Spurs are milky. They have to find another way of playing, writes GRAEME SOUNESS, Ange Postecoglou insists on a gung-ho style... but the right way to play football is to get results
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I watch the Tottenham team of today and I still see the Tottenham of yesterday — a team who were too easy to play against.
Ange Postecoglou has a way of playing that he is sticking to and it's all well and good being principled. But the pressure will very quickly become even greater if he does not adapt.
What I see now is the Spurs from the last couple of decades, who developed an unflattering reputation. The first thing a team must be in football is difficult to beat, with an ability to make life difficult for opponents. Right now, Spurs are not that.
This is my first club, very close to my heart, and they should be one of the big guys. They've got arguably the best training ground in the country and the best stadium in the world. Yet they've got a team who are milky. They play like a group of schoolboys at times.
I saw them against my old club Galatasaray this month and they could have conceded 10 that night. Again, they were like kids in a playground. They lost 3-2 but it should have been much more and that is because they insisted on going gung-ho.
Ange insists on front-foot football with a high line. That is great when you're full of confidence and scoring goals, but when you're not you have to find another way of playing and learn to manage games. Spurs do not do that, and that is on the players as well as the manager.
Tottenham today are like the Tottenham of yesterday - they are far too easy to play against
They lost against Ipswich last time out and will take on Manchester City this weekend
Pressure will continue to increase if Ange Postecoglou does now adapt to the way he plays
As a player, you have to get a feel for the game and read where it's going. When we played big European matches at Liverpool and were going into the unknown, Joe Fagan would say to me, 'Son, you will have a good look tonight, won't you?' I knew exactly what he meant — stay goalside, support play, protect your central defenders and let's see where the game goes.
This Spurs team look like that is never an attitude they adopt. They believe they can outscore any opponent.
When Ange came in, I liked him. He came across very well and his message was positive. But I'm concerned now.
This is his second season. He's had a good look at the Premier League and at the players he's got. It's his job to get the best out of them, but these players are better than they're showing at the moment.
My concerns about their style of play began last season when they lost at home to Chelsea and had two men sent off. They continued to hold a high line that day, even when down to nine men. It baffled me why Ange insisted on that and it speaks to his refusal to change the in-game approach in the 12 months since.
It's OK to complain about Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte and a brand of football that is not entertaining. Now Spurs have got someone who entertains them but they look too vulnerable, like they will concede goals against anyone, such as Ipswich last time out. That's five defeats from their last nine in the Premier League, the same as promoted teams Ipswich and Leicester.
When you're conceding goals too easily, like Spurs have started to do, the confidence drains out of the team very quickly. That is when the old chestnut comes along of players losing faith in the manager and of him losing the dressing room.
Ange is not there yet, but they can't continue like they are, one step forward and two steps back.
Tottenham feel like they can outscore any opponent, and that is becoming a bit of a worry
Spurs now have a manager who entertains the fans but they look too vulnerable during games
When you are conceding goals too easily, confidence drains out of the team very quickly
I was at a function in London this week with a few former Spurs boys and they are not happy with how things are going.
I use the example of Russell Martin at Southampton, too, as a manager so wedded to a way of playing that it's detrimental to results. It's the same at Spurs.
It's fine to talk about playing football 'the right way', but the right way to play football is to get a result. Sometimes you have to be a completely different team in the second half to what you were in the first.
In my time at Liverpool, we were regarded as the best passing team. But in the first 10 to 15 minutes of every game, we'd go long to make the pitch bigger until the game settled into a rhythm.
Now, from the first whistle to the last, you see teams such as Southampton rolling it out inside their own box. If they don't change, they'll be relegated. If you're so predictable, everyone knows what to do when they play you. If Martin phones up Arne Slot ahead of Sunday's game against Liverpool and says, 'How would you like me to play, Arne?' I guarantee you he would say, 'Well, why don't you roll the ball out from the back? Because we're really good at pressing, we'll nick it off you in and around your 18-yard box and score a goal'. It's madness!
I remember last season, when Manchester City were playing Real Madrid in the Champions League at the Etihad. In the second half, Carlo Ancelotti realised they could not deal with City's press and he told his goalkeeper to start launching it. This is Real Madrid, with the most successful club manager there's ever been, making a change to dig out a result. Yet the managers at Spurs, Southampton and others won't do that.
It does not get any easier for Ange at City on Saturday. Spurs will go there with a plan, but are they ready and able to adapt according to how the game plays out? I don't think so and that is why I can't see them making much progress.
They look like a team who will win some and lose some. Ultimately, that type of side never wins anything.
It's the same with Russell Martin at Southampton - if they don't change, they will go down
Tottenham will go to City with a plan, but they will not make progress if they don't adapt
More to City's struggles than no Rodri
Manchester City have lost four on the spin and a lot has been made of the absence of Rodri — rightly so.
But when you lose your mischief-maker in chief, Kevin De Bruyne, there is going to be a drop-off. He has created and scored so many goals that have changed games in tight situations.
Sadly, at 33, it looks like Father Time has caught up with him. He is a dynamic player but the elasticity in your muscles goes, and you can't impact matches the way you once did. That, for me, along with Rodri's injury, is the biggest reason for City's recent struggles.
Pep Guardiola signed a contract extension this week — and the greatest challenge facing the manager now is to find a replacement for De Bruyne.
A lot has been made of the absence of Rodri in regards to Manchester City's recent results
But Father Time has caught up with Kevin De Bruyne, and a replacement must be sought
Amorim inspires
Whenever I see a manager who's new to a job, I take myself back to being a player and think, 'If I was in that dressing room, how would I respond to this guy? Would he get me at it?'.
I have to say, I have liked what I have seen and heard from Ruben Amorim at Manchester United so far.
I never felt Erik ten Hag would inspire me as a player, but Amorim has something about him. He would get me at it.
Amorim will bring an immediate improvement to United, I'm sure. But the bottom line is, they have too many ordinary players. That is what he has to address. And, as a manager, time is not your friend. He has to be wise and lucky in the transfer market, which his predecessors were not.
Ruben Amorim has impressed so far at Manchester United in his short time with the club
Kane's been on slide since joining Bayern
I was concerned when, driving home last Saturday, I listened to an interview with Harry Kane on the radio in which he was justifying himself, saying that the stats prove he is still one of the best strikers in the world.
He should not need to do that, and it made me wonder — does he realise he is starting to go backwards?
Kane did not do well at all for England against the Republic of Ireland the next day. Yes, he played the glorious pass that changed the game, but I see a player at Bayern Munich who does not look the same as the one we had in the Premier League.
The Bundesliga is nowhere near as demanding as the Premier League.
Harry Kane does not look like the same player as when he was starring in the Premier League
I moved to Sampdoria in 1984 to play in Serie A, where all the best players in the world were. I'd been there a couple of months when I came back to visit Liverpool. I asked Ronnie Moran if I could train with them one day and we did so at Anfield. We played an eight-a-side game across the pitch in front of the Kop. I suddenly realised I'd dropped to the tempo at which the Italians played.
From being a player at Liverpool, getting as many touches as anyone in those small-sided games, I couldn't get on the ball. The game was passing me by.
Has that happened to Harry Kane at Bayern? Or have his legs gone?
Either way, there is no denying that he does not look the same player.
