Tottenham reap rewards as pragmatic Ange Postecoglou shows he can adapt

Yahoo

08-05-2025

Perhaps it is the nature of Tottenham's difficult season, where catastrophe has seemed to lurk around every corner, but it was all too easy to focus on the concerns after Thursday's 3-1 win over Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League.
No doubt, this was a huge night for Spurs, who will take a two-goal lead to Norway for next week's semi-final decider and should be confident of reaching a second European showpiece in six years, where Manchester United surely lie in wait after their 3-0 win at Athletic Club in the other last-four first leg.
Ange Postecoglou is closer to fulfilling his promise of winning a trophy in his second season and perhaps leaving chairman Daniel Levy with an impossible decision over the head coach's future at the end of the campaign.
Postecoglou was full of praise for his "outstanding" players as Spurs demonstrated again that they can put their dismal league form to one side and raise their game when it matters in Europe.
And yet Ulrik Saltnes' late strike took the gloss off the occasion for Spurs and has given Glimt a foothold in the tie ahead of a second leg when they are likely to be an entirely different proposition.
The Norwegian champions will welcome back three players from suspension next week, including influential captain Patrick Berg, and will hope to have key centre-back Odin Bjortuft available again after injury.
Most significantly, they will have an enormous advantage on their artificial pitch in the Arctic Circle, where the pace and bounce of the ball will be alien for Postecoglou's side.
"Look, it is on artificial grass but it's still a game of football," said the head coach last night, sensing the impending narrative around the decider.
A further worry were second-half injuries to goalscorers James Maddison and Dominic Solanke and the way Spurs struggled once the pair had been forced off the pitch at 3-0, when Postecoglou's side were threatening to effectively put the tie to bed.
Maddison, whose cute finish doubled the lead in the first half, immediately signalled to the bench after feeling his knee and Solanke departed 10 minutes later with a quad complaint.
"Both of them didn't feel it was anything too significant, but I thought it was wise just to take them off at that point," said Postecoglou, although, given the story of Spurs' season, the Australian will be facing an anxious wait to see how they recover.
With Mathys Tel deputising up front for Solanke, Spurs struggled to hold up the ball and his absence felt like a big factor in Glimt's late rally, capped by Saltnes' deflected strike.
The centre-forward would be a huge miss next week when Spurs are likely to need his qualities as a pressure valve, while Postecoglou can scarcely afford to lose Maddison, either - especially after Lucas Bergvall suffered an ankle injury in training.
Maddison's well-taken goal from Pedro Porro's pass was among the best examples of Spurs' willingness to go direct, as Postecoglou changed his approach in Europe again.
Spurs went long more often than usual and were happy to slow the game down, with Guglielmo Vicario even ticked off by the referee towards the end of the first half for dithering over a free-kick.
There was also more restraint in Spurs' usually ferocious press, while Postecoglou's 4-3-3 was more of a 4-2-3-1, anchored by two holding midfielders in Yves Bissouma and Rodrigo Bentancur.
"Tournament football is a bit different," said Solanke. "We know if you make too many mistakes you get punished and it's hard to get back into the game.
"Obviously we're a super pressing team but we know if we're not set up right, we need to make sure we don't make too many mistakes in pressing. Obviously we want to press, but it's knowing when it's the right time."
This win suggests Postecoglou is prepared to compromise at this stage of the competition, with Spurs' season and surely his job on the line
This was not, in short, a victory based on the front-foot, never-stop approach most associated with Postecoglou's teams and suggests the head coach is prepared to compromise at this stage of the competition, with Spurs' season and surely his job on the line.
This willingness to be more pragmatic was the key to Spurs' gritty win over Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany in the quarter-final decider, when they finished with five defenders on the pitch, and feels likely to be crucial in Norway, too.
Perhaps that is why Postecoglou, who has grown frustrated at the tendency to focus on the negatives, brushed aside any concerns ahead of the second leg, and looked ahead with belief that his side can progress to Bilbao on May 21.
"I get that Bodo away is a difficult fixture, but so was Frankfurt away and we went there knowing we had to win to get through and I thought the lads handled it really well," he said.
"In Europe this year we've been really good at managing whatever situation we're in... those experiences give me the belief we can go there and get the job done."