Premier League reaction as Wissa injured & Man City's hearing begins (original) (raw)

Project manager or underperformer? Postecoglou increasingly questionedpublished at 14:28 British Summer Time 16 September

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

There is nothing like a derby defeat to your biggest rivals to send the mood around a manager spinning in the wrong direction.

Before the international break, the narrative was Tottenham played well at the start of the season but were unlucky to earn just four points from the first three games, beating Everton, drawing with Leicester and losing away at Newcastle.

Although poor finishing from Spurs was again the decisive factor in the 1-0 defeat at home to an injury-hit Arsenal on Sunday, manager Ange Postecoglou now appears under pressure from sections of the fan base.

A viral post on social media has highlighted how the Australian has won just 44 points from his last 32 matches as manager after a poor end to last season.

And vice-captain Cristian Romero has shared a tweet from an Argentinian journalist saying that he played with a fever and that Spurs didn't optimise his travel back from international duty.

Amid this backdrop, Postecoglou's previously affable press conferences turned prickly again when addressing Gabriel’s late-winner from a corner. "I know for some reason people think I don't care about set-pieces, and it's a narrative that you can keep going on for ages and ages. I understand that.

"Like I said, we work on them all the time, like we do with every other team. You know that they're a threat. As I said, for the most part we handled them really well today, but we switched off in one and we paid a price.”

He also added when speaking to SkySports: "I always win things in my second year, nothing has changed. I don't say things if I don't believe them."

Ironically, Arsenal highlight the benefits of sticking with a project manager, especially in a subpar second season but there could be a lot of debate around Postecoglou's competence in the coming months.