Tottenham legend Glenn Hoddle identifies the key tactic Ange Postecoglou must drop
A Tottenham boss has advised Ange Postecoglou to abandon one of his key tactics.
The Australian has lost seven of his last 11 matches. Spurs boss, falling to rivals Arsenal in the North London derby.
Gabriel Magalhaes made the difference both in defense and attack, scoring from a corner in a 1-0 victory.
The result means Spurs have just four points from four games this season, and it seems Postecoglou may be feeling the pressure in his second season in charge. Tense post-match interview.
The former Celtic Pundits have regularly told the coach that he needs a “Plan B” as an alternative to his attacking style, but Glenn Hoddle It has been much more specific.
Hoddle, a Spurs legend as both a player and manager, joined talkSPORT to analyse the derby defeat and highlighted one tactic that really needs to change.
Explaining what went wrong against the Gunners, he said: “Inverted full-backs worked last season to a certain extent but I look at Tottenham now and they have some very good players but if (Heung-min) Son isn’t on fire, they don’t have an X-factor player at the moment.
“I feel like inverted full-backs have been discovered. They can outperform most teams in possession, probably just Manchester City (have more possession).
“I think Arsenal knew Spurs could have more possession and they focused on them and made it very difficult for them to beat them.”
Hoddle went into further detail about why the tactic is causing problems, continuing: “What frustrates me is that unless you have a (Kevin) De Bruyne or David Silva At best, people who can open a door are very difficult.
“They are trying to get through the eye of a needle, they have so many men in the centre of the field that it is impossible to get through the centre.
“They need that width, they need to try a different style to open up teams because as soon as teams lean on them (it doesn’t work).
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“If they win 1-0 in games like against Everton (4-0 win) They can counter-attack and I think they look better when they change the ball quickly on the counter-attack, but that’s where I feel the next step needs to go, they don’t have enough quality in the final third despite getting into some wonderful positions, the crosses were abysmal yesterday.”
Rangers legend and talkSPORT presenter Ally McCoist then weighed in, reflecting: James Maddison He could be the man to break down teams that defend deep against Tottenham.
Hoddle agreed, but not if the inverted fullback tactic continues.
“He's got the ability,” the former England manager began. “But if I play as a number 10, I look around and there are so many players there that there's no space with the two full-backs inverted.”
“It's like Piccadilly Circus in midfield at times. These wingers, if they get past their full-backs and get good crosses or shots off, that would be fine, but they're struggling, they need to move off them, once Spurs get out wide there's not enough movement.
“You see it with City, they make these beautiful little blind runs into the box and use them and exploit the space, you don’t see any of that with Tottenham.”
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