If Tuesday night’s 3-2 loss to West Ham is anything to go by, Tottenham fans are set for one hell of a ride under ‘Angeball’.
Ange Postecoglou’s managerial debut at Tottenham got off to a rocky start, with defensive lapses allowing West Ham to go 2-0 up after 23 minutes in front of 46,266 fans at Perth’s Optus Stadium.
Tottenham levelled the scores at 2-2 in the second half, only for West Ham to secure pre-season bragging rights with a 78th-minute winner from Gianluca Scamacca.
Although the final scoreline wouldn’t have pleased Postecoglou, the stats should bring a big smile to his face.
Tottenham unleashed 30 shots to four, including 12 strikes on target.
They enjoyed 72 per cent possession and won the corner count 14-3.
On any other day Tottenham could have easily won 6-3.
Only the goalkeeping heroics of Łukasz Fabiański, who pulled off six fantastic saves in the first half alone, prevented the scoreline getting ugly for West Ham.
Postecoglou was thrilled that his players embraced his ethos of attacking football.
“For me, the sort of outcomes become secondary right now,” Postecoglou said after the match.
Ange Postecoglou. (Photo by Lucy North/PA Images via Getty Images)
“It’s about how we’re playing our football and what sort of tempo and intensity we’re playing, how we’re structured, those kind of things.
“There was some positive things – not all positive – but there was certainly enough there to sort of say that the boys are trying, they’re willing to change the way we play.”
One of Postecoglou’s first promises upon taking the reins of Tottenham was to play an attractive, attacking brand.
It’s a style – fondly dubbed Angeball – that he has employed before to great success.
Tottenham delivered that in spades on Tuesday night, but there are definitely some defensive kinks that need addressing.
Against the run of play, West Ham opened the scoring in the 18th minute when Danny Ings headed home a floating cross from Jarrod Bowen.
The scoreline read 2-0 in the 23rd minute when West Ham caught Tottenham off guard by taking a quick short corner and firing the ball into the box, where an unmarked Divin Mubama headed home from the near post.
Tottenham upped the ante after the break with a completely different XI.
Giovani Lo Celso finally broke through for Tottenham in the 68th minute with a powerful close-range volley.
Scores were level in the 71st minute when Destiny Udogie produced a brilliant glancing header that sailed into the top corner.
But there was more drama to come, with West Ham’s Scamacca scoring the winner in the 78th-minute when he coolly converted from a fast break.
There was a pre-match surprise when star Tottenham striker Son Heung-min, who fronted the media on Monday and trained at the WACA later that day, wasn’t on the team sheet.
Harry Kane, who has been linked with a move to Bayern Munich, was named Tottenham captain for the match, but he was held relatively quiet in his the first half before being subbed off.
“I just thought (Postecoglou’s) team played well enough that they could have easily scored more goals,” West Ham manager David Moyes said.
“We were a bit fortunate we didn’t concede more goals. We defended very well and the goalkeeper played well.”
© AAP
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