London: Who knows whether or not Albert Einstein really said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, but there is no doubt that Tottenham Hotspur fans are being driven mad by their team making the same old mistakes.
Debate over head coach Ange Postecoglou’s refusal to hire a specialist set-piece coach will rage on after his Tottenham Hotspur team lost the north London derby from a corner that was headed into the net by Gabriel.
Arsenal’s Gabriel scores against Tottenham.Credit: AP
Postecoglou was ready for the question when it arrived following Sunday’s 1-0 defeat, insisting he does take set pieces seriously. But the evidence would suggest the issue is more significant than he is prepared to publicly admit.
“I know, I know, for some reason people think I don’t care about set pieces and it’s a narrative that you can keep going on for ages and ages. I understand that,” said Postecoglou.
“Like I said, we work on them all the time like we do for every other team. You know that they’re (Arsenal) a threat. For the most part, we handled them really well, but we switched off for one and we paid a price, and you learn from that and you move on.
“But it is what it is, you know, it’s my burden to carry and I’m happy to do that. Like I’ve always said, for me, there’s a bigger picture that’s at play here that’s much more important than the finer details of us getting to where we want to. For us, the way forward is to try to turn the football we’re playing now into something meaningful.”
Ange Postecoglou on the sideline.Credit: Getty Images
It was only in May that Postecoglou was last quizzed on the preoccupation around Tottenham’s set-piece record, when he said: “I’m not interested. Never have been. Not in the least.” He added: “Eventually I will create a team that has success and it won’t be because of working on set-pieces.” Spurs fans are still waiting.
Once written off as an unnecessary luxury, set-piece coaches have become the must-have accessory for Premier League managers during the past couple of years and yet Postecoglou has preferred to ignore the trend.
