By Emma Kemp
Directly after the penultimate match of his maiden English Premier League season, Ange Postecoglou was a picture of withering disdain. “Were you pleased that you could at least see the foundations of what you’re trying to build in that performance for next season?” asked a journalist after Tottenham lost 2-0 to Manchester City to confirm a fifth-place finish.
“No,” Postecoglou said. “I think the last 48 hours has revealed to me that the foundations are fairly fragile, mate. That’s just what I think. I just think the last 48 hours have revealed a fair bit to me. That’s all right. It just means I’ve got to go back to the drawing board with some things.”
To recap, the last 48 hours looked a bit like this.
Arsenal fans, from as near as north London and as far as the southern hemisphere, really wanted Tottenham to take points off Manchester City on Wednesday morning AEST, because it would have significantly aided their quest for a first league title in two decades. Quite a few Spurs fans spanning a similar geographical range wanted their own team to lose to City purely because they did not want Arsenal to win the league.
Others wanted to win regardless – a position rendered somewhat more palatable once Aston Villa’s draw with Liverpool confirmed Spurs were still a long shot to finish in the top four. Others still were torn by the moral dilemma of loving their club, but maybe only to the same extent as they hate the other one.
The overarching narrative of the last 48 hours has been one of anticipation for a truly bizarre scenario. One in which 60,000 mostly home supporters at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium do not cheer for their own team, against a visiting team so robotic in their dominance they were expected to win anyway.
Ange Postecoglou during Tottenham’s loss.Credit: Getty
Postecoglou was asked about this during his pre-match press conference. His answers were a characteristic blend of wholesomeness and belligerence. Local bragging rights, he said, were “absolutely meaningless” because “there’s no trophies for bragging rights”.
He said he understood rivalry, partly because he had managed Celtic and been a part of the Old Firm – one of the biggest in existence. “But I have never – and will never – understand if someone wants their own team to lose,” Postecoglou said on Monday.
“That’s not what sport is about. It’s not what I love about the game. What I love more than anything in the game is the competitiveness, challenging yourself to beat someone and coming out successful. Anything outside of that, it’s got nothing to do with sport. It’s got nothing to do with me. If other people want to treat it that way, that they get pleasure from other people’s misery, that’s not how I’ve lived my life.”
He also indicated that if one is to believe the social media sentiment of Spurs supporters “you need counselling”. A little less than a year ago, in his inaugural Tottenham press conference, Postecoglou said: “What does success look like? The fans will tell me that.” Well, the fans finally started singing after Erling Haaland scored his penalty to seal Tottenham’s 2-0 loss. Spurs, to their credit, were well and truly in it until the point they were chasing an equaliser, though the atmosphere didn’t really kick off until Spurs were trailing (a video on Twitter shows Postecoglou appearing to confront a fan in the stands).
Directly after the match came the “fragile foundations” remark. And there may well be more to this. Postecoglou’s assertion the frailties exist “outside [the club], inside, everywhere” hint at something those viewing externally do not know. If, however, the problem with the 48 hours in question are mostly wrapped up in resentment over some Spurs supporters’ perceived desire to lose, then the Premier League has exposed Postecoglou as a football purist operating in an impure world.
That is neither a positive nor negative observation. Just, perhaps, an acknowledgment that part of what has made Postecoglou such a breath of fresh air in English football is also what is creating the current disharmony inside his head. Everywhere Postecoglou goes, he does so with the intention of winning football matches. He runs each club off the same script, and with a principled commitment to his philosophy. It is good and nourishing and has won him trophies.
But the Premier League is not always good and nourishing, and Postecoglou is not always patient with deviations from his own moral standards. He is an expert in exasperation towards unworthy concepts or points of view. And the obvious issue here is that the rivalry between Tottenham and Arsenal is not a virtuous picture of pure football.
This is the same rivalry that spawned Lasagnegate in 2006. When Tottenham were on the brink of qualifying for the Champions League at the expense of Arsenal. And when, on the eve of the season’s final day and needing only to match the Gunners’ result, Spurs sat down for dinner at their London hotel. Some squad members chose to eat lasagne, and were subsequently woken during the night with what was described as food poisoning.
Among the sick were Edgar Davids, Paul Robinson, Aaron Lennon, Michael Carrick and Robbie Keane, and the following day Martin Jol’s side succumbed 2-1 to West Ham, while Arsenal beat Wigan 4-2 to confirm their place. The Marriott was cleared of wrongdoing and no evidence ever found to suggest what had taken place was anything more than a highly unfortunate coincidence.
But that does not mean Arsenal fans were not inspired to create a new “lasagne” chant. “How we all laughed to bits, when Tottenham got the shits,” they sang. And it does not mean Tottenham did not take another four years after that to qualify for Champions League again. Or that Jol was not sacked 18 months later.
The last 48 hours for Postecoglou have “been an interesting exercise”, he said. “You can make your own assessments of what’s happened. I understand. I probably misread the situation as to what I think is important in your endeavour to become a winning team. But that’s OK, that’s why I’m here.”
That’s what Postecoglou said. His fans said: “Are you watching Arsenal?”
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