‘They’ve been too open’ – Arsenal legend warns Postecoglou to tweak his system

Paul Merson says that Tottenham Hotspur cannot afford to be as open as they were last season as they are too easy to play against.

Ange Postecoglou was brought through the door last summer with a remit of implementing an attacking and possession-based style of play and that is something he was able to deliver quite quickly.

However, towards the end of the campaign, the Australian was served a dose of reality check regarding the difficulty of the Premier League, with teams appearing to figure out the flaws in Tottenham’s system and take advantage of those.

Postecoglou has always made it clear that he will stick by his principles and the Tottenham head coach would be hoping that the side’s issues are solved if they can upgrade in a couple of positions this summer.

However, Merson believes that the Lilywhites are simply too open at the back and insisted that while that kind of football might bring success at Celtic, it will not work in the English top-flight.

Does Ange Postecoglou need to change tactics at Tottenham?

The former Arsenal midfielder told Sky Sports: “He isn’t playing with any defenders at the back really, is he? Porro really is not a full-back. Udogie is outstanding, honestly outstanding, but they are open. He plays that way.

“I think being manager at Celtic, you turn up at Celtic and you go, ‘You have a shot, we have a shot, and 99 times out of 100, we’re going to win because we’ve got much better players’.

“That’s not the case in the Premier League. You’ve got to be a bit cuter, set up to make sure the other teams don’t play and I just think a few times they’ve been too open, even against the lesser teams.

“I watched the Burnley game at the end of the season and from the goalkeeper to the other end they just went through Tottenham like a knife through butter, and you’re sitting there like that’s a bit easy for a top team.”

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We know that Postecoglou is not one to second-guess his principles and the Tottenham head coach will stick to his approach next season.

However, he also showed towards the end of the campaign (most notable in the clash against Manchester City) that he is willing to make some tactical tweaks while not compromising his principles of play, which is a positive sign for Spurs.

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