Tottenham: Ange Postecoglou offers first look at new tactic ahead of Europa League final

Yahoo

21-05-2025

Tottenham will go into Wednesday's Europa League Final against Manchester United on the back of a 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa after suffering a 21st Premier League defeat of the season on Friday night.
With full focus firmly on Europe, Ange Postecoglou named a weakened XI against Unai Emery's side and second-half goals from Ezri Konsa and Boubacar Kamara boosted Villa's Champions League hopes.
Here are three Spurs talking points from the game...
With Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison and Lucas Bergvall all ruled out of Bilbao through injury, Pape Matar Sarr appears the likeliest pick to deputise in an advanced midfield role against United.
So Postecoglou's decision to withdraw the Senegalese for Yves Bissouma in the 51st minute here was no great surprise, with Sarr seemingly being saved for a prominent role in the Final.
But Sarr did not take up his place on the bench after being substituted and instead walked (a little gingerly) straight down the touchline and into the tunnel, ominously flanked by a member of Spurs' medical staff.
It was an alarming sight for Spurs fans and Postecoglou, given the lengths the manager had taken to avoid injuries ahead of Wednesday.
In fact, Sarr was one of just two players in Postecoglou's XI who would appear to have a realistic chance of starting against United, along with Heung-min Son.
Asked for an update after the game, Postecoglou said: "Pape felt something in his back, we don't think it's anything significant having spoken to him, but we'll see."
Even so, Spurs will now face an anxious wait to discover if Spurs is their latest midfield to suffer an injury at the worst possible time.
The biggest takeaway for Spurs is that Son appeared to come through his first start since April 10 unscathed and produced a couple of trademark runs down the left.
This was not Son at his explosive and clinical best but the South Korean showed enough here to suggest that he deserves to start the Final.
Another big takeaway was in Postecoglou's selections.
Defenders Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie all sat out entirely, which means they will go into the Final having not played in a fortnight since the semi-final decider against Bodo/Glimt.
The decision not to pick them was risk-averse, but sending them into such a big game cold is arguably a gamble in itself.
There may also have been some clues in Postecoglou's set up, which was effectively a compact 4-4-2, with Mathys Tel and Wilson Odobert in a front two and Son and Mikey Moore as wingers.
That suggests Postecoglou could be preparing to mitigate for the absence of his three most creative midfielders with a tweak to his system against United, when Richarlison could play up top with Dominic Solanke, with Son and Brennan Johnson either side of Bissouma and Rodrigo Bentancur.
Back-up goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky's last appearance at Villa Park in February saw the end of the young Czech's promising run in the team.
In a 2-1 defeat for Spurs in the FA Cup, Kinsky made a mistake inside a minute to concede to Jacob Ramsey and looked jittery, suggesting his initial form after arriving from Slavia Prague in January had been overblown.
But the 21-year-old was impressive on his return to this ground, in spite of conceding twice, making outstanding saves either side of half-time to deny Ollie Watkins.
Even more impressive was his command of his area and distribution, and he set Odobert clear in the second half with a throw, only for the forward to take a heavy touch.
Plainly, Kinsky is not going to start ahead of Guglielmo Vicario on Wednesday but if he continues to play like this when he is called upon, he could put pressure on the Italian next season.