Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville names one criticism of Ange Postecoglou amid ‘fun’ Tottenham verdict
Gary Neville expects Tottenham to be a lot of “fun” this season but the Sky Sports pundit has one criticism of fledgling boss Ange Postecoglou.
Spurs made it 10 points from a possible 12 in the Premier League with a 5-2 rout of Burnley at Turf Moor on Saturday (2 September), a match in which captain Son Heung-min scored a hat-trick.
Neville is enjoying watching Spurs but felt Postecoglou made an error in the Carabao Cup penalty shoot-out defeat to Fulham on 29 August – a match in which the Australian opted to make nine changes to his starting line-up.
Speaking on the Gary Neville podcast in quotes reported by Football London, he said: “Well I think we said when we went to Tottenham a couple of weeks ago, it was a Saturday night and they were playing Manchester United, that they were gonna have a lot of fun this season with the way in which Postecoglou plays.
“And I think he really fits the way in which Tottenham see the vision of their club and how they see Tottenham playing sort of over the years. Only one small, I say small negative, I think it’s quite a big negative that almost slipped through in midweek because everyone was sort of concentrating on other things, but when they went out of the Carabao Cup that was like a ‘don’t do that, don’t go out the Carabao Cup’.
“I know they’re playing Fulham, but that’s one of the two trophies you can probably win so don’t go out of that because you know if you want to try and win a trophy and turn the sort of fortunes of the club around and bring silverware, then that’s one of the two you really need to pay attention to. So that’s the negative, but in the league, they’ve been really good.”
Silverware starved
It seems remarkable to say it out loud, but Tottenham have not won a major piece of silverware since 2008.
Remarkable for two reasons. One, how has a club the size of Spurs not won a trophy in 15 years…two how was 2008 15 years ago?
Anyway, lost time aside, Neville does make a fair point here. After the huge disappointment of last season, which saw Tottenham fail to qualify for Europe, there are a lot fewer games for Tottenham to play this season.
Now, fair enough the League Cup is utilised by many managers to give a run out to players who need some minutes in the legs. But did Tottenham, devoid of European football, really need to make as many nine rotations?
It seems a little short-sighted, especially for a manager who has a history of winning in whatever country he has managed in. You would have thought he would have been earmarking the League Cup as an opportunity to end their lengthy wait.
As it is, Spurs lost – albeit on a shoot-out – and now have just two opportunities to end their barren years. As well as they have started the season, even the most ardent of supporters would admit it still feels a stretch to consider Tottenham as title contenders. Maybe that opinion will change if they can maintain this form up until Christmas, but realistically a tilt at the top four seems more realistic.
Which leaves the FA Cup as probably the best chance for a major honour. It is definitely not beyond the realms of possibility that Tottenham contend in the world’s oldest competition, but it feels a little like all the eggs are in one FA Cup basket.
Of course, there are no guarantees Spurs would have won even with a full-strength side out but did they really give themselves the best opportunity?
In other Tottenham news, Spurs’ U21s celebrated an emphatic victory at the weekend.