1 week Ago By Nick Akerman
Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham Hotspur are entertaining. They're entertaining in the same way a tightrope walker is entertaining at the circus; amazing when in full flow, but constantly teetering on disaster that might just be a little more interesting. The nature of the Spurs manager's big wins—such as walloping Manchester City 4-0 in their own backyard—is slowing down calls for him to get the sack.
Yet, the team are 11th in the Premier League after 15 matches, with more losses than wins on the board. Hypothetically, who could replace the Australian? Would it even be worth it? Let's take a look. It might sound brutal, but there's not a great deal of exciting managers available right now.
Those who would have been in the frame for the Tottenham job a few months ago, such as Ruben Amorim, Roberto De Zerbi and Thomas Tuchel, are now occupied. Graham Potter might just be the next man Spurs don't want to miss out on. And that's an incredibly tough thing to say after his ill-fated spell at Chelsea.
The 49-year-old is a good manager and he's proven in the Premier League. He utilised forward-thinking, attacking football at Brighton and Hove Albion and improved many players to the point that bigger clubs snapped them up. It's easy to forget how much good work he did before the Todd Boehly situation ate him alive.
You have to think Potter is being kept in mind by multiple teams, including West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers, who seem likely to make changes soon. This genuinely could be a match made in hell. And not even the fun, lusty bit of hell; we're talking deep in the ninth circle.
But Erik ten Hag is available (not the greatest sign of achievement), so let's think about it. This is me being positive: For all Ten Hag's faults, he did manage to win two trophies during his slow crumble with Manchester United. This is me being negative: Ten Hag was stubborn, slow to react and rarely changed his tactics when United needed him to.
He had the tunnel vision of Postecoglou without the gutsiness to focus on attack. The Dutchman also never connected to his players like the Spurs boss has with his squad and maligned the likes of Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo during his time at Old Trafford. Ten Hag was spiky with the media and ran out of ideas under pressure.
There's no way Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy would give him the time United did. Next. It's at this point of thinking about potential Postecoglou replacements that I began to wonder if it's really worth it.
Gareth Southgate is a perfectly capable manager. Unlike Potter and Ten Hag, he isn't tainted by a terrible spell with a big club. Spurs could be that team for him.
Southgate's excellent stint with England will land him a huge job before long. But he possesses a trait that could amplify Tottenham's most memeable fault; bottling it. Losses in the Euro 2020 and 2024 finals still hurt.
The Three Lions had the best squad in at least one of those tournaments, yet Southgate played negative football and recently left Cole Palmer benched when his side desperately needed him. However, Southgate's reign should be defined by bringing the best times in a generation for England fans. A man whose tactics made "the Kalvin Philips" role spoken about like he's Claude Makélélé.
Southgate would bring structure, professionalism and play solid football. He's developed a lot since he was dismissed as Middlesbrough manager following their relegation to the Championship in 2009. He could easily represent the direction Levy would want to take the club in after Postecoglou, even if many fans would have a major problem with that.
Just one win in 15 matches since getting Ipswich Town promoted to the Premier League has slowed down discussion that saw Kieran McKenna linked with Manchester United and Chelsea during the summer. For all of Ipswich's struggles, the 38-year-old has them playing good football to the best of their means, which is really all that can be asked of him when the squad is so much weaker than the majority of top-flight clubs. The Portman Road side rarely go down without a fight and there's a sense that McKenna could do a lot more if he had greater options at his disposal.
Out of all the names on this list, he's clearly the most exciting, although we're yet to really witness how high his ceiling is. Levy would need to give him time and money, two things that he doesn't usually provide in abundance. You just wonder if this difficult spell is worth riding out for Spurs.
Postecoglou will definitely need to show some evolution. This isn't Celtic, he can't simply overpower opponents that don't match up to his spending potential. In many ways, the manager is extremely reminiscent of his squad; capable, exciting, brilliant on their day, while always retaining that devastating ability to not learn from mistakes.
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