JUST NOW: Spurs’ Notable Vulnerabilities Under Ange Postecoglou Leads To…

This was supposed to be the moment Tottenham Hotspur clicked back into gear.

The conclusion of the Asia Cup and African Cup of Nations coincided with the return from injury of key players such as James Maddison and Micky van de Ven putting the North Londoners back to full strength.

Rivals with European commitments faced a more intense fixture list so the door could well be ajar for the side challenging for the title.

If Spurs was able to string a set of results together and beat its rivals in the one-to-one games then it would be right back in the mix.

But rather than heralding the start of an imposing run, the results have been patchy.

Wins against Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford were achieved but the performances were hardly convincing and a 2-2 draw with Everton, when the team conceded a stoppage-time equalizer, has certainly checked any sense of momentum.

In the aftermath of the dropped points on Merseyside, manager Ange Postecoglou blamed missed chances.

“I’d never say it was a good point – we try to win games of football,” he said.

“Yes, disappointed not to do that today, conceding so late. Ultimately, we’ve just got to take it on the chin.

“It’s not an easy place to come and try to play fluidly. For the most part, I thought we handled it okay. We lost a bit of composure in the first half. Second half, I thought we played some decent stuff, created a few chances and probably needed a third goal to kill them off.

“You know in the last 10 minutes, everything is going to go their way, it did, you have to deal with it and unfortunately, we didn’t deal with the last one. We can only control what we do and there were little moments we could have done better.”

If the Australian coach was disappointed with that collapse he would have been even more upset with what was to come against Wolverhampton Wanderers at home a few weeks later.

Despite welcoming back captain Son Heung-min into their starting line-up for the first time since he returned from the Asia Cup, the West Midlanders walked out of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with all three points.

Freak results against teams of a lower standard can happen and Wolves are clearly no mugs-having handed Chelsea a 2-4 pasting at Stamford Bridge a few weeks back-but what will concern Postecoglou is how Gary O’Neill’s side seemed to have figured out a way to probe Spurs vulnerabilities.

“We knew we could get Hwang [Hee-chan] and Pedro [Neto] in behind and we thought we could play through the press. We pretty much envisaged it how we got it,” the Wolverhampton Wanderers manager explained post-game.

“But we were more than just counter-attacking and when we had the ball we caused them loads of problems and kept missing chances. I was a little bit frustrated that we weren’t more clinical but we kept going and kept threatening.”

It’s not that Spurs haven’t overcome adversity this season, a remarkable 1-2 stoppage-time victory over Sheffield United earlier this year electrified the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and the recent 3-2 win versus Brentford was also thanks to a comeback.

But against Wolves, the situation was not recovered.

“You can’t keep coming from behind and doing that every week. We needed to be better in the first half,” reflected a rueful Postecoglou who also blamed defensive lapses for the defeat.

“Both goals conceded are disappointing from our point of view,” he added.

“We paid the price for not being as concentrated or disciplined in our football.

“It wasn’t through the lack of effort. We had them camped in their half and then they break and score the goal.”

The defeat was especially disappointing because three points would have established Spurs in the top four, three from Manchester City in third and five from Arsenal in second.

Given the squad is now stronger thanks to the additions of Timo Werner and Drago Dragusin it would have provided impetus for an exciting run-in.

I pointed out around a month ago, now would be the time we’d see the real Ange Postecoglou Tottenham Hotspur.

However, so far it appears this is a pretty inconsistent team.

By this stage in his Celtic career, Postecoglou’s side was playing its most impressive soccer, admittedly the circumstances are different to Spurs, but it raises questions about the time it will take for his style of soccer-known as ‘Ange-ball’-to take effect.

Perhaps, Tottenham Hotspur fans will hope, it will be next season when the breathtaking attacking soccer that won hearts in Scotland and beyond will emerge.

The club is already on course to significantly improve on the eighth-place finish from last season.

It’s well in the mix for a Champions League berth, which would represent a strong first campaign for Postecoglou in North London.

But if he is to achieve even more then the methods Gary O’Neil used to unpick his side will have to be remedied.