Opinion: Why Liverpool are a good indication of future Tottenham success under Postecoglou

Football experiences its own patterns which are universally shared – moments of success, setbacks, and a touch of unpredictability.

It’s been almost 12 months since the infamous Antonio Conte press conference. At that time, it was a self-reflection of what we wanted to hear but not accept for a while, all the poor decisions balled into one – from managers, to players, to the chairman. But hearing it from your own manager of that time was frightening and bloody painful, just as painful as the football.

Since then, the club has almost done everything right. The hierarchy of the footballing side started shaping up, making recruitment core and data ever so inclusive to the decisions being made. The club’s culture took a shift which felt so leggy for the last few years and Ange has quickly turned the on-field experience into something to get excited about.

This reminds me of Liverpool and a similar journey they went through in the last decade – Brendan Rodgers built a team which became strong enough to compete for the league but came short multiple times. They needed a rebuild because the ideas which worked so well exhausted and began drying out.

Can Ange Postecoglou be the next Jurgen Klopp?

Then came Jurgen Klopp with whom heavy work was being done in the background through the likes of Michael Edwards. The first couple of seasons were mixed – turbulence at times but the style was evident. Slowly, over time, the squad started shaping to his style, his philosophy and his needs which then led to them winning the League, Champions League and all other achievable club titles.

We know our journey so far and the downs from it, so it needs no reminding. Everything after Pochettino to now was that turbulence. What Klopp started to achieve significantly was 2 years into their journey. The gaps the team had were filled and the squad was his.

For us, within Ange Postecoglou‘s first season, we are already steps ahead. The first eleven is good. Really, really good. Can it be improved? Of course, but the majority of the signings have been of that quality, which already gives us an advantage with things to build on. The funny thing however is, from a footballing side, we are closer to what Liverpool were in the 2017/18 season, the season before they started to peak. That is two years into Klopp being in charge.

What’s clear is that we want to play football. It’s no longer passive, well at least not on purpose. The players all contribute to driving the ball forward rather than sideways (bar some) and the tempo is homogenous.

This is similar to what Klopp’s Liverpool overall model stands for as well – hard press to get the ball and move it with purpose. They all want the ball and don’t shy away from it.

From 2017/18 onwards, one of the stand-out features was their False 9 play. No traditional forward holding up the backline but one who would drop deep. And yes, that was Brazilian as well. But it’s not just the players that do it, it’s mainly the system (shall I remind you of Ben Davies and Emerson Royal’s partnership in our backline?).

Liverpool early on were well known to create and convert chances within the first half, especially the first 30 minutes of games. They would often squeeze in goals before the ten-minute mark with their pressure and aggression. We have been the opposite to this. We usually start well with a burst of energy but capitalise around the mid-period of the game. With more first-team players coming back now, this trend can start to repeat. We have lacked creativity for the majority of our last couple of games and that’s been evident with the lack of chances (statistics from FBRef).

If our performances continue in a similar manner, our attacking trend averages to a similar, almost identical xG and Post shot xG. We are 4^th highest (to date) with the number of shots in the Premier League this season (statistics taken from FBRef).

Defensively, while we have some really good players, there is still work to be done. We face roughly 14 shots per 90 of which 4.19 are on target (FBRef). That puts us in the lower half for both of those measurements. But bear in mind, three of our four starting defenders have been out suspended or injured for the majority of the season. This is still an area which needs significant improvements and possibly a steadier defensive midfielder can change things in the future (cough Fabinho signed for Liverpool in 2018/19 cough).

So what’s next? Well, for this season, a similar trajectory and we will be in a good place come the end of the season. Following this season, Liverpool made two significant signings for their first XI – Alisson and Fabinho. Everyone else thereon for the next 2-3 seasons were squad players who usually were effective from the bench. The ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ will remain till we have a proper squad of 17 because the best XI will not always be available.

If anything, this should be further evidence of what we already knew, Spurs are in the right direction. This is just backed by the numbers of a team which went through a similar journey. Liverpool managed to finish 2nd, 1st and 3rd in the subsequent seasons. If you believe that squads have a three-year cycle, this is a prologue for what’s to come.

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