Ange Postecoglou is the lunatic the Premier League has been waiting for, writes RIATH AL-SAMARRAI… plus why Jude Bellingham has a lot to learn

If you fancy a quick aside, I did some reading before and after Tottenham’s defeat at Chelsea about men of faith whose beliefs align with their appetite for risk. Ultimately, that journey ended up with an American preacher named Jamie Coots.

Snakes were his thing. Yes, he was one of those guys. He stood at the front of his church in Kentucky and no matter how many times the ratters got to him, he kept coming back to the stage to deliver his message, more and more convinced that he was right.

That was all well and good until the ninth time he was bitten; he’s been gone for ten years now. If there is a point, it might be the value of balancing commitment with self-preservation. Of knowing the right moment to adapt your approach in the service of an ideology.

So what do we think of Ange Postecoglou in the football world?

Since he came into our orbit he has been the preacher standing over the Premier League vivarium – you can’t spell evangelical without Ange. He has his guiding principles on how to play this foolish game, his “religion” as he puts it, and he is not for changing.

He stuck to it when Tottenham were flying, he stuck to it when they played Chelsea with nine men in November, and he stuck to it when it all went wrong against the same team on Thursday. He will stick to it at Liverpool on Sunday, even if it means a fourth defeat in a row. And he will stick with it: what was once first place after eleven games shrinks to sixth place after 38 games.

He will stick to his theory that everything, including the many goals conceded from set pieces, is of less importance and lower priority than convincing his players to follow his vision of attacking football. Passing backwards? Ask Cristian Romero and Pape Sarr what their manager thinks about that. Ask him about free kicks again and he might pass you the rattlesnake.

And isn’t that a bit weird and wonderful? Such a lack of flexibility can be flawed and self-defeating in his work, and most of the time it is, but in less conventional ways it’s fantastic.

I loved an interview he gave to Mail Sport on this subject in the happier days of November. That was when Spurs’ opening run of eight wins and two draws ended with an arrogant defeat to Chelsea and a weaker defeat to Wolves. People were just starting to sensibly wonder if there was anything to be said for holding back just a little bit longer, but he wasn’t having it.

“I don’t know any different,” he told Ian Ladyman and Chris Sutton. ‘In the broad church of football philosophies I have remained very strict to one religion. I went into a library of football books and got stuck in a section dealing with attacking football. It’s the only space I feel comfortable in.’

He’s had that vibe since he arrived and it’s perhaps the most consistent aspect of Tottenham’s season. Last Wednesday, a day before the worst half of their campaign against Chelsea, Postecoglou had built on his theme, first when he spoke of the need within his squad for ‘true believers’ in his teachings, and then in the context of their sad set piece record.

The latter took on some urgency as Spurs had conceded fourteen goals in such a manner and he was asked if this was worrying. “Not in the slightest,” he said, before reaching into the box of hoses again. “To quote Billy Joel, ‘Maybe you’re right, I may be crazy, but maybe you’re looking for a crazy person.’

‘There is an underlying reason for this, which I feel very comfortable with. Ultimately, I will create a team that succeeds, and it won’t come from working on set pieces.”

Obviously the sentiment surrounding set pieces feels a bit pointless, if you believe it at first glance, as Tottenham were twice bitten by free-kicks against Chelsea. Only three other teams have let in more and all are in the bottom four of the division. Not only are Manchester City and Arsenal in the top two for their set pieces, but importantly they also have the two best records in defending dead balls. Just as they are both in the top three for their goals and Spurs are joint tenth.

Apart from the fact that Postecoglou was traumatized by an errant free kick as a child, it is difficult to understand an ‘underlying reason’ why he seems so resistant to improving this aspect of his coaching operation. It is sporting madness to leave the stone undisturbed when so many rivals attach fanatic importance to it.

But Postecoglou is also right about something: he is the crazy person we were looking for.

He is the 58-year-old man who, after such a long road to the Premier League, is determined to do it his way. A Sinatra quoting Billy Joel. A friend in the most exciting form of football and a manager who turned size into a slightly dirty word. He’s the uptight old romantic unwilling to sell himself at a time when English football has flogged FA Cup replays and may soon send a few games to the US.

On a less ethereal level, he is the coach who arrived at Tottenham and almost immediately lost Harry Kane. That was like moving into a palace and finding a cobra in your bed – he simply picked it up and started preaching his way to the top, if only for a while.

Currently, he looks and sounds like a manager on the wrong end of a painful bite. That is a disappointment that we can contrast with a record that shows Postecoglou has collected 60 points in 34 games. That’s three more than Mikel Arteta has in his first 38 at Arsenal, and he’s aiming to surpass Jurgen Klopp for the same period. The set-piece numbers are certainly terrible, but the ones you see in the table should take most of the poison out of the inquest.

The question is how he adapts to the subtly changing mood towards his work. To the doubts that creep in from outside around some of his wisdom.

If we think back to the brilliant interview he did on these pages last year, you’ll find a few clues, remembering that this came on the back of two defeats.

“Perversely, this is the bit I love,” he said. ‘It tests me as a person. It tests my faith.”

The fresh fangs in his hands indicate that he still holds on to the faith, from the good things to the bad to the pointless. Buried beneath the madness of it all, there is a real beauty in that.

Jude Bellingham’s immaturity showed

I was at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday for Bayern Munich’s Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid and a few thoughts emerged.

One focused on Jude Bellingham’s immature attempts to delay Harry Kane from serving his sentence – if he hasn’t yet seen the futility of luring a stone-cold killer, it would indicate that this boy genius still has some learning to do .

The others related to ticket prices – the cheapest was just 19 euros. The Germans have shown us this year both on and off the field.

Tiger Woods is still a pleated-pants warrior

There would be no doubt about Tiger Woods’ right to a special invitation to next month’s US Open, despite failing to qualify for the first time since 1992.

Making the cut at the Masters showed he’s still a pleated-pants warrior, but his claim at Augusta that he’s not yet a ceremonial golfer seems to be on shaky ground.