Former England midfielder Jamie Redknapp says the clock will start ticking on Ange Postecoglou’s time at Tottenham unless he can turn around their mediocre start to the English Premier League season.
Gabriel’s second-half header was enough for a depleted Arsenal to secure a 1-0 win at Postecoglou’s Tottenham and keep the pressure on Manchester City in the English Premier League title race.
“‘They need to pick up some results quickly. It’s a fact at this club if you’re not winning games you don’t get long and he needs to start winning some games,” the former England midfielder said on Sky Sports.
“‘This time last year Spurs were fantastic to watch. We were all waxing lyrical about the manager and the free flowing football.
“Right now it’s not free flowing. If you play well and don’t start winning then you get days like today where the quality drops.”
With an away tie at City in seven days, Arsenal’s fixture at their rivals was already being described as a make-or-break game in their quest to be champions following a home draw against Brighton.
But without key duo Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice, the Gunners secured all three points following Gabriel’s 64th-minute goal to stake their title credentials and leave Spurs with just one win so far this term under former Socceroos boss Postecoglou.
“I thought it was a tight game all the way along. We controlled it for the most part and got off to a good start,” Postecoglou told BBC Sport afterwards.
“We lost concentration [for the goal]. We’ve got some big guys in there who really attack the ball and we just switched off for a second.”
After previously saying “I don’t usually win things, I ALWAYS win things in my second year”, Postecoglou was in no mood for the line of questioning when asked if that was still the case.
“Yeah, absolutely,. ‘Am I going to answer the question or are you going to keep asking it?” he said.
“I’ll correct myself. I don’t usually win things, I always win things in my second year. Nothing has changed. I don’t say things unless I believe them.”
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Spurs went close early on when Dejan Kulusevski produced a fine save from David Raya.
But as the half wore on Arsenal came into the game. Kai Havertz’s header was well-saved by Guglielmo Vicario before Gabriel Martinelli’s weak effort was comfortably gobbled up by the Spurs keeper.
Jurrien Timber’s challenge on Pedro Porro sparked a touchline brawl but Timber escaped a red card following a VAR check.
Arsenal continued to threaten and Bukayo Saka’s shot was deflected behind for a corner which saw Gabriel ghost off Cristian Romero and head home unmarked.
The Gunners were able to see out five minutes of injury time to claim three successive derby wins at Tottenham for the first time since 1988.
Meanwhile, Newcastle match-winner Harvey Barnes claimed there is more to come from the side after they claimed a 2-1 win at Wolves in Sunday’s later EPL match.
Substitute Barnes struck 10 minutes from time to cap a Magpies comeback after trailing at the interval at Molineux, Fabian Schar having cancelled out Mario Lemina’s opener five minutes earlier.
Barnes told Sky Sports: “We haven’t hit the heights of last season, but we are finding ways to win and that is important.
“It’s good start points-wise, but performance-wise we’ve still got a lot to build on.”
And Newcastle manager Eddie Howe added: “It’s a massive win. Away from home we have questions to answer but that is a big step forward for us.”
with AAP
The Roarhttps://www.theroar.com.au/2024/09/16/pressure-building-on-ange-after-gabriel-shoots-gunners-past-tottenham/‘He needs to start winning some games’: Pressure building on Ange after Gabriel shoots Gunners past Spurs
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