Pressure has been building around Ange Postecoglou in recent weeks, with inconsistent performances and results being a key frustration among the Tottenham Hotspur fanbase.
At such a crucial period of the season, Spurs’ manager needed his players to show they have the character to build some momentum at the right time, with a Europa League trip to a fiery Ibrox stadium being as good of a test of any player’s quality and commitment to the cause.
While a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Rangers was disappointing, Thursday evening’s result was not catastrophic in the wider landscape of European qualification. However, in Postecoglou’s eyes, that test was comprehensively flunked by the one player in particular.
GO DEEPER
Postecoglou labels Werner performance ‘not acceptable’ in draw with Rangers
Timo Werner was hauled off at half-time, with his manager particularly scathing about the 28-year-old’s performance.
“He wasn’t playing anywhere near the level he should,” Postecoglou said after the game. “When you’ve got 18-year-olds, it’s not acceptable to me.”
“I said that to Timo. He’s a senior international, he’s a Germany international. In the moment we’re in right now, it’s not like we’ve got many options. I need everyone to at least be going out there trying to give the best of themselves. His performance in the first half wasn’t acceptable.”
Perhaps there were actions Postecoglou was witnessing in Werner’s performance that were not captured in the television coverage — be it his body language, his communication, or his out-of-possession positioning.
Whatever the reason, a lack of consistent game time is likely to be a symptom and a cause of Werner’s lack of cutting edge, with just 15 league starts since the start of last season — completing a total of two games in that period.
So, what exactly was Postecoglou referring to when chastising Werner’s performance in Glasgow? Crucially, was it a fair assessment from Spurs’ manager?
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The Briefing – Rangers 1 Spurs 1: Werner and Johnson displays, Kulusevski and Solanke reliance
It was not as if Werner was shying away from the action in the first half, with 39 touches being the fourth-most of any Spurs player in the opening 45 minutes.
As The Athletic’s player dashboard shows below, the German international made more progressive carries than anyone on the pitch across the whole game. The issue was, of his 29 passes attempted, just 18 of them were complete — the lowest pass completion of any Spurs player in the first half.
Pacey forwards are not known — or relied upon — for their ball retention. Still, in an aggressive, daunting atmosphere, there were some early opportunities to set the tone with good decision-making. Unfortunately for Werner, those opportunities were not taken.
Within seconds of kick-off, Werner found himself in space to receive the ball on the left flank after a simple switch of play. Driving towards Rangers’ captain James Tavernier, there was an early opportunity to lift his head and play a cross towards the penalty spot (black arrow, Slide 2). Instead, Werner kept his head down before a loose touch saw Tavernier win the first duel of the game.
That was the theme of the first half, with the German international struggling to push past Tavernier in possession as he repeatedly ran into an attacking cul-de-sac.
There was a similar example after nine minutes. Werner’s head is down — unable to assess his options — with Rangers’ right-back able to duly step in to stifle the attack.
The mitigating factors here are that Tavernier is a strong one-v-one defender and Spurs did not have sufficient support on the left flank during this attack, yet Werner did find himself running into dead ends a little too often.
Going the other way, Tavernier did have some joy going forwards and ran beyond Werner on multiple occasions. A weak tackle against right winger Vaclav Cerny also didn’t help as Werner lacked the aggression to stifle an opposition attack.
When attacking support did arrive for Werner, he was able to play some positive passes to an underlapping James Maddison and Rodrigo Bentancur. His best action also came after getting the better of Tavernier in the penalty area, before driving a low cross to the onrushing Brennan Johnson — whose shot was saved excellently by Jack Butland.
Postecoglou’s biggest frustration must surely have been Werner’s decision-making as Spurs were building attacks. Forwards are expected to lose possession when looking to create, but there were too many occasions where the 28-year-old lost the ball under little pressure — which broke down some promising moves that Spurs had.
There were growing frustrations from his own team-mates at times, with the example below showing Yves Bissouma drifting over to the left flank with the ball in an attempt to release Werner. Rangers’ Cerny did a good job of blocking the passing lane, but Werner made little attempt to shuffle along to offer an option for the pass.
The result? A backward pass from Bissouma and a berating comment to Werner for his troubles (Slide 4).
Another notable frustration came at the end of the first half when Bentancur found himself in a position to cross from the right. Postecoglou places a lot of focus on back-post chances from his wingers, and being in a position to get on the end of crosses is crucial.
As Bentancur plays the cross, Werner is not even in the frame, never mind the penalty area. As the ball bounces up for Tavernier to clear for a corner, Werner is well behind the play with no chance of receiving from the cross.
The final straw might have come from the most salient example of the evening.
With an opportunity to counter-attack after Fraser Forester claimed the ball, a driven pass from Spurs’ goalkeeper found the path of Werner scurrying over the halfway line. Instead of keeping the counter-attack alive, Werner saw the ball run out of play after a first touch that would not have been out of place on a Sunday league pitch at Hackney Marshes.
Such frustration is probably also compounded by Werner’s past displays of ability.
The German was highly coveted by Europe’s elite clubs after 28 Bundesliga goals for RB Leipzig in 2019-20. Since that season, during a move to Chelsea, a return to Leipzig, and a subsequent loan to Spurs, he has come nowhere near to replicating that blistering form.
Despite a consistent run in the team during much of that period, the increasing evidence suggests his 2019-20 season was more an exception than the rule when assessing his overall career output.
So, was Postecoglou harsh to single Werner out specifically? A little, especially during a half where mistakes were littered across the team as Spurs failed to exert any consistent dominance.
However, the cold fact is that the 28-year-old does not have enough credit in the bank in a Spurs shirt to warrant a justifiable defence for his ongoing struggles.
The most worrying thing is arguably that the comments were not a huge surprise.
(Photo: Robbie Jay Barratt — AMA/Getty Images)
