Postecoglou sack unavoidable as Spurs’ second cup escape route disappears in four days
And that, surely, will be that.
The Angeball Experiment has been a fascinating one for English football, but the time to draw conclusions has long since passed. At Villa Park, Ange Postecoglou saw his last line of defence disappear before him, both literally and figuratively, in a 2-1 defeat that saw Spurs’ second shot of disaster-averting silverware disintegrate in four miserable days.
The case for keeping Postecoglou in gainful employment now has more holes than those in Antonin Kinsky’s gloves for the opening goal, and more even than those in the defence and midfield that led to that opening goal and so, so, so many other chances in a first half every bit as rotten as that Spurs had offered up at Anfield three days earlier.
The much-changed nature of the Liverpool team that earlier lost at Plymouth had done little to prevent Spurs once again being football’s punchline given their own efforts against Liverpool in the week, and their own efforts that followed soon after here were every bit as comical.
Let’s be slightly fair and acknowledge that Villa away was an unkind draw. One thing Liverpool’s defeat earlier in the day highlighted – as too, perhaps, did Newcastle’s struggle to beat Birmingham – that this fourth round was always going to be harder work for the sides involved in the Carabao semi-finals and Spurs clearly had the sh*ttiest end of the stick in every way there.
But at least Liverpool and Newcastle had actually put some effort into their midweek exertions to explain the weekend struggles. Spurs were just crap. Again.
They were behind from the first minute here, following an all-too easy move that would be replicated throughout a one-sided first half whose only surprise was a lack of further success for the home side. Gaping holes exploited in both Spurs’ understaffed midfield and again in defence with Pedro Porro – presumably under instruction – adopting an absurdly advanced position at right-back. That this advanced position so massively weakened Spurs’ defensive shape while offering zero tangible attacking benefit was the sort of thing for which words ending in ‘y’ are invented.
The opening goal was a horrible moment for Kinsky, who should have made a routine save and would go on to make a string of far tougher ones as Villa ran riot. The jury remains out on Kinsky, who is very young, very new to English football, and taking on perhaps the single most thankless task the Premier League currently has to offer. Some credit should go his way for his response to so clanging a setback so early in the game.
Bad as Spurs were in the first half, Villa were excellent. Having enjoyed a week off to shake off that Champions League hangover that has dogged them all season, they sensed the vulnerability and went for Spurs from the first whistle.
The teams were nominally matching each other in a 4-2-3-1 set-up, but it never ever felt like that. As so often before, when Angeball isn’t working it makes Spurs look like they are at least a man down all over the pitch.
They look wide open in defence, overrun in midfield and bereft as an attacking force. Youri Tielemans and John McGinn controlled the middle of the park in that first half in the manner of Nelson Muntz holding a smaller boy at arm’s length. It was humiliatingly easy.
Time and again straight balls through that middle third would allow Leon Bailey or Morgan Rogers or Jacob Ramsey – or some combination thereof – freedom to dance through Spurs’ wide-open defence. Rogers’ quick feet and composure created the first goal for Ramsey and highlighted once again just how fine a player he has become. And if Bailey was perhaps the least involved and effective of the three here, his valid defence would be that in Djed Spence he was at least required to compete with an actual defender who was attempting some defending.
The only real criticism of Villa in that first half was a lack of precision at the last. Even the goal was a pretty poor strike from a position of such promise, and many further such chances were spurned. Sure, you always knew another would be along shortly, but the thing with Spurs is that even at their worst and lowest ebb you can never quite rule out a madness.
As if to prove that point, Spurs should have equalised midway through the half, their only meaningful attack of the half ending with Son Heung-min shooting tamely at the one part of the goal Emi Martinez could protect from close range having been superbly picked out by Mikey Moore.
Moore was sacrificed for the second half to allow Postecoglou to bolster his midfield with Yves Bissouma. It worked a bit. The second half at least resembled a contest between two Premier League clubs of vaguely similar ambition.
But it was Villa who struck decisively to double their lead after more defensive confusion for Spurs, before Mathys Tel showed he can absolutely be the man to fill Richarlison’s shoes by scoring a flattering late consolation goal in a deeply damaging defeat.
Too little, too late has been a familiar refrain for Spurs during this recent drab run, as well as sometimes a fair bit of too little, too early. But it really is hard to see the case of Postecoglou’s continued involvement in a season that is now Europa League or bust, with the latter obviously an overwhelming favourite.
As always looked possible from the time of the draw, the silver lining of the cup runs has been extinguished with two defeats in the space of four days. And what a miserable pair of defeats they were.
This is perhaps more damaging even than the midweek non-trier at Liverpool. There is less excuse for being swatted aside by Villa. They are for one obvious thing not as good as Liverpool, and for another are themselves bedevilled by most of the things generally used as mitigation for Ange’s Spurs being awful.
They lost Ezri Konsa to injury here and had no senior centre-back available. While Spurs simply shrug and decide to just not bother with defending altogether in that situation, Villa chose to make the best they could of it. A bold strategy.
Villa have also had a workload comparable to Spurs, and have struggled with it. But their league season remains on an even keel and their cup ambitions intact.
Spurs have only excuses, recriminations, a relegation battle and Ryan Mason’s toughest caretaker spell yet.
