Andoni and Ange are on a wild ride
Rollercoaster season for top-flight newcomers
IT was towards the end of October when Ange Postecoglou and Andoni Iraola enjoyed and endured results that looked likely to define the futures of two of the Premier League’s newest faces.
Bournemouth slumped to a 2-1 home defeat by Wolves on the Saturday, a sixth loss in a winless, hapless, opening nine games for Iraola. He was in the relegation zone, second from bottom and beaten by the manager, Gary O’Neil, who he replaced after a brutal summer sacking, despite leading the Cherries to survival.
The air was thick with the smell of a decision backfiring.
Two days later, James Maddison and Son Heung-min dispatched Fulham and sent Tottenham back to the top of the Premier League. They had seven wins in eight and a point at Arsenal. Ange Ball, baby.
‘There will surely come a point when this season of hope and possibility throws Tottenham into a wall of reality,’ read the Mail Sport verdict the following day. ‘But not just yet. For now, they are having a lovely old time of it.’
That point, however, did come and they did not have to wait long for
it. That defeat to Chelsea at the start of November, down to nine men and with key players leaving the field injured on a conveyor belt, launched Spurs towards the bricks from a trebuchet.
They have lost five of their last nine in the Premier League, including a madcap 4-2 defeat at Brighton on Thursday, and now sit outside the top four. How quickly narratives shift in the top flight.
Bournemouth, meanwhile, have found their rhythm under Iraola, winning seven of their last nine. In that run, no team has claimed as many points as the Cherries. They have the same as Liverpool and two more than Aston Villa (before yesterday’s win). They beat Newcastle and thumped Manchester United at Old Trafford. Dominic Solanke has scored eight goals in seven games since November 11, — United only have nine in total.
So as Bournemouth visit Tottenham today, it will be the meeting of two managers fresh to the Premier League, who encountered as different starts as you could imagine and are now experiencing differing middles. Yet two managers, too, who refuse to waver from their principles.
Down to nine men against Chelsea, Postecoglou still pushed his defensive line up. It was against all reason, and perhaps to Spurs’ detriment on the day, but sent a message to his players and the rest of the Premier League.
‘After the match the coach spoke to us,’ said full back Destiny Udogie, who was one of the two to be sent off. ‘He said we were brave, we never gave up. It was hard, but the team showed spirit. It was important to show character. From that defeat, from being left with nine, there was a direction.’
Injuries have ravaged Tottenham’s squad and the January transfer window will be vital, even if Postecoglou has warned ‘nothing magical’ will happen. Regardless, he will not change his tune.
Iraola, likewise, ordered his troops to maintain their frenzied pressing, channelling the influence of his hero Marcelo Bielsa. Their patience is paying off.
‘He has done a great job,’ said Postecoglou. ‘They didn’t have a great start and it would’ve been very easy for the whole club to shy away from what they were trying to build. But they’ve stuck at it and their results recently have been very, very promising. It’s a credit to him and the football club, they’ve stuck to what their plan has been.’