Tottenham fans who’d started to believe Ange Postecoglou had banished their ‘Spursy’ ways have been forced to reconsider.
After an outstanding start to the season under the Australian – which saw 10 league games unbeaten, time atop the Premier League table and three Manager of the Month awards – reality is kicking in.
Thursday night’s 2-1 home defeat to West Ham was Spurs’ fourth loss in five games, a rotten sequence that has seen them slump to fifth – nine points behind leaders Arsenal.
Spurs have become the first side in the Premier League era to fail to win five consecutive games despite going 1-0 up in each match.
Tottenham slumped to a fourth defeat in their last five games against West Ham on Thursday
Tottenham’s fortunes have flipped around under Ange Postecoglou after a brilliant start
They have now made some unwanted Premier League history after throwing away the lead
They have also become the first team in Premier League history to lose three consecutive home games despite going 1-0 ahead in each.
The bad run started against Chelsea on November 6 when, after Dejan Kulusevski handed them a sixth-minute advantage, they collapsed to a 4-1 defeat after seeing two players sent off.
If that result seemed like an anomaly, they then surrendered a third-minute lead handed them by Brennan Johnson to lose 2-1 at Wolves in their next game.
On November 26, the same fate befall Spurs after Aston Villa turned around a 22nd-minute deficit to win 2-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Last Sunday, Spurs led away to Manchester City through Son Heung-min’s sixth-minute strike, only to ultimately draw the match 3-3.
In fairness, that felt like a win after Kulusevski’s last-gasp equaliser won them a point.
But then history repeated again on Thursday night. Leading through Cristian Romero’s 11th-minute goal, they lost their London derby with West Ham after Jarrod Bowen and James Ward-Prowse goals tuned the contest.
Spurs went 1-0 up after just 11 minutes when Cristian Romero headed home from a corner
The Argentine scored on his return to the side after serving a three-match suspension
Jarrod Bowen equalised early in the second half as David Moyes’ side were much improved
Read Related Also: Ange Postecoglou reveals what Pep Guardiola said to him as they embraced after Tottenham's incredible six-goal thriller with Manchester City
It was Bowen’s ninth Premier League goal of the campaign and continued his superb season
Afterwards, Son accused the team of being ‘soft’
‘Losing that game is unacceptable. We have got the lead five times in a row now. West Ham are always tough to play against but we were soft,’ said the Spurs skipper.
‘In the Premier League, you don’t know what will happen in the end. You have to kill a game.
‘It’s unacceptable. Players have to take responsibility – the fans don’t deserve this.’
The manager was understandably tetchy in the wake of his side’s defeat, stating in his post-match press conference that he was unhappy with his side’s current inability to convert clever play into three points.
‘Us being good means us being 3-0 up. This is about winning games. All I am interested in is winning. 1-0 at half time was not a good performance by us,’ he said.
‘A good one would have been 4-0 up and put it to bed and when you don’t, you give up goals you shouldn’t.
James Ward-Prowse fired home the winner for the Hammers after his first effort hit the post
It sparked pandemonium in the away end as the Hammers defeated their London rivals
‘We are going through a spell where we are playing so-called good football but I don’t see that.
‘It’s us not really showing any real clear conviction in what we are doing, almost thinking it will go in the net by itself, you need determination to do that and keep it out the net.
‘Sometimes we can disguise how we are going, playing some nice stuff, but that’s not what I’m about I want to win. That’s why I came here and that’s the message – a long way to go.
‘We are right at the beginning and days like today give further fuel of how much we need to do.’
Spurs will hope to return to winning ways when they host Newcastle United on Sunday.
