Ange Postecoglou was adored by supporters during his time at Celtic and helped Spurs to win the Europa League last season - but Matthew Lindsay believes the Greek-Australian will have to retire "Angeball" to succeed and survive at Nottingham Forest.
If Tottenham Hotspur had retained Ange Postecoglou’s services after they had lifted the Europa League back in May then we would maybe know now if the game plan which the Greek-Australian deployed in the final against Manchester United was a one-off experiment or the new norm.
There was a final Premier League game against Brighton at the Tottenham Stadium a few days after the narrow 1-0 triumph over their hapless (and hopeless) Old Trafford adversaries in the San Mames Stadium in Bilbao.
But that dead rubber, which the hosts lost 4-1, was really just another opportunity for jubilant Spurs fans to celebrate their boys winning their first trophy in 17 years and their first piece of European silverware in 41 years.
Those meaningless 90 minutes offered no insight, none whatsoever, into how Postecoglou intended to approach matches in the wake of the greatest accomplishment of his long and varied coaching career.
Would his sides revert to pressing their opponents high up the pitch, trying to dominate possession and looking to entertain punters with attractive and offensive football?
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Or would they continue, as they had done against United in the Europa League final, to sit deep, concentrate on defending their penalty box and look to get forward on the counter?
Those were questions which many fans and pundits in English football – who had lauded and derided the former Celtic manager’s swashbuckling tactics in equal measure during his eventful two year reign in North London – wanted answered following the Spanish sojurn.
They will, with Postecoglou replacing Nuno Espirito Santo at Nottingham Forest this week, get their wish now. It will be fascinating seeing if Big Ange intends to stick to his long-held beliefs or if he feels he needs to temper his attacking instincts somewhat to flourish in the Premier League and Europa League. It could go either way.
But it is to hoped that Angeball - as the high-intensity, high-risk football which he favours was labelled during his trophy-laden spell in Scotland – is finally consigned to history and a far more pragmatic style of play introduced both at home and abroad. His survival at the City Ground depends on it.
The former South Melbourne, Brisbane Roar, Melbourne Victory, Australia and Yokohama F Marinos manager was adored by Celtic supporters when he was in situ in the East End Glasgow. After, that is, he had overcome a rocky start which saw many unimpressed and impatient agitators demand that he be sacked.
He signed sensationally well, brought in the likes of Cameron Carter-Vickers, Joe Hart, Kyogo Furuhashi, Reo Hatate, Matt O’Riley, Jota and Alistair Johnston. His teams played “The Celtic Way” and blew their domestic rivals, including Rangers, away. He oversaw a league and cup double and then a world record eighth domestic treble.
But in continental competition his teams regularly looked, not to put too fine a point on it, naïve. They lost to Midtjylland of Denmark and failed to reach the Champions League group stages shortly after he arrived. That very much set the tone for what was to follow. They were hammered 4-0 at home by Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League group stage and 3-1 on their own turf by Bodo/Glimt in the Conference League play-offs.
Shrewd supporters choked on their pre-match hot dogs when the teams were announced before that latter outing. O’Riley and Tom Rogic in the same starting line-up? It was little surprise when Hugo Vetlesen was given time and space just outside the hosts area in only the sixth minute and allowed to tee up Runar Espejord for the opener.
The Scottish champions were showered with plaudits for the way they acquitted themselves against Real Madrid, RB Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk when they returned to the Champions League proper in the 2022/23 season. But they failed to win a single game and finished bottom of their section.
This correspondent feared the worst when Postecoglou was headhunted by Spurs following that campaign. Building play from the back, pushing full-backs upfield and infield, relying on quick, intricate passing to unlock defences and adopting a high line is all well and good against St Johnstone at Parkhead in the Premiership. But how would it work against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Newcastle United at St James’s Park, Liverpool at Anfield?
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For a while, to be fair to him, it functioned pretty well. Fifth place in the English top flight was a respectable finish for an Antipodean who was new to the English game. But last term he, foolishly, arrogantly, nonsensically, insisted on persevering with his go-for-broke, gung-ho game despite having a crippling injury list. It was no great surprise really when his paymasters decided Thomas Frank would be a safer pair of hands.
The 60-year-old is a big personality who will not be fazed at life in the dugout at double European Cup winners Forest. If anything, he will positively revel in the spotlight. But if he wants to be renowned more for his coaching than his snappy soundbites he needs to curb his natural tendencies and show a far greater appreciation of the realities of the modern game.
His predecessor turned one of the English game’s fallen giants from relegation fodder into Champions League contenders by being defensive. He oversaw victories over Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City and indeed Spurs by urging his men to sit back, soak up pressure and strike on the counter attack.
Can Postecoglou do better against much larger and far wealthier rivals, improve on a stellar season and satisfy the demands of mercurial owner Evangelos Marinakis in the coming months by ripping things up and trying to implement Angeball? He will find he has to retire to that Greek island far earlier than he had planned to if he does.
