Paul Merson was left stunned after what Ange Postecoglou did during Tottenham Hotspur’s defeat to Chelsea on Monday evening.
Merson has been writing in his latest column for Sky Sports and reflected on a thrilling game in North London.
Spurs fell to a 4-1 defeat against Chelsea but the score doesn’t even scratch the surface after what was a chaotic 90 minutes of action.
Tottenham got off to a flyer through Dejan Kulusevski but Chelsea levelled things up in the 33rd minute after Cristian Romero gave away a penalty.
The Argentine was sent off for a rash challenge on Enzo Fernandez and Cole Palmer made no mistake from the spot.
Ange Postecoglou continued to urge his Spurs side forward after being reduced to 10 men as they persisted with a high defensive line.
The Aussie boss even stuck to his guns after Destiny Udogie was sent off for a second yellow card in the 55th minute, as well as the loss of Micky van de Ven through injury.
MORE TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STORIES
It took Chelsea until the 75th minute to find a goal against the nine men of Tottenham but Paul Merson feels Postecoglou should have switched his tactics up by this point.
Merson stunned by Postecoglou’s tactics in Tottenham vs Chelsea
While Merson labelled Postecoglou’s tactics as ‘extraordinary’, he believes the Aussie should have changed his approach in the latter stages of the game.
“Tottenham playing on the halfway line with nine players was just extraordinary,” the Arsenal legend wrote. “I’d never seen anything like it. But Ange Postecoglou should have changed tactics.
“When it gets down to the last 15 minutes or so and it’s still 1-1, then you’ve got to change it. The clock moves a lot quicker with 15 or 20 minutes to go in the final part of the game. Sit nine behind the ball and make it very difficult for Chelsea.
“I like Postecoglou and he probably thought Chelsea were going to score in the second half playing against 10 men, so it’s pointless going out with a whimper, playing 10 behind the ball and never looking like scoring a goal.”
Spurs’ luck did eventually run out in the 75th minute as Nicolas Jackson found the back of the net after a sensational performance from Guglielmo Vicario had kept them at bay.
But Tottenham created opportunities after Chelsea took the lead, with Rodrigo Bentancur and Son Heung-Min going close.
Eric Dier also had the ball in the back of the net but was marginally offside. Of course, Jackson eventually completed his hat-trick and Tottenham’s bravery was exposed.
Yet, Postecoglou and Spurs have received plenty of praise despite a heavy defeat in the London derby.