Why Postecoglou roared at Ryan Mason, what Bentancur told him and those Kalvin Phillips links

Ange Postecoglou was not having anything said against his Tottenham Hotspur team after that performance at Old Trafford.

He quickly grew agitated with one radio interview when it was suggested that Spurs could have made more of their dominance. The reason for his anger? It's because the Australian has never been as proud of his team as he was on Sunday evening and he wasn't going to hear a bad word said about them.

For even in the face of the ridiculous challenges thrown at Postecoglou and his players in their first six months together this week has reached new depths.

The Tottenham boss could not even enjoy getting early January signings through the door in the shape of Timo Werner and Radu Dragusin, because in the same week he lost Ben Davies, Giovani Lo Celso and Dane Scarlett to new muscle injuries, Ryan Sessegnon picked up a short-term "niggle" in Postecoglou's words after his return following 11 months out, but even that wasn't the end of the problems.

For fate was not done with his team yet as illness began to spread throughout the squad. Dejan Kulusevski copped the worst of it. The Swede felt temporarily better and attempted to train on Saturday only to worsen as the day went on and by Sunday he was not able to play any part.

Postecoglou told football.london that both Oliver Skipp and Destiny Udogie were among "four or five players" in the team who had also fallen ill, yet the duo ended up pushing themselves to the limit and beyond, Skipp playing 84 minutes and Udogie the full 95 minutes. For some within Tottenham it would have brought back bad memories of the famous 'Lasagne-gate' incident all those years ago.

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In all Postecoglou had 11 unavailable first team players including captain Son Heung-min, vice-captain James Maddison, in fact he had no attacking creative central midfielders to call upon at all and the Spurs boss couldn't even name a full bench. He could only select eight players, which included two goalkeepers and three young academy players. Eighteen-year-old centre-back Alfie Dorrington had played the full 90 minutes for the U21s less than 48 hours before in their 3-2 win at Southampton.

In his starting XI, Postecoglou had one centre-back who had not played a minute in around two-and-a-half months and another thrust in after more than three weeks out following just a couple of training sessions. Not only that but Werner came straight into the team despite having not played a minute of football since November 4.

So it would have been entirely understandable if Spurs had fought valiantly but struggled as the Theatre of Dreams instead brought only nightmares.

For Tottenham had only won two of their previous 11 games against Manchester United in the Premier League, one of them earlier this season at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Defeat was surely on the cards when Rasmus Hojlund fired a rocket of a shot past Guglielmo Vicario just two minutes and 32 seconds into the encounter. United had won every one of their previous 15 Premier League matches at Old Trafford when going into the break ahead.

In fact, Opta states that Tottenham have gone 1-0 down in 25 of their 32 Premier League games at Old Trafford, which is the most one side has conceded the first goal away to another in the league.

Yet Spurs' beleaguered players were having none of it. This was the first time they avoided defeat having trailed at half time in this Premier League fixture since October 2005.

On this occasion, they went to Manchester and made United look like the plucky visitors. Postecoglou's men had 64% of the possession and made 497 passes, more than double the 237 made by Erik ten Hag's side.

Spurs had 16 shots at goal with six on target and forced Andre Onana, who had delayed his Africa Cup of Nations departure for this game, into three saves. In contrast, United had only nine shots with their two on target their goals. Vicario did not have a single save to make otherwise. United's defence had 27 clearances to make to Tottenham's 14, with the visitors taking 13 corners to their eight.

Yet some of the home players, including Hojlund, said after the game that they felt the Manchester team were the better side on the night.

The truth was anything but and it was Spurs who could count themselves unlucky to walk away with just a point. The away side played some lovely football throughout, passing around United across the pitch with triangles and patterns of play that had Postecoglou's fingerprints all over them and players in red chasing shadows.

Both sides hit the woodwork but it was Udogie who sent a header on to his own post for United's one while the returning Cristian Romero thudded a header on to the crossbar at the other end of the pitch.

Richarlison's leaping header and Rodrigo Bentancur's run and finish pegged United back twice and if any team looked like scoring in the second half it was Tottenham until a last gasp Scott McTominay header over the bar threatened but didn't deliver an unlikely victory for the hosts.

"I thought it was an outstanding performance considering the challenges we had in putting a team out there today," said Postecoglou after the game. "It's a difficult place to come and play, obviously a big game for United as well. A win today would have given them some momentum.

"We got a goal down pretty early and this group of players just every time we've had to deal with adversity have just done it in an outstanding manner. I couldn't be prouder of them.

"It was an outstanding effort and I thought some of our football was fantastic. I thought we were unlucky not to win the game. Irrespective of that, the performance and the effort the boys put in was first rate."

On the illness in the camp and who it affected, the Australian told football.london: "Obviously Kulusevski, he's struggled all week with it. Again Deki was so desperate to play, he trained yesterday but he just went downhill after that. Skippy, Destiny, two or three others have all struggled with it this week but it doesn't really matter.

"These guys are just not going to make excuses. If we didn't play well today or not got a result today, they wouldn't want me to come out here and make excuses, but the reality of it is when you consider guys who haven't played for quite a while and guys still with what they've had to deal with.

"Timo has had two training sessions with us, hasn't played a game in ages, I just thought Pierre coming in, Rodrigo and even Skippy, who haven't started games in quite a while, it took an enormous effort from the lads and credit to them."

This is the new Tottenham. They will go anywhere without fear because Postecoglou has removed it and the supporters know it. The travelling Spurs fans were all you could hear inside Old Trafford for much of the game. The Australian applauded them when he first arrived at the stadium and walked out to inspect the pitch and he did so again after the final whistle.

There's something different about Tottenham Hotspur these days and everybody is playing the Postecoglou way, regardless of who steps on to the turf.

A makeshift midfield

With the absence of Dejan Kulusevski and Giovani Lo Celso so Postecoglou had to put out a midfield that would ordinarily be described as pedestrian.

There was an option to put Oliver Skipp and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg as a defensive duo with Rodrigo Bentancur ahead of them in a No.10 role but that would have removed a vital block in the Postecoglou foundation.

The key to Tottenham building from the back is the ball from the defence to the deeper midfielder who then spins it out sideways, first time quickly to the flanks to beat the onrushing opposition press.

Bentancur is the best of those three in doing that although when Yves Bissouma returns, that could free up the Uruguayan to also be a dominant No.8 as the timing of the run for his goal showed he can be. Likewise Bissouma could also have a fight on his hands for the anchor-man role although Postecoglou did admit a few weeks back before Bentancur's ankle injury that he had planned to use to the duo together.

On Sunday, Skipp, a natural No.6, was instead handed the role of chief disrupter by Postecoglou. The 23-year-old's job was to press like mad in the offensive areas and be a general nuisance to United while also linking up the play.

It's testament to his fitness despite his illness in the week that he carried out the job so well. He made three key passes - more than anyone on the pitch barring Pedro Porro. They included one excellent volleyed ball into the path of Timo Werner who should have gone on and scored in added time at the end of the first half.

The young midfielder also played the ball through to the German down the left in the build-up to Bentancur's second half leveller.

It was Skipp's best display of the season thus far and he also managed one tackle, one interception and had a 92.9% pass success rate, the highest of every Spurs player beyond the centre-backs and goalkeeper despite him trying to play plenty of attacking passes.

Hojbjerg worked hard and his natural inclination to come back into the holding role made it look at times like he was actually in the role, but it was Bentancur who received most of the balls from the defence.

The Dane did play more of those first-time spinning deep passes to the flanks than he has been in previous games, but he also lost the ball a few times. WhoScored's data-based rankings had the Dane as one of the lowest scoring outfield players on the Tottenham team.

The main man in the midfield was Bentancur and his goal was reminiscent of those match-turning strikes he was starting to come out with regularly before his cruciate ligament injury last February.

On this occasion, in the early exchanges of the second half, Skipp played Werner in down the left and the new signing weighed a superb ball into the path of the onrushing Uruguayan who was pointing to exactly where he wanted it. He took one touch out of his feet, another to set himself on the run and then crashed a shot past Onana and into the net.

Bentancur also made a crucial interception in his own box after Micky van de Ven had lost the ball, denying Bruno Fernandes at the last moment six yards from goal. Earlier in the game he had a header from a corner cleared away from goal by Diogo Dalot.

Bentancur got the full 95 minutes or so under his belt and it's exciting to think that he is still far from the sharpness and fitness that will come for him after spending much of 2023 away from the pitch.

Postecoglou revealed after the game how the 26-year-old had come to him and asked to return early from the ankle damage he suffered on his first start following his comeback from that cruciate ligament injury. It is a way of thinking that sums up Tottenham right now with everyone desperate to be a part of this new era.

"He was outstanding. It does [say a lot about him]. He's another one who with the initial diagnosis he should still be out from what we looked at as a recovery time. He came to me a couple of weeks ago and said 'look I want to help, I need to play, I need to help these guys'. He could see we were going through a rough time," said the Spurs boss.

"It is a testament to his character. He is an outstanding person. Part of the reason I made him skipper in the last game was just to reward him for the person he is and again he was outstanding today I thought.

"When we needed to get on the ball and show some composure he was outstanding and again he's nowhere near the fitness levels or the level he wants to be, but he will get there and when he does he'll be a fantastic asset for us to have in the team."

Postecoglou also paid tribute to Skipp and those Tottenham players who have just fitted in wherever they have been asked to and stepped up for the team.

"It's why we are where we are. We're not here because everything is running our way. I think anyone doing any kind of objective commentary on our season will not say that we've had an easy year. The only reason we're in the position we are is because we've had players who are prepared to put aside whatever adversity we're going through and give everything they have," he said.

"These guys are giving me everything, whoever is out there, whether it's guys playing out of position, guys who haven't played in a while, guys coming back from injury, they just give everything.

"It's not always smooth but there's no manager on this planet who wouldn't feel like they're in the right place when they see the kind of effort these guys are putting in every week."

Postecoglou will be excited about the midfield that is to come, having got through this tough period with positive results on the whole despite the absences.

The excitement about James Maddison and the playmaking abilities he was bringing to Spurs feels like a lifetime ago and the north London outfit have pushed through without him, relying on their width even more.

The hope is that the England international will be able to play a part in some, if not all, of the cluster of three matches in the week after the upcoming mini winter break. It's a mouth-watering prospect, inserting the creative livewire that Maddison is into a team in which the Postecoglou way is far more engrained than when he left. Manor Solomon will also be back for selection around the same time.

Bissouma and Sarr will then return from the Africa Cup of Nations and the competition in midfield will go from non-existent to fierce, barring further injuries of course which cannot be ruled out in a season when the treatment room has been standing room only.

Postecoglou's way brings injuries as a by-product to begin with, hamstring problems especially, and he has admitted that it's just something the players and the sports science staff adapt to with the workload in training and matches in the first season.

Key to the process of reducing them is the ability to rotate during and between matches, lessening the strain on the players. That's a luxury that has not been available to Postecoglou this season but he hopes that will change and Tottenham will grow stronger for it.

Timo Werner and that special Postecoglou celebration

All eyes were on Timo Werner at Old Trafford. Considered a flop at Chelsea despite a goal involvement in almost every other game for them and being a key player in the not so inconsiderable feat of lifting the Champions League trophy, everyone wanted to know how the 27-year-old would do on his return to the Premier League.

In truth it was difficult to judge him too harshly in some aspects for he has not played a minute of football since November 4 due to an injury and then the Bundesliga's winter break. He is so new to the team that he had to be called over into the now traditional huddle in front of the travelling fans at way matches.

That rustiness showed in moments in the game, including one wild shot high and wide after cutting inside and then later firing low and wide when put through by Skipp towards the end of the first half. Werner's critics will say that kind of miss was in keeping with his previous Premier League experiences but the German's goal record across his career suggests he can be a finisher in the right system.

The early signs were at least that the Postecoglou system will fit the him well and he saw plenty of the ball down the left. The more used he gets to Spurs' swift passing and movement, the better the opportunities he will have.

In all he had five shots, none on target, and it was that well-weighted assist for Bentancur that helped him celebrate his first game in a Spurs shirt with something tangible. He lasted 79 minutes and his defensive work will increase with the added fitness to come, with these two weeks ahead key for him to having a mini pre-season of sorts at Tottenham.

"I'm very happy to make my debut for Spurs. It was a special game. My first game and also at Old Trafford. Looking forward to many, many more games," said Werner in his club interview after the game.

"In our best phases of the game they scored their goals but that's football. That's how United is playing and they have the ground behind them here in Manchester but still I think we played a very good game and in the end a draw was more than fair but we could also win it.

"The point is good for us. Not every team can come and draw at Old Trafford but at the end when you've had chances, trying every minute and having more possession you are a bit sad that you don't win this game. I think how we grow as a team, it was only my first game, but I saw a lot of games and how the team develops, and a lot of players they are still missing so there is a lot of quality coming in over the next few weeks. I think we can be very proud and looking forward to what comes after today."

Werner seemed to be looking beyond his loan spell when talking about how he felt he fitted into Tottenham's brave, attacking system.

"I enjoyed it a lot. The offensive style how we play I think was incredible today," said the German. "It fits also very good to my style of football as well, to be high, to wait for the ball, to go to attack the deep spaces and I'm really looking forward to many, many more games."

Postecoglou was happy with the new man's first appearance as a Tottenham player.

"Timo, he's had two sessions with us, he hasn't started a game for ages but I saw today I think he can be really exciting for us once he get to understand our game and gets up to speed with our training," said the Spurs boss.

"You could see there were little moments today, he was always a threat and I think he will enjoy his football here. More importantly today I had no option but to start him. He was a really willing participant in it. He wanted to help. He put his hand up and said whatever I can do, I'll do and it's a credit to him."

Bryan Gil might not have been delighted about the suggestion that there was no other option for Postecoglou to pick and the Spaniard did have another little positive cameo as the game wore on.

On the other flank, Johnson's fitness is continuing to improve, constantly tracking back with two tackles and one interception in helping Porro, but the young forward's attacking output is still there for Postecoglou, Chris Davies and Ryan Mason to work on.

The 22-year-old managed one key pass, one dribble and sent one of his two shots on target but it still feels as if he doesn't trust his own hamstrings for there are points when his searing pace could be truly devastating but he does not fully commit to racing at the defender or directly at goal.

He did send in one cross from which Werner's header was diverted past the post by Jonny Evans. Johnson is a work in progress though and another who is getting to grips with a very different club and style of football.

One player who seems to have found his place in Postecoglou's football is Richarlison. The Brazilian had an off-day against Burnley in the FA Cup but at Old Trafford, his strength on the ball and link-up play were excellent. He also contributed at the other end of the pitch with two tackles and one clearance.

The No.9 was rewarded for his efforts with a superb glancing header into the far corner of the net from Porro's corner. That header made it six goals in his past six Premier League matches for Richarlison and since the start of December, no player has scored more goals in the league than him, only Dominic Solanke has also scored six in that time.

In fact, those six goals are as many as the Brazil international netted in his previous 47 combined appearances beforehand.

When the ball hit the back of the net, Postecoglou whipped around and punched the air with a roar of delight at the dugout at Old Trafford and then seemingly up at the director's box. He was asked after the game who he had been aiming that first roar at.

"There's no mysteries mate, you can ask that question," he said. "Yeah, Ryan Mason is in charge of attacking set-pieces. He's done an outstanding job all year. Mile [Jedinak as well] in charge of defensive set-pieces I thought we were brilliant. We've been really good in that space all year and it's a credit to both.

"All the coaches put in a real big shift this week. We knew we were going to have players in there playing their first game for a while or first time ever and all of them to a man did an outstanding job to prepare the team."

Tottenham's attack still hasn't reached anywhere near its required level yet. However, they have now scored in each of their past 33 games in the Premier League since since a 1-0 defeat at Wolves in March last year.

That Richarlison goal meant Spurs are now on the longest scoring run in their league history, surpassing 32-game streaks in 1949 and 1962. The current run includes 12 matches of last season and 21 under Postecoglou.

As the Australian has constantly stated, the attack is the area for most growth in his side and that is something to really get excited about.

A normal defence and the perfect break

It's difficult to know what Postecoglou will draw a bigger sigh of relief from. The fact that he can now finally select a normal looking defence with his centre-back options going from zero to three, or that the fixture schedule will now relent and help him get other players back.

Spurs were back in training at Hotspur Way on Monday after flying back from Manchester on Sunday night, the starting XI going through their recovery process.

Tottenham have 12 days between matches due to the Premier League's split winter break, which would have been longer but for the decision to once again hand the north London outfit a Friday night FA Cup tie.

After deciding against jetting off to a warm-weather training camp, football.london understands that Postecoglou has told his players that they can have a break to recover their bodies and they will be given Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday off this week before returning to prepare for that cup clash against Manchester City.

Many will no doubt take the chance to grab some winter sun themselves for a couple of days and the rare respite from the Australian's enjoyable but relentlessly-paced sessions which mimic the rhythm and length of matches.

There will be some aches and pains among the defenders for differing reasons. Cristian Romero and especially Micky van de Ven were playing their first games in a while, while Destiny Udogie had been unwell in the week and Pedro Porro has played almost every minute of this Premier League season since the second game of the campaign.

Both Romero and Van de Ven did relatively well considering their time out, the Dutchman having not played since November 6 and the Argentine back in after three weeks out and only a couple of training sessions with the group to his name.

They both took some time to get back into the swing of things. Romero took took a little while to get his positioning right. He stood off Hojlund with his hands behind his back and almost dared him to take the shot he scored from. Then he charged across unnecessarily for United's second goal, leaving a space for Hojlund to receive the ball from Marcus Rashford and play it back to him.

Around that though Romero found his rhythm and began to put in those trademark tough blocks to halt United's attacks.

Van de Ven had a couple of loose moments in possession, one of which required Bentancur to bail him out with that last-ditch interception before Fernandes could score. The young Dutchman understandably began to cramp up towards the end of the game as the pace of the encounter and United's counter-attacks took their toll. The sight of him on the floor and signalling to the bench was a terrifying one though.

"I felt like I was out for two years. From my feeling it was so long. I'm really happy to be back. I feel good. I had a little cramp at the end of the game but I feel good and I have no problems," he said after the game.

"It was a tough game. I thought we played quite well with the possession game, we were the better team. We knew that United sometimes keep four players forward so on the counter attack they can be really dangerous.

"I think you saw today that sometimes when we lost the ball they were quite fast on the counter attack and they created some opportunities. The goal came quite fast but we came back twice and you can say a point is fair but of course you want the three points.

"Sometimes we play with some risk because we always want the three points. Even when we are 2-2 or 1-1 we always want to win the game, even if it's minute 94 it doesn't matter. So of course you play with some risk sometimes but I think we can deal with it."

Postecoglou was delighted with both of his centre-backs and was able to bring on Radu Dragusin for his debut from the bench in the closing minutes. The 21-year-old's timing has been unfortunate with both centre-backs returning as he arrived at the club but he will get plenty of game time this season as his head coach looks to keep everyone far fresher, particularly in light of both Romero and Van de Ven having had recent hamstring issues. The Romanian will get the next couple of weeks to really start his Postecoglou education.

"Yeah ridiculous, both of them," the Australian said of his centre-backs' displays after so long out. "Romero is probably two weeks ahead of schedule but that's the thing about this group. Bentancur similar. They're putting aside their own personal well-being in many respects to just make themselves available because they want to help this team.

"They can see we've been going through a tough time for a long time. They both wanted to play and coming to a difficult place, Man United on transition are still a very, very good football team. The front four there, Fernandes and the front three, are a threat every time.

"For those two boys to perform like they did after being out for so long is a testament to their character."

On Van de Ven's late struggles, he added: "It was cramp and I don't know what that's like. I haven't had cramp for a long, long while. He gave everything and it's a credit to him. He's worked hard on his rehab and you never know what the right time to throw them back in is, until they play you don't know how they're going to get through.

"He was feeling really good about things, really confident and in a tough place against some pretty quick opponents where all of those things are tested I thought he passed it all with flying colours."

Porro added another assist to his growing tally. It was his seventh assist of the season in the Premier League – the joint-most of any defender this campaign across Europe's five big leagues with Kieran Trippier also having seven to his name.

The Spaniard had a tough time with both United's goals, unfortunate with tracking Rashford for both, but his creativity is still a huge asset and his defending will continue to improve as he works with Spurs' defensive coach Matt Wells.

Udogie, especially bearing in mind he had been ill in the build-up to the game, again showed that he's one of the best left-backs in the Premier League and he had to do more defensive work with Werner's fitness levels meaning tracking back was less of an option for him and lack of experience in the Postecoglou system.

Overall it was a team performance that showed once again that the Australian's team can go to any stadium in the world and will not be shaken from their brand of football or belief in their ability to get a result regardless of the personnel.

"I think [this display] is important. It does give you growth because there's a hell of a lot of reasons for us not to perform at that level today," said the Tottenham boss. "If we didn't, it would have been tough even for someone like me who tries to push the envelope in everything we do, I would have accepted that.

"But the fact that the boys put in a performance like that it does give you growth because you come out of it and you know that we're probably not going to have it as hard as we did today in terms of a build-up to a game and yet we're still going to perform at those levels."

There is so much more to come in the weeks, months and hopefully years ahead with this Postecoglou side and the Australian hinted that Tottenham are not done in the transfer window after securing their early priority signings in Werner and Dragusin.

"We’ll see. We had some pretty clear objectives which we’ve ticked off for now. We're still...I think I said every window is an opportunity for us to get better," he told football.london on Friday.

"If there's an opportunity for us to get better we'll take it, but what we were trying to achieve going into it I'm really pleased we've got two players in who I think will play a really important part for us in this second half of the year and beyond."

Spurs will continue to look for a central midfielder, a No.8, but that is more likely if Hojbjerg does depart during this window, which is not a given at this point unless someone can come up with the kind of fee that would tempt the club into selling mid-season.

Tottenham continue to be linked with Kalvin Phillips with the 28-year-old set to leave Manchester City. However, football.london understands that Spurs are not looking to make a move for the England international at this time.

Phillips is a defensive midfielder, able to play in the No.6 role, and that is an area where the north London club have a plethora of strong options. For the player as well, swapping City's bench for Tottenham's, which after this month is likely with the number of options at Postecoglou's disposal, makes little sense.

Spurs will continue to explore opportunities for young stars on the rise, with potential loan-back deals, as they did with players such as Udogie and Pape Matar Sarr.

football.london understands that Tottenham are among the Premier League clubs to have shown an interest in Norwich's talented winger Jonathan Rowe, but at this moment have not made a move for the versatile 20-year-old who has scored 12 goals and provided three assists in 28 matches this season.

Getting new faces in through the door at Tottenham in the coming weeks and this summer is going to be made easier by the football on offer and the promise of working with Postecoglou when targets see what he is doing with Spurs players across the age scale.

Gary Neville called Tottenham the most entertaining team in the Premier League after Sunday's display at Old Trafford and more and more pundits are tipping them for a top three spot with Postecoglou making it clear they are still in the title race.

People want to be a part of it. In the past month alone, Postecoglou's assistant head coach Chris Davies turned down what would have been his first managerial job at Swansea to remain involved, Werner returned to the Premier League despite his previous experiences and Dragusin spurned the advances and far higher wages of Bayern Munich to make his way to north London.

Something's happening in N17 and everyone is starting to take notice.