NORMAN GILLER'S SPURS ODYSSEY BLOG No 505
Submitted by Norman Giller
Hands up: I confess to chickening out and staying off line after Tottenham's exit from the FA Cup at Villa Park yesterday. I had neither the appetite nor the answers for the lynch mob demanding the head of both chief coach Ange Postecoglou and chairman Daniel Levy.
The keyboard warriors think I am doing more harm than good for the club with my stubborn defence of Ange, and the way I keep pointing out the pluses of the Levy and ENIC reign.
Ange is hanging by a thread to his job that most people think they can do far better than the Greek Aussie, and more fans are coming out in the open with their desire to see the back of Levy and ENIC. The noisy minority has now become a determined majority demanding blood.
I have been talking and writing in support of both Ange and Levy for months, but it's getting harder to be positive after Spurs crashed out of their second cup competition in four days. Ange made a passionate defence of his players after the FA Cup exit at Villa Park and suggested there was a hidden agenda by his growing army of critics to get him out.
Well, it's hardly hidden. I would say that 'Levy Out' and 'Ange out' is top of many agendas and certainly not disguised. Perhaps he means the TV and press pundits, who have definitely shifted against the Man from Down Under.
I for one did not have the courage to go online to defend Ange, so if even Postecoglou advocates like me are struggling to come up with a case for him he is in desperate trouble.
Our Spurs Odyssey guru Paul H. Smith gives his assessment of Tottenham's latest defeat HERE, and it makes for grim reading. That first minute howler by young goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky set the tone for a terrible evening in Brum.
I know I am beginning to sound like a broken record when I point out that Ange was without 11 senior players because of injury. He himself was starting to seem paranoid when he talked like a man surrounded by assassins.
It was put to Postecoglou at a tense after-match press conference that even considering the injuries, his side had lost their identity and were no longer playing his attacking 'Ange-ball'.
"That's because they're tired, mate," Ange replied "D'you think they can press like we want to? If we hadn't played Thursday night and I hadn't rotated that team we wouldn't have been pressing aggressively today? Fair chance, unless you don't think they're human beings.
"Unless you're superhuman and you think no, after playing Liverpool on Thursday night they should be flying tonight. It doesn't happen. They're human beings. Why do you think Liverpool and others rotate 11 players? Why? There's a reason and I wish I could do the same.'
The fact that Liverpool went out of the Cup to struggling Plymouth gave fresh impetus to that argument.
I have to admit that the bottom line is that Ange will do well to survive to the Premier League challenge of Manchester United at Tottenham next Sunday.
He can't even count on my support.
What a chicken I've become. Sorry Ange. You're on your own.
Week 25 of our eleventh season of the Spurs Odyssey Quiz League, and the question is:
Which Edmonton-born defender played for Spurs, Millwall and which other London club before moving to Stoke City?
Please email your answer to me at soqleague@gmail.com and make the subject heading Quiz Week 25. Deadline: midnight this Friday. I will do my best to respond to all who take part.
The rules are the same as in the previous ten seasons. I ask a two-pronged question with three points at stake - two for identifying the player and one for the supplementary question. In the closing weeks of the competition I break the logjam of all-knowing Spurs-history experts with a real stinker of a tie-breaking poser that is based on opinion rather than fact.
This year's main prize will be a framed certificate announcing the winner as SOQL champion 2025, plus three signed books to be revealed at a later date.
Last week's question: Who has been capped six times, worn the shirts of Spurs, Brentford, Atletico and Real Madrid and which other Premier League club?
Answer: Sergio Reguilon/Manchester United
See you back here on Monday. COYS!
