It took Tottenham just one game to provide the most meme-able image of the Premier League season so far.
The sight of Ange Postecoglou crouched on his haunches staring intently at the ground as if trying to laser it open so he could vanish from sight after a late Richarlison miss was the defining image of Spurs’ 1-1 draw against Leicester on Monday.
It summed up what was an incredibly frustrating evening for Postecoglou, his players and the club’s supporters, in which two familiar flaws from last season resurfaced.
The first, as Postecoglou alluded to after the game, was a lack of efficiency in the penalty area. Spurs had 12 shots in the box, the joint second-highest total across the opening weekend, and hit the target seven times but only scored once.
Spurs finished sixth in the Premier League’s big chances missed table and were the lowest-scoring team in the top seven in Postecoglou’s debut campaign.
“We have to be stronger in our mindset in the front third,” he said. “To be that wasteful is disappointing. We just weren’t clinical. To get results you need to be a lot more ruthless in the final third. If we don’t, we won’t get the rewards our football should get.”
The second was the concession of an avoidable goal, the ultimate punishment for the profligacy at the other end. Cristian Romero followed the ball like an enthusiastic puppy, leaving Jamie Vardy completely free to nod in the equaliser at the back post.
At 1-0, Spurs are always walking a tightrope having developed a severe allergy to keeping clean sheets. They have only kept two in their last 22 league matches. They let in 61 goals in total in 2023-24, more than double Arsenal’s total.
The lack of cutting edge is undoubtedly an issue but it is one that Postecoglou hopes can be alleviated by Dominic Solanke, who scored 19 goals for Bournemouth last season. He fared well on his debut, although missed a couple of big chances.
The defensive problems are arguably more glaring, though, and amplified given the individual quality of the back five.
Guglielmo Vicario has proven to be a more than capable replacement for the long-serving Hugo Lloris. Pedro Porro is one of the best attacking full-backs in the league and Destiny Udogie is equally influential on the other side. Romero has been a pillar of Argentina’s recent trophy successes. Micky van de Ven’s pace makes him a counter-attack cheat code. Radu Dragusin was one of the best centre-backs of Euro 2024.
And yet Spurs look in danger of conceding a goal anytime the opposition ventures into their half, let alone inside their own box. There will always be a fine balance between Postecoglou’s risk vs reward approach that requires the back four to squeeze up to the halfway line, leaving oceans of space behind them.
The issue is not so much the skyscraper high line, but the ease with which teams can bypass their midfield and advance on the defence. Poor individual decision-making in defence, like Romero’s against Leicester, will cost Spurs, but structural faults higher up are leading to the back five being overworked. They really struggle in defensive transitions.
While offering protection is not just the job of one player – Postecoglou expects all of his front six to press with intensity and aggression – it is obvious that the defensive midfield position has been a problem during the Angeball era.
Yves Bissouma is too inconsistent, a world-beater one moment and a liability the next. Rodrigo Bentancur, who started at the base on Monday, is better suited to a box-to-box role. Both are excellent players but neither have fully convinced under Postecoglou.
They are both perched on the naughty step too for serious lapses in judgement: Bissouma for inhaling laughing gas (he’s 28 next week) and Bentancur, far more egregiously, for making a racist slur against South Korean people (he’s 27).
The squad spaces vacated by Oliver Skipp and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s moves to Leicester and Marseille respectively have been partly filled by the additions of Archie Gray from Leeds and Lucas Bergvall from Djurgardens, but they are both are 18 and untested at the highest level. Superstars of the future perhaps, but not yet the present.
They need an established No 6 to push on from last season and links to Wolves’ Brazilian ball-winner Joao Gomes this week appear to make a great deal of sense.
At 23-years-old and with a season-and-a-half of Premier League football under his belt, Gomes hits the Spurs sweet spot of being both young enough to develop and experienced enough to slot into the starting XI right away.
He is a tenacious, energetic midfielder, who you’d think would be the ideal candidate to take Angeball up a gear.
Joao Palhinha, formerly of Fulham and now of Bayern Munich, was the only player to attempt more tackles than Gomes in the Premier League last season. He also ranked fifth in the league for tackles and interceptions combined.
His ability to sniff out danger and disrupt opposition attacks is precisely what Spurs need. Too often Romero and Van de Ven are required to backpedal furiously cartoon style as a swarm of attackers descend on Vicario’s goal. It is too easy to play through the Spurs midfield.
“Ange Postecoglou has taken Tottenham back to what we always associated with Tottenham and a lot of that is good – attacking play, great on the eye,” Jamie Carragher said on Monday Night Football. “But you always feel like they can let you down and concede a goal.”
The accusation that Spurs are a soft touch is a long-established one, rolled out fairly and otherwise, whenever they cede a winning position. But the defensive numbers since Postecoglou took charge do not lie. Unless Spurs can fortify their midfield, they risk another season of frustration.
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