Pundit suggests Ange Postecoglou needs to work on a ‘Plan B’ for Spurs this summer

Jamie O’Hara has praised the job that Ange Postecoglou has done since arriving at Tottenham Hotspur but insisted that the Australian needs to be a little more pragmatic in certain matches rather than always asking his side to play the same way.

While there is no doubt that Spurs have overperformed this season compared to the expectations at the start of the campaign, some murmurs of discontent are now starting to emerge from the fan base about Postecoglou’s methods.

Tottenham have struggled to break down some opposition defences in recent months and have looked extremely susceptible at the back, with the big away defeats to Fulham and Newcastle having raised some alarms.

O’Hara says Postecoglou needs a Plan B at Spurs

O’Hara believes that on the whole, Postecoglou has done a commendable job and even named the 58-year-old as a candidate for the Manager of the Season award.

However, the pundit opined that given the players the Spurs boss currently has at his disposal, it is not wise to always look to take the game to the opposition.

Speaking with Open Goal on Grosvenor Sport’s Counter Attack, O’Hara said: “I would have Ange Postecoglou up there as one of the managers of the season in the Premier League. I love him, I think he is brilliant and I think Tottenham can go to the next level with him in charge. Having said that, I think you do need to have a bit of a ‘Plan B’ at times in the Premier League.

“There are points in the Premier League games where the manager should decide that the original game plan is not working out, and something should change.

“The Newcastle game is a good example, when travelling up to St James’ Park to play a Newcastle side who had their team back, you know they are always going to be up for it. The Tottenham team needed to show more fight and be a lot more solid defensively.

“Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte have proven in past seasons, that you can win football matches by being tight and defensive. You can’t play like Manchester City every week and think that you’re just going to roll teams over. Especially for Tottenham, as the current squad isn’t good enough to do that.

“When Postecoglou was at Celtic, they were the best team in the League so he could allow his side to play this style of attacking football. I think that there is a happy medium between the two styles, and it would be a positive to play the attacking free-for-all football, but then be able to sit in at times to not be as open.”

Spurs Web Opinion

The fact that O’Hara points to Mourinho and Conte as examples of managers who are pragmatic away from home is ironic as both those managers failed spectacularly at Tottenham. 

All the best managers in the world at present, including the likes of Guardiola and Klopp, have just one way of playing and are focused on perfecting plan A rather than coming up with plan B. Postecoglou is cut from the same cloth as those two.

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