Tottenham evolution under Ange Postecoglou affected by lack of leaders | OneFootball

With Heung-min Son out, Spurs looked lost at Selhurst Park

Until Sunday's defeat to Crystal Palace, every other poor Tottenham result this season came with a silver lining of sorts.

In the draw with Leicester and defeat to Newcastle, Spurs were the better side but let down by sloppy finishing, while they held their own in the 1-0 loss to Arsenal, which was really a one-moment match.

The second-half collapse at Brighton was alarming but Spurs were brilliant in the opening 45 minutes, which head coach Ange Postecoglou later pointed to as important "perspective".

But there was no comfort to be drawn from the visitors' performance at Selhurst Park, which was passive and sloppy throughout, and comfortably their worst of the season.

Postecoglou's side barely put together a decent 10-minute spell against the previously winless Palace, who deservedly took all three points through Jean Philippe-Mateta's well-worked goal.

Tottenham were miserable against Crystal Palace

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Aside from Dean Henderson's save from Dejan Kulusevski just after the restart, Spurs did not create a meaningful chance in the second half and Palace, inspired by Eberechi Eze, should have won by more.

For the second away day running, Postecoglou blamed his players' application, though he insisted the game was not comparable to Brighton, after which the head coach fiercely criticised his side's "competitiveness" in the second half.

"We didn’t get to grips with just the nature of what was transpiring out there," Postecoglou said at Selhurst Park. "It turned into a bit of a battle. They dealt with it better than we did."

Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, who held up his hands in apology to a half-empty away end after the final whistle, went further, saying his team-mates were short of "fight" and could not match the "desire" of Oliver Glasner's players.

"They fight and I think we lacked that," said Vicario, who bailed out his side with an acrobatic save from Adam Wharton. "We play good football but maybe sometimes we lack the desire to fight. They showed a real desire to fight for something."

Romero and Maddison are both engaging characters but not traditional captain-types, and occasionally prone to petulance

It can be easy to put every defeat down to character flaws, but sometimes opponents are simply tactically better, and certainly Palace did a tremendous job at pressing Tottenham's central spine, effectively cutting off the supply lines to their front three.

There was, though, something in the suggestion that Spurs struggled to get to grips with Palace's canny gamesmanship and physical approach.

Postecoglou suggested complacency was partly responsible for the collapse at the Amex, and it was easy to wonder if Spurs had travelled south of the river expecting a much easier game. They looked unprepared for Palace's ferocious press and were easily thrown off their stride.

"It's just part of the process," Postecoglou said, when asked how he could teach his players to be more "clear-headed" on this type of occasion.

He added: "The more you expose players to these kinds of things, you offer them the feedback and hopefully deal with it better next time."

Trusting the process is important, but the assessments of Postecoglou and Vicario raised the question of whether Spurs lack leadership on the pitch at present.

While they are usually impressive at home, Spurs have now won just five times on their travels in 2024 in all competitions, and these tough away days are when experienced heads can make the difference, setting the tone for younger team-mates and leading by example.

James Maddison has showed great moments of leadership

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Spurs were missing their inspirational captain Heung-min Son through injury at Palace, with Cristian Romero and James Maddison skippering the side (the Argentine wore the armband but the pair are joint vice-captains).

Romero and Maddison are both great players and engaging characters, but not traditional captain-types (and occasionally prone to petulance), while there were few other obvious leaders in white shirts at Palace.

Postecoglou had hoped Yves Bissouma, 28, would emerge as one but the midfielder is still working to win back the trust of the manager and his team-mates after an off-field transgression, while the majority of other Spurs players on the pitch were either under 25 or quieter characters.

Postecoglou addressed Spurs' lack of leaders after the Brighton game, saying every one of his players should step up on the pitch when necessary.

“Leadership can be shown by the youngest player out there, I keep saying it," he said. "Leadership is in that moment taking ownership of something.

“That’s got to be part of our growth as a team. As a group there are still areas of that sort of behaviour where we still need to grow."

Not for the first time, it is important to point out that Spurs are less than a season-and-a-half into a significant rebuild under Postecoglou and, in time, the head coach believes they will be better for experiences like Sunday.

Tottenham's progress might be accelerated, though, by adding a real leader or two to the group.