furiously tugging away at their private parts

Sounds like a standard Thursday afternoon to me.

 

[mil1lion]

it’s annoying two season on the trot we have directed a ball going away from the goal in to the net

i actually think Ange is doing a great job, shame we didn’t get a draw.

I think we do need a physical monster for set pieces we lack the 6ft 4 plus player.

You don't get much bigger than Dragusin

 

[purplemonkey]

The lack of perspective and patience is baffling. 5 games left and on the same points as the total from last season, on track to be way ahead on Goals scored and have a decent chance of improving on goals conceded. Of course there are some key areas to improve on but Ange has had 2 windows and lost the best striker in world football. Style has improved, commitment and consistency in performances massively improved, culture within the club has significantly improved and yet all people seem to dumb down on is how many we’ve conceded from set pieces. Far more to be optimistic about for next season than negative, but no doubt some will be calling for Ange to be sacked if we lose to Chelsea. Mental.

I agree with everything you say and I’m still fully on board the Ange train mostly for the reasons you’ve mentioned, but the concerns for me are bigger than set pieces:

- We concede too many goals, period. Our attack is nowhere near good enough yet to compensate for how leaky our defence is, so we have a handicap that we have to overcome in every single game.
- The whole is less than the sum of its parts. Our back 5 are excellent individually yet we such a poor defensive record. We’re stacked with talented midfielders who are performing well below the level that we know they’re capable of.
- Team selection and squad management is becoming questionable. Ange clearly has blind spots with certain players.
- Our results and most worryingly our performances since Jan have been largely underwhelming. The 2024 form table puts us 8th in the league, behind Bournemouth and Man Utd, whose manager is likely to get sacked. We’ve scored the same amount of goals as Luton in that period and 4 less than Chelsea, whose forwards are a laughing stock.
- There really hasn’t been any obvious on-field improvement, development or progress in that period. We have gradually returned to majority squad health and we have typically had 1-2 weeks to train between games which is an incredible luxury for any new manager to iron out any deficiencies, instill their style, tweak their tactics and prepare the team for specific games (Conte took over a Chelsea team who’d finished 10th under similar circumstances, brought in a new system and won the league in his debut season). We just haven’t seen the benefit of any of that - I think most people, Ange included, would have expected us to get better as the season went on whereas we’ve arguably got worse. You have to at least question why that is.

 

[Metalhead]

I agree with everything you say and I’m still fully on board the Ange train mostly for the reasons you’ve mentioned, but the concerns for me are bigger than set pieces:

- We concede too many goals, period. Our attack is nowhere near good enough yet to compensate for how leaky our defence is, so we have a handicap that we have to overcome in every single game.
- The whole is less than the sum of its parts. Our back 5 are excellent individually yet we such a poor defensive record. We’re stacked with talented midfielders who are performing well below the level that we know they’re capable of.
- Team selection and squad management is becoming questionable. Ange clearly has blind spots with certain players.
- Our results and most worryingly our performances since Jan have been largely underwhelming. The 2024 form table puts us 8th in the league, behind Bournemouth and Man Utd, whose manager is likely to get sacked. We’ve scored the same amount of goals as Luton in that period and 4 less than Chelsea, whose forwards are a laughing stock.
- There really hasn’t been any obvious on-field improvement, development or progress in that period. We have gradually returned to majority squad health and we have typically had 1-2 weeks to train between games which is an incredible luxury for any new manager to iron out any deficiencies, instill their style, tweak their tactics and prepare the team for specific games (Conte took over a Chelsea team who’d finished 10th under similar circumstances, brought in a new system and won the league in his debut season). We just haven’t seen the benefit of any of that - I think most people, Ange included, would have expected us to get better as the season went on whereas we’ve arguably got worse. You have to at least question why that is.

I do think that a lack of games is to some extent to blame (but clearly by no means fully). The players have hardly been able to get any rhythm together over the last few months.

 

[Albertbarich]

I see in his latest comments he is at last showing some frustration with officials albeit in a very polite way.

Said they're seeking clarity over the Vicario stuff as he watched the champions league last night and the refs were blowing up for the exact same stuff.

Also said he has seen numerous tackles exactly the same as Romero's against the chavs with no sendings off.

With regards to Vicario. He said they're seeking clarity weeks ago. It's clearly not working so the way I see it he has two options.
-kick off ala klopp and arteta. Let's be honest it works .
-do the exact same as they're doing to us. I've no doubt the refs will soon start pulling it up.

I've really had enough of the refs this season and I don't think he is helping by being such a gent. I can't think of one other player than Biss that has been sent off for diving, the Romero sending off, the Vicario treatment and the total lack of penalties despite spending most games In and around the opposition box. We should be kicking off. We haven't had a thing since the Liverpool game.

 

[Mattyhp]

All perfectly valid points, although I’d caveat and say from October/Nov through to Feb we were seriously hindered by injuries and lack of availability, meaning our dip in form was understandable. I do agree that the form has remained patchy through March/April and hard to argue about our overall defensive fragility. That said I do believe that a complete shift in playing styles and approach would result in a patchy season with a run of good performances followed by bad etc. To dismiss the first 10 games, because the last 10-15 have been less impressive is the natural thing to be drawn to and thus you get a more concerned fan base. I judge this first season more on approach, intensity and resilience. I’d say bar Newcastle (technically should have been 1 or 2 up in opening exchanges) Fulham and Brighton I’d say we’ve shown up and been competitive in every game. That does at least indicate the squad are buying into Ange thus giving us a platform. I honestly think some upgrades and competition from front to back in the summer and some of these weaknesses get ironed out. Even the best in the business don’t eradicate every issue in the first 12-18 months. Therefore you just have to ask yourself are we a better or worse outfit than this time last year. I’ll be asking myself the same question end of next season and in reality if we aren’t making progress you need to decide whether that’s managerial or players etc. What was clear from the likes of Poch is we went into a new season with him knowing full well our progress had stalled and the majority of fans felt the same.

We can’t label Ange with just because our form hasn’t been title challenger level since Jan

 

[13VanDerBale13]

 

[dontcallme]

The lost of Kane has implications yet to be seen for us. Ange lost the only big thing that every manager from Poch onwards had in their favour. It’s incredibly hard to judge Ange when he had to deal with that a day before the season started, and without even a try to replace him (spoiler: he is irreplaceable). I’m pretty sure that had Kane stayed with us this year, we would be fighting for the title right now. Funny how football works… the perfect coach to build a team around the greatest ever to wear the badge came just at the wrong time.

We scored 70 goals last season. We are currently on 67 with 5 games go.

 

[purplemonkey]

I do think that a lack of games is to some extent to blame (but clearly by no means fully). The players have hardly been able to get any rhythm together over the last few months.

I agree - I think rhythm will make an absolutely massive difference to our general play and we’ll be far better for it next season - but there are some pretty fundamental flaws in terms of structure, set up, positioning, patterns etc where the main gains are made in training. We should be gradually chipping away at our weaknesses and building up our strengths but I’m not seeing any evidence of that at the moment.

 

[Metalhead]

I agree - I think rhythm will make an absolutely massive difference to our general play and we’ll be far better for it next season - but there are some pretty fundamental flaws in terms of structure, set up, positioning, patterns etc where the main gains are made in training. We should be gradually chipping away at our weaknesses and building up our strengths but I’m not seeing any evidence of that at the moment.

Exactly. You can't attribute issues to one particular reason.

 

[Sp3akerboxxx]

The lack of perspective and patience is baffling. 5 games left and on the same points as the total from last season, on track to be way ahead on Goals scored and have a decent chance of improving on goals conceded. Of course there are some key areas to improve on but Ange has had 2 windows and lost the best striker in world football. Style has improved, commitment and consistency in performances massively improved, culture within the club has significantly improved and yet all people seem to dumb down on is how many we’ve conceded from set pieces. Far more to be optimistic about for next season than negative, but no doubt some will be calling for Ange to be sacked if we lose to Chelsea. Mental.

I don't care too much about the points total because 11 of those games were under some combination of mason & stellini.

 

[E17yid]

God help him if we lose to Chelsea tomorrow from a set piece goal.

 

[Sp3akerboxxx]

Postecoglou on Vicario as a target at set pieces: "He's seen there's a challenge. It's something even I'm struggling with because I watched the Champions League last night & a foul was given on the keeper straight away. We're trying to get clarity on it."

 

[GMI]

Davies and Werner now out for the rest of the season by the sounds of it.

 

[GMI]

 

[hughy]

I know we've only 5 games left but 3 season ending injuries in a week is fucking annoying.

 

[rossdapep]

I see in his latest comments he is at last showing some frustration with officials albeit in a very polite way.

Said they're seeking clarity over the Vicario stuff as he watched the champions league last night and the refs were blowing up for the exact same stuff.

Also said he has seen numerous tackles exactly the same as Romero's against the chavs with no sendings off.

With regards to Vicario. He said they're seeking clarity weeks ago. It's clearly not working so the way I see it he has two options.
-kick off ala klopp and arteta. Let's be honest it works .
-do the exact same as they're doing to us. I've no doubt the refs will soon start pulling it up.

I've really had enough of the refs this season and I don't think he is helping by being such a gent. I can't think of one other player than Biss that has been sent off for diving, the Romero sending off, the Vicario treatment and the total lack of penalties despite spending most games In and around the opposition box. We should be kicking off. We haven't had a thing since the Liverpool game.

The Vicario treatment has been a foul in every big league over the past 10 years or so, I have no idea why or when they changed in the PL, if they even did at all.

Webb saying that they have made a higher bar for fouls in penalty area which is hilarious as they still pick and choose and give weak ones yet actually bodying a GK with firm contact isn't??

I'm totally done with it. Sick to death of the incompetence.
PL best league in world? Yeah right