Postecoglou branded “incredibly naive”; thinks he’s “Kevin Keegan at Newcastle MKII” | OneFootball

Although Stan Collymore loves the way that Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham Hotspur side play the game, he has suggested that the Australian is “incredibly naive” to try and get away with it in the Premier League.

The Lilywhites have dipped badly this season, and even if you take injuries into account, they still haven’t been good enough in the big moments.

Spurs players have complained about training methods, and one Tottenham player wants a transfer, all of which won’t help the Australian’s mood.

Ange Postecoglou is ignoring the red flags

At present, the North Londoners find themselves way down in 15th position in the Premier League table and just eight points off the bottom three.

Getting into Europe will surely be a pipe dream as they’re currently 14 points behind Man City in fifth and wading through treacle in a lot of games.

Ange Postecoglou, Manager of Tottenham Hotspur, looks on ahead of the UEFA Europa League 2024/25 League Phase MD7 match against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

“Do I like Ange Postecoglou? Yes, I do. Do I like the way that he plays his football? Yes, I do,” Stan Collymore said to CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.

“As a kid and then as a professional footballer, I wanted to play attacking football. That’s what it was all about. I wanted to become a forward, and that’s why I loved to run with the ball, score goals, left foot, right foot.

“Now, obviously somewhere like Celtic or in Japan, that’s going to be easy for Ange to get success, but you have to acknowledge that in the Premier League nowadays, you can’t be ‘Kevin Keegan at Newcastle MKII.’

“[…] He’s got to get his basics right. Set pieces, defensive set pieces, attacking set pieces, second balls and the dirty stuff which you can still hide underneath the veneer of being a total football team […] Everybody wants to come out and play nowadays, and he will not reinvent the wheel at Tottenham or in the Premier League.”

Basics have to be in place for Ange Postecoglou

It’s a damning indictment on Postecoglou’s style of play, even if, from a fan’s perspective Collymore enjoys watching Spurs.

The former player turned pundit is exactly right when he says that the Australian needs to strip things right back, rather than having the ‘you score three, we’ll score four attitude.’

Of course, it isn’t just on the pitch where there are issues, and Collymore can’t ignore what’s staring everyone in the face.

“I think the real elephant in the room, however, is whether Daniel Levy will ever leave Tottenham Hotspur because I think he should,” he added.

“I think that he, as a CEO, has succeeded with infrastructure projects, has a wonderful training ground and a wonderful stadium, but he’s spectacularly failed at the business of running the football departments at the club.”