Tottenham have bounced back from a dismal 2022-23 campaign to emerge as title contenders, but the Red Devils are going nowhere under their Dutch boss
"In the broad church of football philosophies, I have stayed really strict to one religion. I went into a library of football books and got stuck on one section that was about attacking football," Ange Postecoglou said in a recent interview with the while addressing Tottenham's 4-1 derby loss to Chelsea on November 6.
The Australian was criticised for continuing to play a high defensive line after seeing two players sent off, but he doesn't regret sticking to his principles. "It's the only space I feel comfortable in," the Spurs boss added. "If you asked me to set up a team to get a point by playing defensive football, I could probably do it, but I wouldn't have anywhere near the conviction as if you asked me to try and win 3-0. I actually understand what people are saying about that night. If I was on the outside, I would be saying the same thing. But this is the test for me, isn't it? The amount of times I hear managers saying: 'I would like to play this way but I don't have the players…'"
Postecoglou's comments contrasted wildly to those made by Erik ten Hag about his Manchester United side earlier in the year. The Dutchman earned a standing among Europe's elite coaches after building an exciting young team at Ajax, who enjoyed great success following his fluid, attack-minded blueprint. But United lost eight of their opening 15 games in all competitions this season, including a dismal 3-0 home loss to arch rivals Manchester City, after which Ten Hag said: "I can't play like Ajax because I have different players."
Ten Hag admitted to altering his style in order to fall in line with "the DNA of Manchester United". His intention has been to play more direct against teams that press high out of possession, but it's led to a serious regression, with the Red Devils now set up as more of a counter-attacking side.
Meanwhile, Spurs are able to dominate games building from deep, and inverted full-backs Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro have played a key role in breaking the lines with their progressive passing. Postecoglou then has a host of top-quality forwards to call upon who can cause maximum damage in the final third against any opponent, as United found out to their peril when slumping to a 2-0 defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on the second weekend of the season.
No one will be surprised if there is a repeat of that result at Old Trafford on Sunday, because Ten Hag's muddled team are very much inferior to Spurs right now. Postecoglou is also proving to be a superior coach to Ten Hag, and United fans must be looking at the job he has done in north London with great envy heading into a pivotal fixture.
Getty ImagesContrasting transfer success
Tottenham and United both had busy summers in the transfer market, but Postecoglou spent far more wisely than his Old Trafford counterpart. Spurs signed seven new players in total, and brought loanees Dejan Kulusevski and Porro on board permanently from Juventus and Sporting CP respectively, with a grand total of £213 million ($271m) invested in a new-look squad.
James Maddison has proven to be the best value of the lot at £40m ($51m), with eight goal contributions racked up in his first 11 appearances in a Spurs shirt after arriving from Leicester City, while former Wolfsburg centre-half Micky van de Van has had an equally transformative impact at the back.
Brennan Johnson has also developed quickly since his big-money switch from Nottingham Forest, and Guglielmo Vicario's presence between the sticks has helped supporters quickly get over long-term No.1 Hugo Lloris' push for the exits on the back of a disastrous 2022-23 campaign.
United's summer outlay was around £40m ($51m) less than Tottenham's, but they went for bigger names, starting with Chelsea academy graduate Mason Mount. The 25-year-old has been unable to hit the ground running at Old Trafford amid persistent injury issues, and he's struggled to strike up an understanding with Bruno Fernandes at the top end of the pitch.
Mount has, however, been eclipsed as the most disappointing new addition by Andre Onana, who has proven to be a downgrade on United's previous first-choice goalkeeper, David de Gea. The Cameroon international was colossal during Inter's run to the Champions League final last term, but has looked like a duck out of water in Manchester, and his mistakes have cost the Red Devils time and time again across both domestic and European competition.
And then there's Rasmus Hojlund, the 20-year-old Danish striker United opted for instead of Harry Kane, who has only scored once in 15 Premier League outings to date. Hojlund clearly has a long way to go if he is to become a top-class striker, and he represents the latest in a long line of ill-judged recruitment calls made by Ten Hag across his first three transfer windows at Old Trafford.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesCoping with injuries
United's 2023-24 campaign has been a nightmare of epic proportions, with the FA Cup now their only remaining route to silverware, and they have a huge job on their hands to salvage a top-four finish in the Premier League.
Ten Hag's side are eighth in the table after 20 games, nine points behind Arsenal in the race for the final Champions League spot, and they have the worst attacking record in the top 10, with just 22 goals scored.
It's been an alarming decline for a team that ended up as third-best team in England last season with a Carabao Cup triumph also in the bank. "We had a regular team, not so many changes, especially in our backline," Ten Hag has said when quizzed on the difference between his first and second seasons in charge at United. "We had a long time a regular formation, and that helps you."
Mount, Hojlund, Luke Shaw, Raphael Varane and Casemiro have all endured lengthy spells out, while star central defender Lisandro Martinez has been absent since September due to a fractured foot, which required surgery. But Ten Hag cannot use depleted options as an excuse for United's poor form.
The fixture list is more congested than ever for every team in the Premier League, and injuries have become more frequent since the implementation of new stoppage-time rules, with a large number of matches going past the 100-minute mark.
Tottenham have been affected just as badly, with the likes of Maddison, Van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Ivan Perisic, Manor Solomon and Ryan Sessegnon all sent to the treatment table with serious knocks. Results took a turn for the worst when their injury crisis began, too, as they followed up their drubbing at the hands of Chelsea with three more losses in their next four outings.
The difference between Spurs and United, though, is that Postecoglou's men have still kept up the same level of performance as a collective. They didn't allow their heads to drop during that poor run, and managed to turn the tide again over the festive period by picking up 12 points from a possible 15.
Getty ImagesTen Hag's unsustainable model
"What really damages the likes of Erik ten Hag and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Jose Mourinho, they’ve all spent £300m, £400m but [Roberto] De Zerbi at Brighton, [Ange] Postecoglou at Spurs, and others like them have come in and in three to four months they’ve got them playing like Real Madrid," United legend Gary Neville said on his podcast at the start of December. "That’s the problem they’ve got. It’s been shown that you can come in and have an impact on players, patterns of play, style, in three to four months."
It's fair to say Ten Hag overachieved in his debut season at United, because there was still no clear footballing identity on the pitch. Just like under Mourinho and Solskjaer, the Red Devils relied on individual moments of brilliance, mostly from top scorer Marcus Rashford, while staying reasonably tight defensively to get back in the Champions League and land a trophy.
It wasn't a sustainable model, because now players like Rashford and Fernandes have suffered serious dips in form, and United don't have the tools to cope as a collective. Tottenham were equally disjointed in Antonio Conte's final year at the helm, and few thought Postecoglou was the right man to turn things around.
The Australian was also hampered by the departure of Spurs' all-time record goalscorer Kane to Bayern Munich, but it didn't faze him. Postecoglou had a clear plan from day one, and he's implemented it perfectly, maximising the output of a group of players previously lacking in direction.
He didn't try to replace Kane, either, with Son Heung-min, Maddison, Kulusevski and Richarlison all asked to share the load in attack instead, and thanks to additional support from their flying full-backs, Spurs can now hurt opponents in a variety of different ways.
Tottenham are arguably the most entertaining team to watch in Europe at the moment, while United are at the other end of the spectrum. Ten Hag has had 18 months to build a squad in his own image, but Postecoglou has managed to surpass him in less than half that time, which suggests he is not the right man to take the Red Devils forward.
Getty'Hard work will always overcome skill'
The most important currency a manager can have in the dressing room at a top Premier League club is respect. If the players are fully behind the coach, the team has a much better chance of achieving great things, which is certainly the case at Tottenham this season.
"It's crazy actually the way he [Postecoglou] speaks… The way he talks is fantastic as a human being, as a coach, it's nothing more than that. It's amazing," Spurs talismanic forward Son said in a recent sit-down with. "I'm 31 years old, I learned many things before and I felt as a human I had enough, but then since he arrived I feel like, 'Wow! I'm still a child'. The way he speaks, I feel like my heart is bouncing. I just want to go out and play for him and play for the club. It feels like he's part of my family."
Maddison and Kulusevski have also spoken about Postecoglou in glowing terms, hailing the former Celtic boss for giving them the freedom to express themselves. Every single member of the Spurs squad knows their role and is now willing to give everything from the first minute to the last.
That wasn't the case in Conte's final months at the club, and it's certainly not for Ten Hag and his group of misfits at Old Trafford. There have been numerous dressing-room leaks at United this season, with it suggested that the players are not on board with Ten Hag's tactics, or his demands in training.
That lack of respect has been apparent in matches. When United lose the ball, their midfielders never bust a gut to get back, and Ten Hag's pressing instructions are clearly not being followed in opposition territory.
Former Red Devils goalkeeper Ben Foster has even gone so far to suggest that Postecoglou should be in the running to replace Ten Hag, who appears to be on borrowed time despite being given a vote of confidence by the club's new minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
"If you put Ange in the Man United team with a month left of the season and then give him the whole of the summer to get rid of who he wants to get rid of, he would be able to do it much better," Foster told the in November. "The problem in all of this is Tottenham seem, to me, to have good quality people that want to work hard and want to dig in. And hard work will always overcome skill."
