Well, he didn’t quite put it like that but the Australian boss was stern with his words. However, as Paul Merson said, he probably has more chance of winning Strictly Come Dancing than that eventuality happening. Harsh? Yes. Funny? Yes.
It’s true that Postecoglou has turned Spurs into a more exciting team, there is no denying that. But, their summer of spending went by without strengthening the starting XI too much and they look like they’re now paying for that.
The north Londoners have won just one match in the Premier League this season, losing to Newcastle and Arsenal, drawing with newly-promoted Leicester and only defeating early relegation-threatened Everton.
That said, despite a topsy-turvy start to the new term, there was optimism on Sunday afternoon. Arsenal were missing Declan Rice through suspension, Mikel Merino through injury and skipper Martin Odegaard was also absent having injured his ankle on international duty. What an opportunity this was for Spurs, but they could not take it.
It was Gabriel, mighty Gabriel who thundered a header home unmarked from a Bukayo Saka corner. A corner. Of course, it was. The Gunners are the set-piece kings of English football.
So, for Spurs, it will be back to the drawing board for a team that needs to quickly work out where it’s at. That should start by addressing a couple of enigmatic players in the team.
Where it went wrong for Spurs
Last week the Lilywhites were undone in strange circumstances and it was largely due to Cristian Romero’s defending. For both goals he was caught out of position, charging up the field to press and leaving space for Newcastle’s offence to capitalise.
Well, he didn’t quite come charging out on this occasion but it was the Argentine who left Arsenal’s centre-back unmarked from the corner.
Straying away from Gabriel, the Brazilian titan was left with acres of space in which to steady himself, jump and then hammer the ball past Guglielmo Vicario in the hosts’ net.
Romero will, of course, keep his place for the next league outing but the same may well not be said for some of Postecoglou’s attacking crop.
One of their worst performers on the day was Brennan Johnson, a spritely, exciting and rapid young winger who is rather flattering to deceive in Spurs colours.
He toiled with Jurrien Timber down Tottenham’s right-hand side but failed to really provide the spark that Postecoglou was craving, eventually hauling him off on the 68-minute mark.
Johnson left the field having produced just one key pass, taken four shots and succeeded with 50% of his dribbles.
To make matters worse, he had fewer touches (26) than the aforementioned Vicario (31) and lost four of his six duels.
| Johnson vs Arsenal | |
|---|---|
| Minutes played | 68 |
| Touches | 25 |
| Accurate passes | 13/14 (93%) |
| Shots | 4 |
| Dribble attempts | 1/2 |
| Key passes | 1 |
| Duels won | 2/6 |
| Possession lost | 3x |
| Expected goals (xG) | 0.21 |
| Stats via Sofascore. | |
Handed a 5/10 match rating by the Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick, the journalist was apt with his description of the Welshman’s display, suggesting he “was well-handled by Jurrien Timber.”
As it happens, Arsenal’s Dutch defender was only dribbled past once during the whole game and completed three tackles, the joint-most of any player in black, just to sum up how little change Johnson got from the former Ajax player.
Johnson has been a regular player in Postecoglou’s attack this term but with no goal involvements to show for his efforts in 2024/25 to date, it surely won’t be too long before he finds himself on the bench.
Timo Werner and Wilson Odobert were both waiting in the wings yesterday and would be well-placed to replace the former Nottingham Forest man against Coventry in the EFL Cup on Wednesday.
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