Obstinate Ange Postecoglou must find consistency at Spurs or a crunch will come | Jonathan Wilson

Doubts are growing around the Tottenham manager and his all-or-nothing team’s lack of a plan B will be tested by Liverpool

Almost a season and a half has passed since Ange Postecoglou was appointed Tottenham manager and that means he is entering dangerous territory. He has led Spurs in 65 games. Antonio Conte got 77, André Villas-Boas 80 and José Mourinho 86. Until Thursday’s chaotic Carabao Cup win over Manchester United, he had a lower win percentage than all three, but he has now snuck past Mourinho. Sooner or later simply being not as grumpy as the bloke who came before is not going to be enough.

Since Postecoglou took 26 points from his first 10 Premier League games, that statistical quirk is particularly troublesome. There is little sense of him slowly dragging the club in the right direction, of the trend being to the better. Rather, since those first 10 games, he is averaging 1.43 points per Premier League game – enough to finish ninth or 10th most seasons. Does the fact the football is exciting – something that couldn’t be said under his three permanent predecessors – make up for what, given resources and stadium, would be a significant underachievement?

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