Although Tottenham made further progress in the Carabao Cup in midweek, all does not seem well in the white half of North London and with a late turnaround required to dump out Championship outfit Coventry, manager Ange Postecoglou will rightly be breathing a huge sigh of relief.
By Dan Tracey
The affable Australian has taken on a far grumpier demeanour in the past few days and with a scrappy cup win following two successive defeats in the League, the reverses to Newcastle and Arsenal have once again placed the former Celtic manager’s tactics under the spotlight.
No Plan B to fall back on, just a desire to make Plan A even better and as admirable as those principles may be, the failure to install flexibility in his Tottenham side when it matters most, matters to a growing portion of the club’s fanbase – as we reported here, earlier in the week.
A fanbase that is even deliberating whether Postecoglou will still be in his North London post by the time the festive period comes around and those deliberations will only get louder if he fails to get the better of Brentford on Saturday.
The stock of the hosts’ managers might be on the decline, but the stock of his opposing counterpart seems like a surefire investment at present, and if Thomas Frank was to oversee victory in N17 for the second season in a row, he may even position himself in the frame to eventually replace Postecoglou.
Not that will be on the Dane’s mind, his most pressing thought will be the injury that Yoane Wissa suffered at the Etihad last weekend and with the DR Congo forward ruled out for this London derby and the two months that follow, Brentford’s attack will now be even lighter in terms of personnel.
Wissa’s ankle injury coming not long after he stunned Manchester City with a goal in the opening 60 seconds and were it not for more composure in front of goal, Brentford could have easily seen their early advantage doubled at the home of the defending champions.
However, that early goal from Wissa only served to wake the beast which is Erling Haaland and with the Norwegian scoring goals eight and nine of his Premier League campaign, the Bees would eventually be dealt their second defeat of the season.
Even with that second loss, they still find themselves four places better off than Saturday’s hosts and although logic would suggest a home win at the weekend, this Tottenham side have been far from logical since the start of September.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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