Chris Sutton went swinging on behalf of Ange Postecoglou after his radio pal Robbie Savage ‘missed the point’ over his trophy record.
The former Celtic boss is under the cosh at Tottenham after a 3-2 defeat at Brighton, having been 2-0 up at half-time, compounded their miserable start to the season. He promised he always wins things in his second season but that is looking like a vow he’ll struggle to deliver on unless things pick up dramatically after the international break.
He’s a manager who has made a lot about winning things his way and that was the talking point on BBC Radio 5 Live. Graeme Souness had branded him ‘naive and lucky’ rather than brave, and Savage echoed that sentiment live on air with Sutton. He said: “It doesn’t matter how you win…it’s all about results, Chris. There’s all different ways to win football matches, and how you win it, that’s the most important thing. It’s about results. So when you talk about Spurs, entertaining, you know, Ange Postecoglou will be judged on winning football matches, not entertainment value.”
That prompted a response from Sutton who was quick to point to his trophy record, having won titles with Scotland, Japan and Australia during two and a half decades in management. He fired back: “He has 25 years plus in management. Hang on a minute, he’s won things, so I don’t know why you’re bringing him up. So he’s had a hugely successful coaching and management career, where he’s always won. Why are you bringing his name up?”
Savage then responded: “But at Celtic, they should win,” before an irked Sutton said: “We’re not talking about just at Celtic, we’re talking about 25 years in management. You’re missing the point there because that’s what certain club’s fan bases want.”
Souness had been critical of Postecoglou on William Hill’s Three Up Front podcast, but writing in the Daily Mail, he clarified that he doesn’t blame the manager for the collapse at Brighton. He said: “When you’re 2-0 up at half-time, as Tottenham were at Brighton last weekend, the only dressing-room chat is, ‘More of the same. Imagine it’s 0-0. We can’t allow them to score the first goal. We put this to bed by scoring again.’ That’s bog-standard manager speak. But the Tottenham players went out and looked like a different team in the second half.
“It’s disturbing, because Ange Postecoglou is now not sure about some of those players. How could the ones he thought had a bit about them throw away a 2-0 lead like that? I would suggest that even the best football teams have to adapt their gameplan when it’s not working . You’ve got to be able to change the way you play. To think that you can out-football and out-score everyone when you don’t have the best players, which Tottenham don’t, is a tad naive of them.
“I’m not putting any blame on the Tottenham performance at the manager’s door. The 3-2 defeat was totally down to the guys who were out there on the pitch. But Spurs have some thinking to do.”