LONDON – Tottenham Hotspur’s commitment to Angeball was so complete last season that their fans responded to their 4-1 home defeat to Chelsea in November 2023 by serenading manager Ange Postecoglou.

On Sunday, 13 months later, after a 4-3 defeat to the same opponent, those same fans were wondering more than ever whether he was the right man to lead them forward.

There were boos during full time, but the atmosphere was not riotous. Son Heung-Min’s 96th-minute consolation goal defused the hostility somewhat, although in reality thousands of Spurs fans had long since headed for the exits after Chelsea’s fourth goal had ended the game more than ten minutes earlier.

However, when the dust settles on another undeniably entertaining but extremely manic afternoon, many will feel that some sort of control needs to be added to all this chaos for Postecoglou to hint at progress.

After the dismal football shown by Antonio Conte during his 16-month reign, Postecoglou’s expansive approach felt liberating to many in this part of north London. The daring, uncompromising style was more in keeping with the club’s traditions, so much so that the otherwise reserved chairman Daniel Levy felt moved enough to announce at a fan forum event in September 2023, barely three years old: “We have our Tottenham back.” Months after Postecoglou’s appointment.

What a distant memory feels now. In fact, this game risks resembling a metaphor for Postecoglou’s time at Spurs: starting well, generating dizzying excitement, losing players to injury, seeming increasingly one-dimensional and ultimately getting defeated.

Anyone who still believes in Postecoglou will point to the first 15 minutes when Spurs were mesmerized. They required two embarrassing slips from Marc Cucurella: the first was punished mercilessly by Brennan Johnson crossing for Dominic Solanke to score in the fifth minute; The second half presented an opportunity that Dejan Kulusevski took brilliantly, creating a chance with his left foot and firing low past Robert Sánchez.

Chelsea’s persistent teething problems when playing from the back were brutally exposed, but when Jadon Sancho pushed forward from the left and scored an excellent low shot past Fraser Forster’s left post to halve the deficit in the 18th minute, it was Suddenly Tottenham’s fragility that looked more obvious.

Blues boss Enzo Maresca pointed out an important tactical change at half-time. Romeo Lavia suffered a hamstring injury and was withdrawn as a precautionary measure, resulting in the substitution of Malo Gusto, while Moisés Caicedo moved from right-back to a more natural defensive midfield role.

“I watched them press, we had Cole Palmer on one side and Enzo Fernández on the other side, in the second half we had Palmer on one side and Cucurella on the other side and we made some changes at the back” said Maresca after the game. “It worked quite well.”

Maresca benefits from a larger squad than Postecoglou has at his disposal to make such changes, but there will be some disgruntled Spurs fans who question whether their manager is capable of doing so, such is his determined will to attack.

Tottenham’s long absence list doesn’t help him. Spurs had already lost one of their centre-backs to injury after Postecoglou banked on the fitness of Cristian Romero, who returned to the lineup after a training session on Saturday following a toe injury that kept him out for almost a month. He lasted 15 minutes before developing an unrelated problem with his quadriceps.

Johnson was ruled out through illness and was forced to last 53 minutes as the momentum and energy of Spurs’ performance waned.

A Chelsea equalizer seemed inevitable and it proved so when Yves Bissouma recklessly brought down Caicedo in the penalty area and Palmer converted the resulting penalty. Palmer tried again and his deflected shot fell perfectly to Enzo Fernandez, giving Chelsea the lead with 17 minutes left.

Micky van de Ven, who was substituted early after a good training session due to a thigh injury, was only able to play 79 minutes.

Pape Matar Sarr fouled Palmer for the second penalty, which he converted in the 84th minute, becoming the player with the best conversion rate in Premier League history, now at 12 from 12. In fact, it was Palmer’s 50th goal involvement – 33 goals and 17 assists – came in his 48th Premier League game, and only Erling Haaland for Manchester City (39), Andy Cole for Newcastle United (43) and Mohamed Salah for Liverpool (46) have ever reached this total in fewer appearances.

Son later reduced the arrears, but by then the debate over Postecoglou was in full swing. The Australian suggested the officials were “frozen” for fear of a difficult decision when the VAR ruled Caicedo had not used excessive force in his challenge on Sarr late in the first half.

The fans’ unrest is simmering beneath the surface. Thursday’s 1-0 defeat at AFC Bournemouth ended with ugly scenes in which Postecoglou was confronted by angry traveling fans and followed similar flashpoints, including the home defeat to Ipswich Town last month.

“Fair play to them, I thought the crowd was good today, they got behind the team, but when the season has gone like it has for us… when you lose your centre-back 2-0 it really bothers you. said Posetcoglou. “You started the game so well and you have to make substitutions, which means it will be difficult to replace you in the second half. These things happen and you think, ‘This is another challenge for us and nothing is going smoothly.’ The crowd probably feels that too. It almost becomes a self-fulfilling thing when you expect something to go wrong.

“It’s a difficult moment because there are all these tools that you can use as a manager in difficult moments to turn things around and our limited resources from a playing point of view don’t allow us to do that, so we have have to find other ways, not for lack of effort. The players being out there all the time because we can’t rotate also detracts from their performance because they probably need a break.

“This is something we need to address head-on. Keep pushing. There is still a lot to play for us. I still feel there’s a real belief in what we’re doing in this team and if we keep that up, we’ll do it. “Hopefully we’ll turn our season around at some point.

Tottenham must change course quickly to avoid throwing Postecoglou overboard.