Glenn Hoddle has slammed Ange Postecoglou for the formation he set his team up during Tottenham Hotspur’s 4-1 defeat to Chelsea.
The derby was a chaotic one with Spurs taking the lead through Kulusevski before Son putting the ball in the net minutes later only for the goal to be disallowed.
The game changed when Cristian Romero was sent off for catching Enzo on the follow through following a rash challenge iniside the box.
Chelsea equalised from the spot and had a goal disallowed moments later. And just before half-time James Maddison and Micky van de Ven were forced off with injuries making it even more difficult for Spurs.
And to make things worse, Spurs were reduced to 9 men after Udogie was shown a second yellow card in the 55th minute.
As expected a one way traffic of Chelsea attack followed after with the Blues finding it extremely easy to go through on goal due to Tottenham’s extremely high defensive live.
Ange switched to a 0-7-1 with the 7 players holding a defense line at half-line which left everyone surprised, some calling him a genius for it while some criticising him. One of them who has slammed his tactics is Glenn Hoddle.
Glenn Hoddle thinks the Tottenham players would have been questioning their manager in the dressing room.
He also claimed that he felt sorry for Eric Dier and Hojbjerg who were thrown into a such a tough situation after barely kick in a ball all season.
He told Premier League Productions (via HITC):
“They will be questioning him, you know. In that dressing and in the shower chatting going ‘do we really have to play like that?’
“Look, Ange has done a fantastic job, don’t get me wrong. But you have to condense the space. Plus, it’s not the normal back four. You have got Hojbjerg going back in the second half as a centre-back and you have got Dier who hasn’t kicked a ball all season. I felt sorry for them.
“They are asked to be on the halfway line and sprint back in and cope with any type of balls. Time and time again. It just didn’t make sense to me.”
TBH Says:
We do not agree with Hoddle’s assessment. The players put their all on the pitch for Ange even after being down to 9 men.
Ange has Spurs playing some of the best attacking football in the league and he made a decision to not compromise on his philosophy despite being down to 9 men.
And it almost worked until the 75th minute after which it all fell apart. Even then, the attacking set-up helped Spurs create several chances and Dier even scored a goal but it was ruled out.
