Ange Postecoglou, during his pre-match preparations for Tottenham Hotspur’s trip to West Ham United, will have seen a side flying at one end and struggling at the other.
David Moyes’ defence drowned under a tidal wave of Newcastle pressure as Eddie Howe’s side went from 3-1 down to 4-3 up in the blink of an eye on Saturday. But, make no mistake, Ange Postecoglou was never going to take West Ham lightly. Not with Moyes boasting an attack most managers in the Premier League would love to have at their disposal.
You could argue that the frontline of Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta and Mohammed Kudus would stroll into the starting XI of far more deep-pocketed clubs. Manchester United and Chelsea, to name but two.
And then there is Michail Antonio. The 34-year-old veteran who – during successive barnstorming performances against Newcastle and Tottenham – proved that there is still plenty of life left in those ageing legs.
Tottenham and West Ham scrap to entertaining draw
Antonio was excellent again with his back to goal, bullying the Spurs defence at times and giving Micky van de Ven one of his toughest nights in English football. Had his finishing been as sharp as his hold-up play – Antonio firing straight at Guglielmo Vicario one-v-one – Tottenham may have dropped even more points in their pursuit of a Champions League spot.
Postecoglou was keen to find the positives out of that eventual 1-1 draw, however, hailing the defensive work of Rodrigo Bentancur, James Maddison and particularly Yves Bissouma as West Ham’s fearsome frontline were all kept off the scoresheet.
“I thought Bentancur and Maddison (were good), and Biss did his defensive work which was going to be important today,” the former Celtic boss tells BBC Sport.
“When you look at West Ham’s front four, they are always going to be a threat. The general effort of the lads was strong. Obviously disappointed not to get a win but (this is) a tough place to come.”
Bowen and Paqueta, so impressive against Newcastle three days earlier, had a couple of snapshots from distance but never really threatened Vicario. Kudus, meanwhile, was kept on the periphery by a Spurs side who could still end the midweek round of fixtures one point closer to the top four, should Aston Villa lose away to Manchester City tonight.
Spurs still in Champions League race
“It’s always a tough game here,” Postecoglou adds, Brennan Johnson’s early opener cancelled out by Kurt Zouma. “They’ve a big, strong team, they sit deep and don’t allow you too much space and time. I thought for the most part we handled that pretty well.
“We scored a great goal and we had some more chances to replicate that, that we missed out on. Obviously, they then scored from a set piece, and they are such a threat from that. But I thought we handled the rest of them really well and defensively, their transition moments and counter-attacking, again, for the most part, we coped with.
“I just thought in our front third we lacked a little calmness and clarity. We got into some good areas and should have got some better outcomes. It’s a bit of belief, a bit of learning, a better understanding from the guys in terms of when we get into those areas, the options we have.
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