Spurs ambassador has been surprised by Postecoglou’s team selection of late

Tottenham Hotspur ambassador, Michael Dawson reveals that Ange Postecoglou’s brave team selections so far this season have left him surprised – but in a positive way.

Live and die by the sword

Postecoglou has made it clear from the second he walked through the door at Tottenham that he will not deviate from his preferred ultra-attacking, high-risk approach, and the Australian has certainly stayed true to his word.

Spurs are even more forward-thinking this season than they were last campaign, with James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski operating as number eights with just one defensively-minded player in the middle of the park.

While the results have been inconsistent this season, the metrics suggest that Tottenham have improved in both offensive and defensive phases of play (DataMB).

Dawson surprised by the bravery

Dawson admitted that on a few occasions this season, he has been surprised by how brave Postecoglou has been, pointing out that the Tottenham boss went ultra-aggressive even when coming up against Arsenal.

The former Spurs centre-back suggested that the 59-year-old deserves credit for the belief he has shown, insisting that there were a lot of positive signs to take from the 3-1 win over Brentford.

Dawson told Sky Sports News (24/09/24 at 10:25 am): “It was a good performance against Brentford at the weekend. You look at the week before and they should have got more out of the game, then you go to Coventry and I thought it was a really, really poor performance.

“The performance against Brentford was top draw. You talk about keeping calm. That’s what Spurs did. Going one down after 23 seconds – and you talk about a reaction. But they stuck at it and they got numerous chances.

“Then the best player on the park, for me, was James Maddison. I thought he was magnificent, creating chances and threading balls. He was all over the pitch and he took his goals really well to clinch the three points, which they deserved – the credit that Ange deserves is that he went very attacking again.

“He went attacking against Arsenal where you went ‘this is brave’. Maddison and Kulusevski. Son on one side and Johnson on the other, then Solanke through the middle. He (Maddison) would drop into midfield. Kulusevski would go into the ten. They would rotate. Really, really good performance and plenty of positives from that game.”

Plan B is to execute Plan A better

Some of Postecoglou’s critics will point out that he does not have a ‘Plan B’ and suggest that one has to be more pragmatic on occasions to win at the highest level.

However, the former Celtic boss is a true believer in his methods and has shown a willingness to double down on his ultra-aggressive approach when things are not going his way.

From the evidence of what we say against Brentford, one has to say that the players have fully bought into Postecoglou’s methods.

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