Kasey Keller: Postecoglou’s attitude to Fraser Forster’s style is “bad coaching” – and why Spurs must spend to compete
KASEY KELLER says Ange Postecoglou is wrong to force Fraser Forster to play out from the back when it is not his natural game – and urged the Spurs boss to develop a Plan B.
While ex-Tottenham stopper Keller also says it is unfair to expect Champions League results of his old team when they are not spending Champions League money.
Forster, 36, has stepped into the breach after No1 Guglielmo Vicario fractured his ankle against Manchester City last month.
The England goalie, set to start against old club Southampton on Sunday, has made some top stops but looked uncomfortable passing out in Postecoglou’s possession game.
Keller feels Postecoglou persevering with the tactic is an example of how he stubbornly refuses to switch up his approach.
The American, 55, told SunSport via William Hill Vegas: “If your No1 goalkeeper has strengths and your back-up goalkeeper has different strengths, then you’re going to have to make adjustments. That’s what coaching is.
“You don’t just get to go, ‘You all play like this world all-star team’. No, it doesn’t work that way.
“That’s not on Fraser, that’s on Ange. You’re not going to ask your striker to play like Erling Haaland. ‘You go play like Erling Haaland’. ‘Well I can’t do that’. ‘Why not?’
“It’s no different from a goalkeeper. Your goalkeeper has his strengths and weaknesses just like every other player.
“Then to ask him to do something that isn’t fair to him, that’s just bad coaching. I’m sorry.”
Postecoglou has copped flak for sticking religiously to his way of playing, despite a crippling injury list denying him some of his stars.
It has contributed to a wildly inconsistent season, with Spurs heading to St Mary’s on Sunday having lost seven games in the league already.
Keller added: “The criticism of Ange has been there is no Plan B. That’s great when Plan A is working every week.
“That’s part of the point with Forster. There has to be a Plan B within Plan A, because you don’t have the same players on the pitch every game and every player doesn’t have the same qualities and abilities.
“You’re always making little adjustments based on who is available, their form and confidence, your opposition.
“The day of ‘we play the way we play’, that’s great if you’re PSV Eindhoven in the Eredivisie and you’re so much better than everyone else. You can then say ‘they have to adjust to us.’
“But right now there’s so much competition in the Premier League and La Liga and the Bundesliga, you have to make adjustments based on who you have and who you’re playing against.
“Those adjustments can be big or small. But that’s where you get paid as a coach.
“Anybody can pick a team and put it out. But you have to work with the players you have and play the way that best suits the players you have.”
Postecoglou had the added headache after last Sunday’s 4-3 home defeat to Chelsea of vice-captain Cristian Romero taking aim at Daniel Levy and the Spurs’ hierarchy for a lack of investment in a TV interview.
The Argentine, who is out for six weeks with a quad injury, suggested the club’s powers-that-be must realise they need to spend like their Big Six rivals if they are to compete for the title.
Postecoglou said it was wrong of the defender to air his views publicly and revealed Romero later apologised to him for the comments.
Keller praised Levy for turning Spurs into an English football powerhouse – but feels the club do need to commit more financially to take on the best in Europe consistently.
The former Leicester man said: “I respect Daniel greatly. What he’s been able to do in turning the finances around and building the stadium, there is no question he deserves a lot of plaudits.
“But there’s a point where you have to say ‘Are we truly in a place to be able to compete financially with the other (big) clubs?’
“The worst thing for Tottenham fans was Leicester winning the Premier League because then Daniel was able to say, ‘Look, they have a much less budget than you and they were able to win’!
“But no, seriously, it really is a case where (former boss Mauricio) Pochettino was able to overachieve.
“Challenging for titles, consistently in the Champions League for a few years, getting to a Champions League final, when your payroll was not at the level as the other Premier League teams in the Champions League.
“That’s brilliant. But to consistently ask for that, from a new manager, is putting the cart before the horse.
“You’re asking for something that should be considered an overachievement to be the standard. That seems a little bit unfair.”
Keller had a brief loan spell in 2004 at Southampton, who are rock bottom eight points from safety with boss Russell Martin sticking puritanically to his total football approach.
Keller added: “I played at Southampton for four matches so it’s hard for me to have a big overview, but I didn’t really think it was a fanbase that was like, ‘We want this over-entertaining football and we’re willing to go down instead of playing more pragmatically and staying up’.
“I don’t think that’s the case. I think they would love to see a team get back to where you’re consistently a Premier League side, then slowly bring in pieces that make you more attractive.
“Figure out how to be competitive, how to grind out results and then it will be easier to attract talent that can be more attractive.
“But you’re not going to do that by going up and down every year.”