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Former England manager Glenn Hoddle has labelled Ange Postecoglou’s decision to persist with a high defensive line despite being reduced to nine players during Tottenham’s 4-1 loss to Chelsea as “footballing suicide”.
A principal tactic of Postecoglou’s, the Spurs continued to run a high defensive line in defiance of losing two players to red cards.
Tottenham took an early lead in the match on Tuesday morning through Dejan Kulusevski but relinquished the lead and a player when Cristian Romeo was sent off after making a studs-up challenge on Enzo Fernandez.
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Despite the disadvantage, Postecoglou continued with his usual game plan, positioning seven players on the halfway line with a country mile of space behind them and only striker Heung-Min Son to provide roaming cover.
“If Tottenham keeps playing that high, near the halfway line, then I think its footballing suicide with 10 men,” Hoddle said at half time when Tottenham were only without Romero.
“You can’t get pressure on the ball and they’ll get picked off. They’ve got to play a little bit deeper.
“They’ve done it all season. They had the defenders in there that they’ve had it work, but it seems to me they haven’t changed their tactics. They’ve got to change.”
Things soon went from bad to worse when Destiny Udogie was shown red, leaving Postecoglou with only nine men to work with.
While the Spurs’ defence held up for a while, Chelsea’s two-man advantage combined with its rapid speed on the wings eventually prevailed as Nicholas Jackson scored three times from the 75th minute.
Football writer Mark Carey described Tottenham’s persistence as when “bravery blurs into naivety”.
As much as the move could be condemned as foolish, it could also be interpreted as fearless as Tottenham came agonisingly close to equalising when down 2-1 and with only nine players on the field.
While Postecoglou’s stubbornness has since divided pundits, Tottenham fans did not seem to blame the Australian manager for the tumultuous loss – clapping and cheering him off the ground at full time.
Speaking post-match, the Spurs manager defended his decision and voiced his faith in his team’s resilience.
“It is just who we are mate, it is who we are and who we will be for as long as I am here,” he said.
“If we go down to five men, we will have a go.”
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