Postecoglou’s Spurs impress in attack but pay price for poor defending against West Ham

There has been an early ‘bump in the road’ for new Tottenham manager and ex-Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou.

Ange Postecoglou eyes proceedings during his Tottenham side’s 3-2 loss to West Ham. Picture: TREVOR COLLENS / AFP

Ange Postecoglou has taken responsibility for Tottenham’s sloppy defensive display in his first match in charge of the English Premier League club.

Postecoglou’s Tottenham tenure started with a 3-2 loss to London rivals West Ham in an entertaining pre-season friendly in Perth on Tuesday night.

However, despite the defeat, Spurs were dominant for large periods of the contest in a good attacking sign for the former Socceroos coach, who made the move to Tottenham after two hugely successful seasons with Scottish giants Celtic.

Tottenham’s starting team included star striker and England captain Harry Kane, who has been linked with a move to German giants Bayern Munich.

The Spurs’ side also included new signing and former Leicester City star James Maddison, as well as Italian goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, another recent addition to Tottenham’s squad after an off-season move from Empoli.

However, South Korean star Son Heung-Min wasn’t included in Tottenham’s match-day squad.

As expected, Spurs played the better football under the guidance of Postecoglou, but paid the price for poor defending to gift West Ham a 2-0 lead less than 25 minutes into the contest at Optus Stadium.

Ange Postecoglou applauds his Tottenham side during Spurs’ 3-2 loss to West Ham. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

Both goals came from crosses, with Tottenham’s back four twice caught sleeping.

An unmarked Danny Ings put the Hammers ahead in the 18th minute, heading home a Jarrod Bowen cross.

It was a similar story five minutes later when Ings’ forward partner Divin Mubama found far too much space in Spurs’ penalty area in doubling West Ham’s lead with another header.

“I’m asking them to do things they haven’t done before,” Postecoglou told Network 10.

“They’re all fantastic footballers and it’s about allowing them to be able to make mistakes along the way.

“I’ll take responsibility for that. We weren’t as organised as we should have been, there were a couple of things that weren’t structurally right – that’s on me.

“Beyond that, for me the most important thing was their willingness to try to play and implement the stuff I’m doing.

“There are going to be bumps along the road.”

Despite the Hammers enjoying the scoreboard ascendancy, Postecoglou’s men played a better brand of football in the first half, and if not for the intervention of West Ham’s Polish goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski on a handful of occasions, Spurs would have found the back of the net.

Keen to see a host of players in action, Postecoglou made 11 substitutions at the start of the second half, with no players from his starting side staying on the field beyond the first-half.

In contrast, West Ham’s entire starting team also took to the field for the start of the second half.

Spurs were finally rewarded for their superiority when they cut the Hammers’ lead in half in the 68th minute through a goal from Argentina playmaker Giovani Lo Celso.

Three minutes later, Postecoglou’s men drew level via Italian left-back Destiny Udogie, who headed home a corner from Ivan Perisic

However, against the run of play, West Ham regained the lead in the 76th minute when Spanish midfielder Pablo Fornals split the Spurs defence with a sublime pass that found substitute Gianluca Scamacca, who slid the ball past replacement Tottenham goalkeeper Brandon Austin to score the game’s winning goal.

Originally published as Postecoglou’s Spurs impress in attack but pay price for poor defending against West Ham