Losing To Chelsea, Ange Postecoglou: Tottenham Squad Still Believes In My Idea

Tottenham Hotspur extended their negative record to four consecutive matches without winning in all competitions after being crushed by Chelsea 3-4 in the 15th week of the 2024/2025 Premier League, Sunday, December 8, 2024, WIB night.

The defeat to the Blues at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium made Spurs have now collected two consecutive defeats.

Even so, Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou confirmed that his squad still supports the philosophy of attacking him and believes they can rise from adversity this season.

"I still feel that in this squad there is real confidence in what we do. If we keep it, we will turn our season around."

"Hopefully one day, we will find a smoother path in terms of some things that are currently happening," Postecoglou said at a press conference.

The Postecoglou system had indeed troubled Chelsea at the start of the match. Imagine, Spurs can lead 2-0 when the game has only been running for 11 minutes.

Dominic Solanke opened the scoring (5') before being doubled by Dejan Kulusevski (11').

The problem is, Spurs were unable to stop Chelsea's revival. Jadon Sancho had a chance to reduce the gap in the 17th minute.

Then, in the second half Chelsea went crazy. Enzo Maresca's team immediately bought three goals through a Cole Palmer (61') penalty, Enzo Fernandez (73'), and Palmer's second goal (84') with another penalty.

Son Heung-Min scored an entertainment goal in the sixth minute of injury time, which did not change Spurs' fortune without points at home.

Supporters then welcomed the final whistle of the match with ridicule and many of them left the pitch early after Chelsea took a 4-2 lead.

They have surrendered to the defeat of Tottenham's seventh league this season.

Postecoglou, who took over Tottenham in the summer of 2023 and took them to fifth place in the first season, immediately became the target of criticism.

Indeed, the Australian manager is at odds with supporters. The conflict began when Spurs lost 0-1 against Bournemouth on Friday, December 6, 2024.

The defeat to Chelsea also put the 59-year-old coach under heavier pressure because Spurs are now thrown into 11th position in the standings with 20 points, seven points adrift of the top four or the Champions League zone.

Tottenham suffered a series of setbacks due to injury. Noted, five players entered the treatment room, including Brazilian star Richarlison.

Most recently, Cristian Romero, cap Johnson, and Micky van de Ven also had to be replaced before the match ended against Chelsea.

Romero only played 15 minutes, Johnson only lasted 53 minutes, and Van de Ven was only able to perform for 79 minutes after experiencing hamstring problems.

Not surprisingly, Postecoglou also appointed fitness factors as a reason for Spurs to decline.

"This is a difficult moment to turn things around. Our limited resources from the perspective of the current game don't allow us to do that so we have to find other ways."

"This is not due to a lack of effort. The players are constantly playing because we can't rotate."

"They give everything they can. It also reduces performance because they may need rest, but we can't give them a break."

"I think this is something we need to take seriously and keep going. We still have a lot to play between now and January 2025 to make sure we continue to perform," Postecoglou said after the match.