Tottenham Hotspur Head Coach Ange Postecoglou admitted that he won't be leaving his often-criticised brand of football, sometimes nicknamed 'Ange Ball', in the past, when he spoke to the media on Friday morning.
In the previous three games, we have seen The Lilywhites tinker with their style of play rather noticeably. They deployed a more defensive approach during their Premier League victory over Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium and domestic cup defeats away to both Liverpool and Aston Villa.
Whilst it worked in West London, with Spurs winning 2-0 courtesy of a Vitaly Janelt own goal and Pape Sarr clincher, the Premier League leaders and Aston Villa both proved too much for Tottenham as their domestic cup campaigns both curtailed in the space of four days.
When questioned on the drop in intensity from the usual high-pressing, possession football with the extremely high line that we so often see, to a more reserved approach, Postecoglou had this to say.
"We never stop going towards what we believe in, it's just that we weren't able to do it. As I said after the game, you're talking about players who are fatigued, tired, mentally, physically, facing enormous challenges with 60-hour intervals. There hasn't been a change of approach.
"What the week does give us, it does give us a chance to re-energise and hopefully allow us to better execute the kind of football we want to play."
As Postecoglou said, they've had a rare week off from midweek football duties and with the available players being given two days off on Monday and Tuesday, they've had a chance to refresh and regenerate ahead of a huge clash against Ruben Amorim's Manchester United side on Sunday.
Ahead of the match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, fans can expect Spurs to play more like their flying selves.
"That's always been the aim, it's never wavered from that. That's the kind of football we want to play. It's the kind of team we want to be, and the next two to three weeks allows us to get some players back, which will help with our training, help with our preparation, help with our ability to rotate, but also not having midweek games gives us a good chance to recover between games to reach those levels."
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Grumpy Ange
Alongside the team's slump in recent months, it was noted that Ange Postecoglou had become increasingly grumpier in his press conferences, which he has been doing multiple times per week and sometimes as many as four in 48 hours as the games come thick and fast.
The Australian interrupted a reporter asking if this had been the best week of the season because they had a chance to...
"Because we haven’t had a game? And we haven’t lost? Yeah, it’s been a decent week it is fair to say!"
Before the former Celtic boss questioned whether he'd "been grumpy" when another journalist asked whether or not he felt like a 'new him' after a whole week of rest from travelling across the country or Europe for a midweek game.
The back and forth continued with the journalist then saying to Postecoglou that he had been "a little bit" grumpy.
Postecoglou: "It’s fair enough too. I’ve sometimes had to do this [press conferences] three times a week with zero sleep, cut me a little bit of slack. I can’t be bubbly and cheery all the time.
"No, it’s fair to say I appreciate the fact that there wasn’t a game this midweek for sure. I had dinner with my family last night and my boy said it seems like you haven’t had a game for a while dad and it has been four days. That’s the cycle we’ve all been in. Not just me, the other coaches. It certainly, when you are going at it all the time, it does become a bit of a grind but you have to do it. I have to do it, there is no alternative, I can’t not do things I am responsible for.
"You know, having the opportunity, like this, not to front up the same kind of questions allows you to take a breath and hopefully I am back to the same man as I was before."
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Time is of the essence
Finally, after what seems like an eternity, Tottenham are finally beginning to get some of their injured players back in training and ready to feature in match-day squads.
That begins with goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, who was promoted to the leadership group at the start of the season and has been missing since the 4-0 win over Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium - the Italian fractured his ankle in the first half and required surgery having played for an hour with the issue.
He is of huge importance to the group, as his manager confirmed in Friday's press conference, and that would appear to be true, with Vicario often spotted barking instructions at teammates from a seat on the sidelines at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, whilst he spent time in the physio room.
"Yes, it is massive. Both of them [Maddison too], particularly Vic, it is not just that Vic is an outstanding goalkeeper but in training, he is such a presence among the boys.
"He gets everyone going and it has been tough without him because we’ve used three other goalkeepers. They’ve all contributed but none of them have let us down. It’s just that Vic is experienced and has a strong personality. Madders is the same. He has enormous self-belief and that filters through the team. The energy and experience they bring to training will certainly make a difference for us."
Postecoglou confirmed the former Empoli shot-stopper has "trained well" and will be available for selection. He also said that James Maddison is in line to return to the 20-man squad on Sunday.
"Madders is good to go. Then we have had Destiny [Udogie], Wilson [Odobert] and Brennan [Johnson] also training with the group. They are in a good space as well so it’s been a good training week."
From the outside looking in, it seems as though time is running out for the Australian to keep hold of his job, and with the news that some of their key stars are beginning to return - he'll need to take his time to get them back to full fitness, without jeopardising them like in the past, whether that be the fault of the medical staff or manager - he'll need all hands on deck as they look to climb up the league table as well as seeking UEFA Europa League progression.
