– There is no doubt that we have a mole here. The Tottenham coach is in despair. For a long time he has tried to settle the unculture internally in the club. Now there is a semi-final against Bodø/Glimt waiting, but Ange Postecoglou has had much more than quick attack players from Northern Norway to defeat in recent weeks. All the camera lens point to him as he rises the doors of Tottenham’s huge training facility. Thousands of pictures of him are snapped as he almost drags his feet into the grass mat. It is the last training before the settlement against Glimt. He monitors the team from a distance while colleagues lead the training session in North London. Just like Bodø/Glimts coach Kjetil Knutsen, he has been praised for both the leadership style and his offensive football. But a short time ago, Postecoglou ended up in clutches with their own supporters – again. In recent weeks he has been hunting mole in his own team. How could it end like that? 20232025i 2023, Ange Postecoglou smiled on his own results. Last weekend, he despaired after 1-5 losses in the league. Photo: AP/Reuters letter to Santa Claus It is almost two years since he got the job as Tottenham coach. Then he was relatively unknown. Even the leader of Tottenham’s Norwegian supporter club knew who he was. First he got the most attention for his twisted surnames. Then Ange Postecoglou let the results speak for themselves. – It was simply fun to look at Tottenham. When you watched the battle, you were actually entertained, says Bjørnar Valen, leader of the ferry club Tottenham’s friends. Leader: Bjørnar Valen in Tottenham’s friends. Photo: Private With a warm replica, the man with the difficult last name quickly became a hero for Tottenham’s supporters. On a question of whether Tottenham should buy players, he answered the usual way: – I wrote a letter to Santa. Then we’ll see if I’ve been a kind boy this year. By then the downturn was already underway. Extreme motivator James Maddison is one of the stars that has been on both ups and downs. “He really makes me want to go to the war for him,” Maddison said in the series “All Or Nothing” on Amazon Prime, a series that took you inside the club in the wind. By then, Postecoglou had been in the club for a few months, and his charisma took England by storm. Maddison believes that the manager had something very special that aroused unusual emotions in the players. – It’s the charisma, the way he talks. The small messages mean something, says Maddison. LOVE: James Maddison was very excited about Tottenham’s new coach in 2023. Photo: Lee Smith / Reuters / NTB The relationship with the club reached its climax when Ange got his own song. A rewrite of Robbie Williams Super hit “Angels” became the love statement “I’m Loving Big Ange Instead”. “The alternative is that they make songs about you that are less nice,” Ange Postecoglou said at the time. Tottenham was the series leader, the fans sang about “Big Ange”, who responded by delivering golden grains on a running tape. Where would this end? GOLDMANN: Ange Postecoglou came to Tottenham after two seasons in Celtic. Here he celebrates victory in the cup final, one of three titles he took that season. Photo: Russell Cheyne / Reuters / NTB The “Disaster Fight” date is November 6, 2023. Bjørnar Valen mentions it just as the “disaster match”. Where everything went on Tverke. Tottenham still leads the series and meets Chelsea away. -It doesn’t seem like it has come completely leveling after that, says the Tottenham supporter. In the stands, Nils Johan Semb sat and commented on the match for Viaplay. He hardly believed what he saw. Injuries: Micky van de Ven is one of the players who left the field with injury. Photo: Matthew Childs / Reuters / NTB Red Card: Cristian Romero was one of the players shown by the field. Photo: David Cliff / AP / NTB Baklong Goal: Chelsea got rapidly with opportunities and scored four goals. Photo: Tony Obrien / Reuters / NTB Applause: Despite the loss, Tottenham’s coach Ange Postecoglou was hailed by its own spectators. PHOTO: GLYN Kirk / AFP / NTB POSTECOGLOU, as usual, went very offensive, and almost washed over the opponents who waves on a shallow sandy beach. But here Tottenham suffered a couple of damage and two red cards. Even with fewer players, Ange stood on theirs. Everyone was going to attack. Tottenham lost 1-4. Still, something very special happened. – He was hailed by the fans. They were trampled out of the field, there was no way, says Viaplay’s expert commentator Nils Johan Semb. The match started a big discussion in the football environment: How could he do this? – For me it was supernaive. Then I thought like this: Is he naive or is it a way of saying he doesn’t want to change because he’s stubborn?, Semb tells news. – That fight turned up a lot. It has really gone downhill from there, says supporter Bjørnar Valen. Now the losses came more frequently. The table top missed, and Ange just managed to qualify the club for the European Cup. This season is Tottenham is closer to relegation than series gold. – The season has been long, terribly long. With a lot of poor results, Valen summarizes. And the sweet music has become a mouthwash between coach and its own supporters. Sad: Ange Postecoglou makes one of many despairing movements. Photo: Jason Cairnduff / Reuters / NTB Supporter Bråk As late as March, it ran over to Angke Postecoglou. On his way into the wardrobe after another loss, he stopped when he heard cries from his own supporters. He waved his index finger and stormed the supporter in a video published by British metro. Then the Tottenham players came and pushed the boss away from the situation. – I didn’t like what he said. I’m also a human being, said the Tottenham coach after the match. Get criticism: Ange Postecoglou has got rice for the season’s results with Tottenham. Photo: Image Agency Loan As Viaplay’s expert commentator, Nils Johan Semb has been following the downturn since the “disaster match” almost a year and a half ago. He believes some of the explanation lies in injuries to key players, but believes the coach could have solved it differently. – You have to balance the team when you know you have weaker players on the field than you could have had. I have missed that adaptation very much from Postecoglou, says expert Semb. BIG LAP: Ange Postecoglou strolls off the field after losing to Bodø / Glimt as Celtic coach in 2022. “We also suffer,” Maddison replied. The matches against Bodø/Glimt could be the rescue for “Big Ange” in an otherwise terrible season for Tottenham. He has lost to Bodø/Glimt before. When he was coach for Celtic in 2022, he was sent out of the Seri League with 1–5 in the bag. A new loss could mean the end of his career as Tottenham’s coach. His contract expires in two years, but according to The Telegraph, he will be fired before next season. This weekend, the team got rapids from Liverpool and lost 1–5. The Daily Mail, The Mirror and The Guardian write that his job is threatened. The pressure on Ange Postecoglou is extreme. – I think it will be difficult to stand by it, because that season has been so extremely weak, says Nils Johan Semb. Who’s going to the final? Tottenham Bodø/Glimt Show Result The hunt for the mole – I don’t understand why. I don’t understand how it helps. We are back in the coach’s hunt for the mole in Tottenham. According to the BBC, the hunt has been going on since last year. Ange Postecoglou thought he had solved the problem, but time and time again he was disappointed. Two weeks ago it happened again. When one of the club’s players, William Odobert, was reported injured, Tottenham’s coach realized that the club was still leaking. According to The Guardian, there are no players or coaches, but in recent weeks there have been few reports from the inside from the club in North London. – We have narrowed it down, and have a good idea of where the leak comes from, says Ange Postecoglou.
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