Tottenham Hotspur’s defeat at Fulham kept them ten points behind Bournemouth on the rim of the top half of the Premier League, and it’s increasingly unlikely success will be found on the domestic front this season.
Ange Postecoglou is deep in his purgatory, cutting so many gloomy figures as the defeats roll in like hostile bowling balls. Spurs have indeed been left sprawling on the turf for much of the campaign, but hope remains.
Battling past AZ Alkmaar this month, the north Londoners are into the Europa League quarter-finals, pitted against dangerous Eintracht Frankfurt – who won the 2021/22 edition – next month.
Ange's increasingly uncertain future
Postecoglou is aggrieved as ‘Ange Ball’ has been reduced to flashes of style this season, injuries precluding his exciting tactics from being properly implemented. It has been a tough old season, and he’ll want to approach 2025/26 with a clean slate.
According to Monday’s Telegraph, Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola is one of the leading candidates to take over at Tottenham Hotspur should Ange be given the boot.
Postecoglou will make a compelling case to Daniel Levy regarding the importance of keeping him in the dugout, but the 42-year-old Bournemouth boss would be the perfect replacement, should the headsman be summoned.
What Andoni Iraola could bring to Spurs
If Tottenham fall against Frankfurt after the international break, Postecoglou will earn no reprieve as Levy’s patience finally wears gossamer thin.
Especially if the Lilywhites chairman gets a whiff of something promising from Iraola’s corner.
Bournemouth appointed the tactician in June 2023 after the expiry of his Rayo Vallecano contract. It was a bold, some even felt brazen, decision to oust Gary O’Neil after he kept the seaside town afloat, but a tremendous one in hindsight.
Tenth in the standings this year, Bournemouth trail Chelsea in the top four by a mere five points. Much is owed to Iraola’s stylish tactics.
According to Understat, the Cherries are behind only Liverpool in terms of xG (expected goals this season. They have converted 48 chances but should have notched 59.42, speaking of profligacy in front of goal.
Expected Goals (xG) is a metric designed to measure the probability of a shot resulting in a goal.
What does this tell us? Well, for one thing, it makes a declaration on Bournemouth’s attacking quality, with aggression and a pack mentality toward winning turnovers and advancing into dangerous positions proving the nuts and bolts of the approach play.
While Postecoglou is a fiercely attack-focused manager himself, there are signs Iraola has his number. After all, Understat also record the Australian’s squad to have an xG total of 52.90 in the Premier League this year.
Dominic Solanke was brought in last summer as a belated Harry Kane replacement down N17. The 27-year-old joined from Iraola’s Bournemouth, signing for a club-record £65m figure.
In keeping with the season’s narrative, the £90k-per-week Solanke has suffered a share of injury misfortune, though he’s still managed to chalk up 11 goals and eight assists across all competitions, starting 27 of his 33 outings.
But he’s not quite hit the heights the lofty price tag spoke of. A seven-goal return in the Premier League across 20 matches is average at best. Ten big chances missed, as per Sofascore, further detail a lack of incisiveness that Tottenham have desperately needed to stem their defensive problems.
24/25
Tottenham
20 (20)
7
3
23/24
Bournemouth
38 (37)
19
3
22/23
Bournemouth
33 (32)
6
7
19/20
Bournemouth
32 (17)
3
1
20/21
Bournemouth
10 (2)
0
1
Were Iraola to take the helm in the summer, the England international may return to the prolific heights of 2023/24, when he plied his trade under the Spanish gaffer’s wing.
That season saw Bournemouth break free of the relegation fodder and make headway in the top flight, fuelled by an attractive brand of football. Solanke was riding the crest of a wave, for sure, clinching 19 goals across the term, missing just 14 big chances and averaging a key pass every game (his rate stands at 0.7 with Spurs).
This serves as more corroboration as to Tottenham’s inferiority (this year, at least) in front of goal. Iraola is churning out a higher rate of clinical production and doing so with a flourish.
Solanke has already thrived in the system, the manager even hailing him as “good for any system,” his technical qualities making him the “complete number nine.”
As a consequence, it could just be a match made in heaven.
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There is of course optimism that Solanke can make a name for himself over the coming years, maybe even the coming months. Postecoglou’s ideology should be perfect for him, but Iraola has showcased a tactical grasp beyond that of Spurs’ somewhat rigid boss, eking every ounce of potency from him last year.
Postecoglou once presented the blueprint for total success at Tottenham. It was a new dawn, the start of a chapter promising prosperity. But the cracks have since splintered the playing surface, running deep. The period following the international break will be critical.
And if Levy gets some encouragement from Iraola’s camp? Why, he’d be bringing “one of the best in the league” down N17, as is the opinion of analyst Ben Mattinson.
Talks of a sacking might be held in abeyance at the moment, but Postecoglou is quickly running out of time. With Iraola doing such good work on the South Coast, indeed getting the best from Solanke, bringing him in as a replacement might be a golden ticket toward a new level of success.
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