Spurs win with ‘anti-Ange’ offers omen for when Postecoglou luck runs out

We now find ourselves in the bizarre position of searching for reasons why Ange Postecoglou’s side *can’t* win the Premier League title. 

If there is a player that epitomises the old Tottenham, the Jose Mourinho Tottenham, the Antonio Conte Tottenham, the negative Tottenham, the ‘bad’ Tottenham, it’s Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

In that sense, he’s the anti-Ange, and the Denmark international’s first start of the season on Monday night was a reminder of how much has changed under Postecoglou, and what more needs to be done.

Seven of Tottenham’s players have started all nine of their Premier League games this term. It would have been eight were it not for Yves Bissouma’s suspension, which instead means he’s one of three to have started eight of nine.

That’s extraordinary consistency in a starting lineup, made possible through – let’s face it – extraordinary good fortune.

A reasonable claim could be made for Rodrigo Bentancur having a place in this starting lineup, and in time Brennan Johnson – who came off the bench on Monday having been injured against Arsenal – may well work his way in, but other than that pair, Postecoglou has had a fully fit first team for the first quarter of this season.

If they had faced the injury woes of Manchester United or Chelsea, for example, things may not have gone quite so swimmingly.

It’s not that Hojbjerg was bad. He did exactly what we have seen from Hojbjerg for the last three years at Spurs – working his boll*cks off, keeping it simple, getting in the faces of opponents. But he lacks quality in possession that Bissouma has in abundance.

Of course there’s going to be a drop-off from first team to squad players, but in this instance – as would be the case in multiple positions for Spurs – a change to the starting lineup alterred the style of football they were able to play.

It wasn’t massively different. James Maddison was still pulling the strings. Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro joined him in the No.10 positions. Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski hugged the touchlines. Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero searched for those passing channels or ran through them.

And they pressed high, resulting in both goals as Calvin Bassey was forced into two passing errors that were pounced upon and punished, first by Son Heung-min, and then Maddison. It was much of the same from Tottenham in most ways.

But, with Hojbjerg instead of Bissouma they lacked one of their most effective attacking outlets – the ability to dribble out of the press, and without him, Spurs had to rely on mistakes to win the game.

This may sound needlessly gloomy at a point in which we should be revelling in the brilliance of Tottenham, but it’s precisely because of that brilliance that attention turns to the negatives.

Spurs fans may be happy to ride the wave and not consider how far it could take them, but the rest of us will think of the destination, and wonder what – if anything – could derail their season.

It’s the squad depth. Fulham had three or four very decent chances in the last 20 minutes after Postecoglou had made a raft of changes. That’s perhaps due to the backups barely playing as much as anything, but there is also a telling drop in quality. Maddison to Giovani Lo Celso. Son to Alejo Veliz. Pape Matar Sarr to Oliver Skipp. Udogie to Emerson Royal.

At some point, Postecoglou’s injury luck will run out, and that will be what – if anything – will cost Spurs, whose fans should be celebrating the fact that we’re having to hunt for reasons for their failure, rather than having the default Spursiness that previously made that search entirely unnecessary.