Former Spurs star urges Ange 'to adapt' ahead of biggest EPL test ...

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How the UK media reacted to Ange’s third successive defeat

Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham Hotspur lost a third straight game on Monday morning (AEDT), falling to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Aston Villa.

Spurs opened the scoring through a brilliant Giovani Lo Celso goal, before strikes from Pau Torres and Ollie Watkins either side of the break saw Postecoglou’s charges fall to defeat.

Son Heung-Min could have easily had a hat-trick to his name, if it wasn’t for the offside flag.

Tottenham were without 11 first-team players but Postecoglou doubled down on his philosophy with a back four containing no recognised centre-backs, several attacking players handed first league starts of the season and no recognised defensive midfielder in the starting line-up.

 “It is just the situation we’re in at the moment, but we’ll get through it,” the Aussie said post-game.

“It might take a little while, but we’ll get through it and as long as we show the same intent and play the football we did today, I’ve got no doubt when we come out the other side, we’ll be a very good football team.

“We had four full-backs out there so we didn’t really have the height, which we knew would be an issue for us today but you kind of take those calculated risks with the flipside of it being that some of our football was outstanding today.

“I mean some of the goals we could have scored would have ended up being showreels for us in the way we want to play our football, so for me the positives definitely outweigh the negative of the result.

“We’ve just got to make sure the players stay focused on what’s important right now and you need to win games of football to keep yourself in the mix to be in a strong position come the end of the year, but right now we’re still building a side.

“What’s more important is the way forward has to be with what the end goal is in mind and today was about trying to play the football we want to play.

“If we fell short, we fell short but I didn’t think we fell short today. I thought it was just fine margins for us and not getting the rewards.”

However, The Telegraph’s Thom Gibbs believes the “honeymoon period” at Tottenham is over, after their 10-game unbeaten run to start the season came to a halt before the international break.

“After winning the first three Premier League manager of the month awards available to him, the honeymoon is not just over for Ange Postecoglou and his new partner,” Gibbs said.

“Instead they have returned home to mountains of work, argument-inducing admin and a sullen Irish bloke passing judgment on the cleanliness of their house.”

Manchester United legend Roy Keane lambasted their defending for Watkins’ winner, particularly from makeshift centre-back Ben Davies.

“Really poor defending from Spurs,” Keane said on Sky Sports.

“You’ve got to get tight and be aggressive, they’ve just switched off at the wrong time.

“Lovely goal from Villa but defensively from Spurs… really Spursy.”

Former Spurs coach Tim Sherwood added on Optus Sport’s Matchday Live: “You always feel like you’ve got a chance against Tottenham because some of their defending is rash, some of their defending is really poor. 

“I think they’re a very good defending side when they’re winning the ball back in their opposition half but in their own half their defending is quite rash.

“They haven’t played bad today Tottenham, they haven’t played bad, but they haven’t got the result again. Unai Emery’s team got away with it going in to half time at 1-1, he had to change something and he did.

“The game was won by the strongest squad. They were allowed to make changes off the bench, Tottenham never had that, they never had the changes to make.

“They’ve got so many injuries, so many suspensions, it’s crippling them at the moment. They’ve got Manchester City up next, they need to stop the rot.”

Postecoglou’s options are limited at the moment, with James Maddison and Mickey van den Ven out with long term injuries, while Richarlison had surgery on his pelvis.

Ivan Perisic, Manor Solomon and Ryan Sessegnon are also missing, while Cristian Romero still has one more game of a three-match suspension to run. Uruguayan midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur was the latest midfielder to go down with a serious injury in the loss to Villa.

The Athletic’s Tim Spiers believes the loss put into perspective where Spurs are currently at, when it comes to injuries and the squad Postecoglou inherited during the off-season.

“If third choice centre-back Eric Dier isn’t deemed good enough to get in this defence, it’s clear that Postecoglou has nowhere near the squad that he wants, which isn’t a surprise given he only took over in the summer,” Spiers wrote.

“It’s been a disappointing few weeks for Spurs and it might not get better anytime soon with Manchester City away next weekend.

“But some perspective as to where they are in the Postecoglou era is required. It’s still very early days.”

Next up is a clash against reigning champions Manchester City, in what is set to be the most difficult task Postecoglou has faced in his period of time as Spurs boss.

Former Spurs midfielder Jermaine Jenas questioned on BBC whether Postecoglou needs to adapt his tactics, in order to give his side a chance at getting a result.

“If he had his best team available, I would encourage Postecoglou to go toe-to-toe with City, the way he probably wants to,” he said.

“At the back, I fancy Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven against anyone in the Premier League, the Spurs full-backs are comfortable on the ball and then you have James Maddison creating overloads everywhere.

“As we saw when they started the season by going 10 games unbeaten, they are a tough team to play against.

“At the moment, though, that’s not the case. We know what City can do to teams and if full-backs Ben Davies and Emerson Royal are the central defensive pairing again against Erling Haaland at the Etihad, then that’s a problem for me.

“So, does Postecoglou stick with the high line he has been using at the back, against the pace of Haaland and the issues that Jeremy Doku can give you out wide? It’s probably not going to go too well.

“It feels like they have to adapt because, going on from what I’ve seen from Spurs in the past couple of games, they are staring a big defeat by City in the face if they don’t.”

Muscat’s push for back-to-back titles falls short

Yokohama F. Marinos’ quest for back-to-back J League titles came to an end on the weekend, after being held to a 0-0 draw against Albirex Niigata on Friday night.

Kevin Muscat’s were two points behind Vissel Kobe heading into the penultimate round of the season, and needed a win to ensure they would still be in the title hunt going into the final game.

Marinos had a number of chances to win the game, but were denied numerous times by an inspired Niigata keeper Ryosuke Kojima.

Socceroo Thomas Deng also played a role in the clean sheet, playing the full 90 minutes in the heart of Niigata’s defence.

Their draw opened the door for Kobe to wrap up the title the following day, which they did with a 2-1 win over Mitch Langerak’s Nagoya Grampus.

“Obviously, we wanted the three points. Having said that, I don’t think we could have asked any more of the players,” said Muscat.

“The goalkeeper made two, three, four very good saves. Sometimes when you are full of emotion as well, it’s difficult to control your emotions which affect your final pass or final decision. But for much of the game, I can’t fault the players.”

Muscat’s side will now turn their attention to progressing to the knockout stages of the AFC Champions League, starting with their next match against Incheon United on Tuesday night (AEDT).

In Saudi Arabia, Craig Goodwin was straight back in the Al-Wehda starting lineup after returning from international duty, helping his side to a 3-1 win over Al-Khaleej.

Kisnorbo stood down as head coach of Troyes

Patrick Kisnorbo has been stood down as head coach of Troyes after the French Ligue 2 side fell to a 1-0 defeat over the weekend to Guingamp.

The club released a statement on Monday morning (AEDT) translating to: “ESTAC’s leadership, in consultation with its owners, has today notified Patrick Kisnorbo, professional team trainer, of his suspension for a conservatory period.”

Under French labour laws companies must go through a series of processes to sack an employee, a protocol that is now underway, and Kisnorbo’s exit from Troyes is inevitable.

Kisnorbo has been at Troyes for just over a year, winning only three out of a possible 39 matches (14 draws, 22 defeats) – and one of those victories came when he was ill and absent from the game last month.

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Miller let off the hook for red card

It was a rollercoaster evening for Socceroos full-back Lewis Miller on Sunday morning (AEDT), after he scored and was sent off in the space of five minutes during Hibernian’s 2-1 win over Dundee.

The former Central Coast Mariners defender opened the scoring in the 58th minute when Joe Newell swung a corner in from the right with Miller rising highest to head past Trevor Carson.

Only five minutes later, Miller was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Owen Beck.

Despite the dismissal, Hibs were able to hold firm and come away with the win. As a result, coach Nick Montgomery said he would take it easy on the Socceroos full-back.

“You pick up a silly booking and you’re walking a tightrope. His second was maybe harsh but I’ve not seen it,” Montgomery said.

“In that moment you regret the first one because it affects you and the team but he scored a winning goal with the header so I’ll let him off.”

His teammate Martin Boyle played 76 minutes in the victory, while Jimmy Jeggo came on in the second-half.

Meanwhile, Marco Tilio made his Celtic debut, coming on in second-half stoppage time of the Hoops’ 1-1 draw with Motherwell.

The Socceroo almost had an immediate impact, breaking down the right-hand side and whipping in a cross that was met by none of his teammates.

Elsewhere, Kye Rowles started in Hearts’ 1-0 win over Ryan McGowan’s St Johnstone, with both Cammy Devlin and Calem Nieuwenhof coming on as second-half substitutes.

In England’s League One, Jack Iredale opened the scoring in Bolton’s resounding 7-0 victory over Exeter City, while Kenny Dougall helped himself to an assist in Blackpool’s 4-0 win against Portsmouth.

Both Alex Robertson and Kusini Yengi saw minutes for Pompey, with the former starting the contest.

Cameron Burgess started and Massimo Luongo came off the bench as Ipswich Town fell to a 2-0 defeat to West Bromwich Albion.

Sammy Silvera was a second-half substitute in Middlesbrough’s 3-2 loss to Bristol City, and Nectar Triantis was back on the bench for Sunderland after his first start before the international break, as the Black Cats lost 2-0 against Plymouth Argyle.

Ryan wins battle of the Aussies in Netherlands

Mat Ryan’s AZ Alkmaar returned to winning ways with a 3-0 victory over Garang Kuol’s FC Volendam.

Ryan kept a sixth clean sheet for the season in the victory, playing a key role in Alkmaar having the second best defensive record in the Dutch top flight, shipping only six goals.

His national team teammate Kuol started for Volendam, playing 67 minutes and testing Ryan with an early chance in the 12th minute.

Volendam remain second-last on the standings, only goal difference clear of bottom-placed Vitesse.

In Belgium, Aiden O’Neill made his first league start for Standard Liege since September in their 1-0 win over Genk. Jordan Bos played the full 90 minutes in KVC Westerlo’s heartbreaking 3-2 loss to Charleroi.

Over in Germany, St Pauli’s brilliant season continued, coming away with a 3-2 win over Hansa Rostock. Jackson Irvine started the contest, but Connor Metcalfe came off the bench.