It did not have quite as catastrophic a feel as some of Tottenham Hotspur’s cup exits in recent seasons – to Middlesbrough, Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United – but a penalty shootout defeat to Fulham has still left a bitter taste.
Ange Postecoglou was forced to defend his team selection after making nine changes to the side that beat Bournemouth, with only Richarlison and Micky van de Ven keeping their places for the second round of the Carabao Cup.
The new Spurs boss insisted the competition had been a “priority” but added: “There is no European football, so how am I going to find out about our players?
“What opportunity would I have to do that other than the game? They are all part of our club… From my perspective, we’re very much at the discovery stage so we need to find out and give the players the opportunity to contribute.
“Because that’s why they’re here – they’re not just here to make up the numbers.”
The flipside is that without the added burden of European football, Spurs will now play a maximum of 45 games this season (and it would only be as high as that if they were to reach the FA Cup final).
There can be little fear of overworking Postecoglou’s first XI – the changes were not really about resting Son Heung-min, James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski, not least because he was forced to call on them in the second half.
From the point he took the job, Postecoglou had 84 days to size up a squad which he admits needs a “trim” to “get it to a more manageable state”.
He has already made concrete decisions about those who are not in his plans, but for whom the club has not yet found a buyer: Hugo Lloris, Eric Dier, Tanguy Ndombele and Japhet Tanganga.
The latter two are likely to secure loan moves to Serie A before deadline day, while a move outside the Premier League is also being considered as a potential option for Dier.
Some of Postecoglou’s starters at Craven Cottage would also be free to leave should a bid come in. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg has emerged as a surprise target for Manchester United and Davinson Sanchez’s future is also unclear.
The absence of a director of football does not appear to have helped matters; indeed Spurs approach the end of the transfer window with at least five players they are trying to shift, and no guarantees that all of them will leave. There are elements of that group that date back to the Mauricio Pochettino era, let alone Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte. The size and malaise of the squad is nothing to do with the hotseat’s latest incumbent.
It nevertheless puts Postecoglou in a difficult spot, but he has at least gained some valuable lessons from a cup gamble which ultimately backfired.
In his four Premier League games, he had already accumulated enough good will that even if his changes are considered a misstep, there is sufficient faith from his new army of fans that this was a necessary evil to learn more about the shape his squad ought to take in the coming days and months.
In the long run, it hinted at a greater role for Giovani Lo Celso, who was given his first start since January 2022, as an alternative option to Maddison, and Ivan Perisic and Manor Solomon as conventional wingers rather than wing-backs. These are not likely to be Postecoglou’s preferences, rather a set of Plan B’s that needed a trial run.
It was the first time Postecoglou has implemented a system other than 4-2-3-1, a tweak which did not quite work – Spurs struggled to break out of Fulham’s press and the greater numbers in midfield did little to restrict Tom Cairney, Bobby De Cordova-Reid and Adama Traore.
There were a couple of instances when Fraser Forster looked to be struggling playing out from the back. Postecoglou said afterwards that that lack of cohesion and fluency was inevitable given the number of changes made, and with eight players making their first start since he took over.
Implicitly, this was an acceptance that the ceiling is that much lower this season. The top four is an aspiration but without Harry Kane, it is an ambitious one. A domestic cup would have been an easy PR win, though as Pochettino always maintained during his time in north London, it would have done little to aid the masterplan in the long term.
Spurs undoubtedly have a new identity, but this wasn’t it. It has, however, given Postecoglou ample evidence of who is ready and primed to buy into it – and he will not get many more chances to find that out when the stakes are relatively low. His tinkering, though unpopular, may yet prove to be a blessing in disguise.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/W8hfjxP
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