Slipped, Tripped, Fell in Love with Ange’s Spurs

So where are we with – let’s do each other a favour and not call it Angeball, he’s the manager and we kick a ball but like the ball in cricket’s Bazball, it’s become a suffix stripped of meaning. So into the bin with it, decomposing alongside spursy. So as I was saying, where are we with Spurs playing attacking bloody brilliant football?

Fourteen games plus a league cup tie in, and it feels longer, not because time has dragged. If there’s one thing you can’t level at Spurs this season, it’s the accusation that they are boring. More about so much has happened, so radical has the change from the last four years been, it feels like March or April 2024. We’ve been through a whole cycle already. An unremarkable pre-season, then transformative attacking football, the squad revitalised and rejuvenated by an inspirational leader, who can communicate to his players and to supporters. New signings look like old hands. From the dark to the light.

Then, a pothole in the road punctures progress. The aftershocks of the Chelsea game are still being felt, and there may still be reverberations come May. Part self-inflicted wounds, part fate, a combination that’s tough to overcome. A good Spurs friend of mine is convinced we are cursed, the only possible explanation for the misfortune that befalls us. I chuckle along, but just when we’ve got things together, after so long in the doldrums, playing football the Spurs way, the way fans want us to play, and this happens.

As ever, it’s the fans who are most attuned to circumstances. Joy unconfined at the Lane early on this season, celebrating not just good football, not merely the unsurpassed delight of late winners but also celebrating being us, rejoicing in having something to celebrate. Then, the remarkable, genuinely moving reaction to the CFC defeat, cheering the team to the rafters because of the shift they put in, for us. Versus Villas, by about 3.30, the atmosphere in the South Stand dropped to a low hum. It lifted later, but at that point, optimism had dissipated to a collective, unspoken agreement. We’re not going to score, are we?

Now we’re back on it, enlivened, entertained and inspired by Sunday’s draw. Limbs in that away end, a familiar sight over the last few years, limbs on sofas across the world. Walking on air. Never beaten till the final whistle blows. Knowing our team can do that is precious, even if they can’t always succeed.

It’s worth thinking about what that means for supporters. Going into a game knowing that anything is possible. Not expectation necessarily, hope certainly. Expanding the limits of what is achievable. Moving forward. Joining manager and players on the journey without being sure of the exact destination.

That’s what I want to feel as a fan. In supporting a PL team, I have no arrogant expectations or overbearing entitlement. I want a tilt at the possible, to be contenders, to be part of that and see where it takes us. Spurs have made massive progress under Postecoglou, and that’s the biggest leap forward. He’s given us the most precious gift – a future. We’re short at the back but we can always buy another centre half. You can’t buy what Ange gives us.

This is the new Spurs Way, with due respect shown to the old ways. Pass and move. Push and run. It’s not so radically different. The football world knows this already. Say Spurs and people know what that means and how we play, with a flourish, not waiting. The world is an uncertain, risky place, but here is something to rely on. And there’s a morality to it, with the right values, doing things the right way. It’s what I want to feel as a fan.  

And fans have a big role to play, not just in getting behind the team but also in giving something back to the team – patience. There will be mistakes, like Bissouma’s, and we need at least two more windows to add the players in key roles at the back and as central striker. I’m prepared to wait.

Also, having been heavily critical of the club’s approach to football strategy, I have more confidence that we have recruitment and analysists to properly support the manager. It’s imperative the chairman supports this too.

It’s no real secret why we prosper against City. Their defenders are quick and tough, good on the ball, and because of that and their possession game, they don’t spend long periods actually defending. Reminds me of another team, sounds familiar…

Anyway, there’s always space, and that suits our strengths. Enter Sonny, terrific movement on Sunday across the front line from a central starting point. Against Villa, that hindered us because they fell back to limit that space, rendering him less effective. Granted, it helps if Haaland misses because it was just too easy to score.

Johnson darted and dashed, relatively freed from tight marking. City bet on their defenders one-on-one, my money’s on Brennan. I’m fast becoming his oldest fanboy. Kulu was excellent again, tireless and purposeful. But no need for that extra touch every time.

Our attacking football was utterly, stunningly, dazzling. The opener tore City asunder in a few devastating seconds, a move that began 12 inches from our goal-line. Thing is, this is us now. Not a one-off moment of inspiration but the way Spurs play football. Doesn’t always work, but no matter, we’ll try it again next time, and the time after that.

It’s transformative coaching, remarkable in such a short period of time, and the players are lapping it up. It is a world away compared with the last four seasons where caution and apathy, fear too, appeared to be drummed into the squad, where individuality and thinking for yourself were suppressed rather than nurtured. This is eager, front-foot football.

Porro’s a good example of this. Last season he never looked confident, whereas now, he’s by no means a perfect defender but for the entire game he’s on the go, going forward or going in hard. His body shape epitomises our game – he’s stronger than I first thought, slightly leaning forward, muscular, eyes ahead.

I’m somewhat mystified as to why Angeb… Spurs attacking football has so amazed the media. Perhaps it’s the stark contrast with what had gone before. On balance, Neville and Carragher are worth listening to on Sky. At least they try to analyse the game, in contrast to most pundits who are happy to blather on about hard work and scoring a goal when the ball’s in the box (Dion Dublin, I’m looking you right in the eye). But Neville’s chortling away about fun while Carragher suggests lumping it long, whereas in front of him a Spurs team without half its best players passes its way through and round the puzzles set by City.  

Ange isn’t a football purist for the aesthetics. He plays this way because he believes this is how to win, and so do I. It’s not gung-ho attack. Rather, it’s crafted, patterned football based on endeavour and team work. Players know what it expected of them. Where they are supposed to be and what they should be doing in different situations, leaving plenty of room for individuality and inspiration.

I wince at the high line, and confess I felt against Villa he over-thought it and left us weak in other situations like set pieces. But again, it’s not just the high line. It’s about having pacy, mobile defenders who are strong one-on-one. The high line maximises the effectiveness of those attributes. Even with Davies and Emerson, that gives forwards another problem to deal with and goes some way to mitigate the obvious weakness there until Romero and VDV can return.

Whatever you call it, I’m all in. Bloody love this team, bloody well love them.