The two coaches were hired for their commitment to their philosophies but a lack of flexibility is proving their undoing as both teams toil
Just after winning the Europa League in 2017 with Manchester United, Jose Mourinho launched a staunch defence of the pragmatism which has defined his career. "There are lots of poets in football but poets don't win many titles," he said as he outlined the way his side had over-powered a youthful and exciting Ajax. "If you want to press the ball all the time you don't play short, if you are dominant in the air, you build long. We knew where they were better than them, we knew where we were better than them. We tried to kill their good qualities, we tried to exploit their weaknesses."
At the time neither Ange Postecoglou nor Ruben Amorim were well known figures in European coaching but the Tottenham and Manchester United managers now look like the poster boys for the tactical philosophies which Mourinho was deriding. The two men who Mourinho might well have called poets meet on Sunday in what used to be a classic top-six fixture, including when Mourinho was in charge of either side. But the next game will be played much closer to the Premier League's bottom six, with United in 13th and Tottenham in 14th. And one, if not both sides, could be in the bottom six by the time the game kicks off, depending on how Everton and West Ham fare in their fixtures.
Amorim's United are on course for their worst league finish since 1990 while Tottenham have lost half their league games for the first time at this stage of a campaign since they were last relegated in 1977, prompting fears they could meet the same fate. However, neither coach seems to be dangerously close to the sack despite their teams' pitiful results and league position. Mourinho might well despair at that very fact, given he was fired by Tottenham in 2021 when they were seventh and was let go by United in 2018 when they were in sixth.
All the same, both coaches are paying a high price for not looking at alternative remedies for their respective teams' troubles…
Getty Images SportEnd of the honeymoon
Mourinho was not entirely right when he said poets don't win titles. Postecoglou won multiple league crowns in Australia and lifted the J-League with Yokohama F Marinos before cleaning up in Scottish football, winning five out of a potential six competitions in a brilliant two-year stint with Celtic, collecting 93 points in his first title win and 99 in his second. Amorim was also well-versed in trophy lifting in Portugal. He led Sporting to a first league crown in 19 years in 2021 and reclaimed the throne in 2024, as well as winning the Taca da Liga twice with Sporting and once with Braga.
But both managers have struggled to translate the methods that worked so well outside Europe's top five leagues to the Premier League. Postecoglou did enjoy an initial honeymoon period with Tottenham, winning eight of his first 10 Premier League games despite losing Harry Kane to Bayern Munich. He broke Guus Hiddink's record for the most points earned by a manager in their first nine Premier League games and also won the Manager of the Month award for August, September and October, the first manager to ever do so.
Postecoglou even managed to earn respect and praise after losing his first game against Chelsea 4-1, continuing to play with a high defensive line when his side had had two men sent off, declaring "It's just who we are mate" afterwards. But that defeat began a run of four losses in five games in which the team picked up just one point. Tottenham's hopes of pipping Aston Villa to fourth spot and Champions League football ended with four consecutive defeats towards the end of the campaign and they finished his first campaign in fifth.
AdvertisementGettyInjuries take their toll
Tottenham made another good start to this season, thrashing United 3-0 at Old Trafford in what Postecoglou described as an "outstanding" display. It was 'Ange-ball' at its very best, overwhelming the opponents with relentless pressing and creating chances by the hatful. Spurs enjoyed more big wins against West Ham, Aston Villa and Manchester City, although the high of each result was punctured by losses to the likes of Brighton, Crystal Palace and Ipswich.
Tottenham's season truly began to unravel soon after their stunning 4-0 win at the Etihad Stadium as they earned just five points from 11 games between December and January while losing eight times. There was a simple explanation for the downfall, a crippling injury crisis. Tottenham have indeed been ravaged like no other team this season.
They have suffered 213 absentees this season, more than any of the seven English clubs competing in Europe, with 44 more absentees than Arsenal, who are second on the list of clubs hit by injuries. Some of Spurs' best players have been hit the hardest. They have been without first-choice goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario since late November, missing their two best centre-backs Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven since the start of December (and for a month each before then).
Their top three scorers, James Maddison, Brennan Johnson and Dominic Solanke, are all currently sidelined. Of the 11 players that started at Old Trafford and outclassed United, only four have been available for selection lately, although Maddison and Johnson are set to return on Sunday while Vicario is back in training.
Getty Images SportConsequence of the way we play
Postecoglou has repeatedly pointed to the injury crisis, prompting a derisory comment from Leyton Orient's coach. But there are two sides to the story. The coach's high-intensity pressing style puts huge demands on players and his previous teams have also had a high number of injury problems.
In his first season at Celtic, when his team had six players out with hamstring problems, Postecoglou said: "It's obviously something we want to get on top of but it’s not new to me either. We play differently and train differently and it takes players time to adjust to that, and along the way we obviously pay a price. But the one thing I’ve never done, and I won’t do in my whole career, is compromise the football team we want to be because we are not quite ready to be there. I’d rather keep going at the pace we are going and it means we are going to have some casualties along the way."
The Australian touched on a similar theme last season with Spurs when he said: "It’s part of the game we have; for the guys, it’s a big physical output but we haven’t been able to, because of the circumstances, rotate the squad too much. It’s just a consequence of the way we play and the way we train. At the same time, when we get a more robust and deeper squad, we'll be able to overcome it."
Postecoglou was practically admitting on those occasions that injuries were an inevitable result of the team's style of play. One year on, he has not been able to get a deeper or more robust squad and yet he is persisting with the same high-risk strategy.
Getty'No other way'
Spurs' front-foot approach might work when the best players are available, but inexperienced players such as teenagers Mikey Moore and Archie Gray, who have been thrust into the team due to the many injuries, have struggled. The same can be said of the coach's use of his goalkeepers. Vicario is adept at playing out from the back but when he got injured and Fraser Forster was forced to deputise, the strategy proved to be a disaster, with the 36-year-old gifting United two goals in the Carabao Cup tie.
Postecoglou has remained wedded to his style of play, proudly declaring after the 6-3 thumping by Liverpool: "I do not know what a Plan B or C is. If people want me to change my approach, it’s not going to change."
Postecoglou's words must have struck a chord with Amorim. The Portuguese had said in his first press conference as United boss that "there is no other way" and has doubled down on his arguments even amid the team's worst run of results at home in more than 130 years. "I cannot change my idea in one day because we will lose much more now,” the Portuguese said after the feeble defeat by Newcastle in December. "I was here because of my idea and I will continue to do my idea until the end. I have to sell my idea. I don’t have another one."