The last and only previous Carabao Cup game of Ange Postecoglou’s time at Tottenham was at Craven Cottage, on 29 August last year.
It was just the fourth game of Postecoglou’s tenure and he decided it was a good opportunity to take a look at some players he had not used much in the Premier League. So he made nine changes to the team who had just won 2-0 at Bournemouth. Spurs drew 1-1 with Fulham and then lost on penalties.
Afterwards, Postecoglou insisted that in making so many changes he had not deprioritised the League Cup.
“There is no European football, so how am I going to find out about our players? What opportunity would I have to do that other than the game? They are all part of our club. We’re very much at the discovery stage so we need to find out and give the players the opportunity to contribute, because that’s why they’re here.”
In one sense, it did not matter. Spurs went back to their first-choice team for their league game at Burnley four days later and won 5-2, continuing their brilliant start to the Premier League season — a standard they have struggled to live up to ever since.
But in another sense, it was a wasted opportunity. Because Spurs were not in Europe, they were always going to have a light fixture load last season — all the more reason to invest resources into the League Cup and push for that first trophy. And while we do not know exactly what Postecoglou learned from the players he started that evening, few of them contributed too much more for Spurs last year.
Fraser Forster has not started a competitive game for Spurs since. Davinson Sanchez was sold to Galatasaray six days later. Oliver Skipp and Giovani Lo Celso only started five more games for Spurs each. It was Ivan Perisic’s last start for Spurs.
One year on, Postecoglou now has a similar dilemma. Spurs go to Coventry City on Wednesday night to start their League Cup campaign (now that Spurs are in Europe, they enter the League Cup in the third rather than second round). And Postecoglou will have to ask himself again whether this is a game he wants to use to learn about his players or a game that he wants to win.
There will certainly be a temptation to try out some new players at the Coventry Building Society Arena. Neither Lucas Bergvall nor Archie Gray has yet started a competitive game for Spurs. Djed Spence has still never started for Spurs, despite making his debut more than two years ago. Timo Werner has not started yet this season. Some fans will want a first proper look at Mikey Moore.
And yet making wholesale changes to the first team going into Wednesday’s game now feels fraught with risk for Postecoglou. When he made those changes last season, he did so from a position of strength. He had started well at Spurs, they were winning games and Postecoglou already had credit in the bank. The fact that Spurs continued winning league games after their Fulham exit meant that this bad night was swiftly forgotten.
But the picture is different right now. Spurs have played four games so far this season and won just once. They are not playing especially badly: the defence looks better in the main than it was in the second half of last season. They are consistently dominating possession, but just struggling to turn that possession into chances and goals. But the vibes are largely determined by the results, rather than by the performances. The fanbase is not quite as unified behind the manager as it was this time last year. And going out of the League Cup at the first hurdle for the second year in a row would damage the mood even further.
Nobody could accuse Postecoglou of not aiming high. Last season, he was insistent that he was not aiming for mere Champions League qualification for Tottenham because he wanted them to aim to win the Premier League itself. “I don’t see the sense in trying to aim for something other than No 1,” he said. And even after the Arsenal game, he said in his Sky Sports interview: “I don’t usually win things, I always win things in my second year, nothing’s changed.”
Whether intentionally or not, Postecoglou provided the soundbite that this season may well be judged against. But if we accept that the Premier League is likely to be beyond Spurs this season, then that puts added pressure on winning (or at least going about trying to win) one of their three cup competitions. Of course, it is impossible to plan around trying to win a knockout cup competition, given the randomness involved.
Spurs might have had a good FA Cup run last season, but then they drew Manchester City in the fourth round and that was the end of that. If the history of Tottenham since 2008 teaches us anything, it is that you can be a good team in the league and not see that translated into cup success.
Part of the challenge of this season will be keeping Spurs alive in all four competitions simultaneously for as long as possible. Whether they have a deep enough squad to do that will only be revealed in time. But they will certainly need their front-line players — Son Heung-min, Dominic Solanke, James Maddison, Brennan Johnson — in form and playing well. They need to start attacking with confidence, fluidity and trust in one another.
A good win and a few goals at Coventry City might well help kickstart that. Yes, they will eventually need to rotate but their eight games in the Europa League group stage might give better opportunities to do that.
There is never a good time to get knocked out of a cup, but this week would be an especially bad time to get knocked out of this one. We are still only in mid-September and the pressure on the Europa League and FA Cup would be greater than ever.
(Top photo: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
