No wonder Ange is irritable, writes MATT BARLOW… Spurs expect to win every game and play beautiful football without paying top salaries

If points were awarded for petulance, Tottenham would not be stuck in the middle of the table. Not with Ange Postecoglou setting the tone.

He becomes increasingly angry as the match progresses, quickly taking offence at his mistakes and seeming bewildered that there are not more glowing reviews of his team’s performance.

On Saturday, after the win over Brentford, he was annoyed by the questions he was asked about the ball his goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario had scored outside the penalty area and had gotten away with.

“Okay, look, I think we were lucky with this result,” he sighed with the kind of sarcasm Pep Guardiola likes to use when press conferences don’t go his way.

Tottenham had scored three goals and deservedly won, so Postecoglou would have preferred to talk about how well they had played and bask in the praise for his exciting style of play after a week in which arrows were fired at him following the defeat in the North London derby.

Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou has appeared increasingly irritated in recent weeks

Tottenham players such as James Maddison have admitted their form has fluctuated this season

This weekend’s North London derby highlighted the difference between an attacking philosophy and a more pragmatic approach to finishing games.

Losing at home to Arsenal always puts the senses on edge in N17. Postecoglou snapped afterwards about how he ‘always wins trophies in his second season’ and woke up the next day to headlines declaring Ange Ball’s honeymoon over and the sound of Tottenham fans growing uneasy about his unyielding commitment to such attacking football.

However, within the camp they felt disadvantaged. They had not played badly and had only narrowly lost to a very good team.

Cristian Romero felt the need to alert the world via a repost on social media that Spurs saw no need to board a private jet to get him home early from his international commitments in South America.

Whether this was Romero’s apology for Gabriel Maghalaes pushing him aside and punching him in the air before the goal, or whether he was contributing to the debate over the player’s welfare, or whether he was simply trying to take his last chance at a transfer to Real Madrid, remains to be seen.

None of the Spurs players felt like talking after the defeat to Arsenal, but after scoring his first goal of the season against Brentford,

James Maddison told Australian broadcasters Optus Sport: “We lost to Arsenal and we dominated the game. They were resilient, they played the long ball, they played second balls. The basics of football, as I say.”

Maddison also said that he had been happy with his form all season, although he didn’t get any recognition for not scoring and the team not winning. He didn’t complain, he made a point, and that point was deserved.

Ultimately, everything is viewed through results. There is increasingly a race to judgment after every match as part of a relentless cycle of analysis across many different platforms.

It must be a more confusing time than ever to sit in the Tottenham manager’s office, where attacking style is supposed to count for everything based on something that happened all those decades ago. And yet only to a certain extent.

But is Tottenham’s attacking style of play viable in the long term? Does Postecoglou have a plan B?

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has shown the club how to be resilient and win tough games

Only if you win and win and win. And that kind of form is very difficult in the Premier League, especially if you are committed to playing an open brand of football without paying the salaries to command the very best players in the league, which means the very best players in the world.

If you’re not winning consistently, that all-out attacking style is fine, but where’s Plan B? That’s what people want to know. And the question of Plan B is really code for a request to sacrifice principle and put winning above all else.

For years, under Arsène Wenger, Arsenal played some of the most fluid and attractive football we have seen in modern times.

It made them one of the most popular teams in the world and created a huge global fan base. But when the billionaire owners changed the Premier League landscape, the beautiful football didn’t resonate as well and didn’t enjoy the same success.

Led by Mikel Arteta, they are a feast for the eyes, but above all they are a team that wants to win and is prepared to do whatever it takes to get that result.

In the big games they are perhaps closer to George Graham’s Arsenal than Wenger’s and few die-hard fans will complain that they are no longer the best ticket in town when they win something big.

The best ticket in town is to see Postecoglou’s Spurs, because they can transform any old, mundane spectacle into a nerve-wracking adrenaline ride. No wonder he looks exhausted when the final whistle blows. And so we can forgive him his temper.

The best ticket in town is to see Postecoglou’s Spurs, because they can turn any dull match into a nerve-wracking adrenaline rush

Five things I learned this week…

New Champions League format is lukewarm

UEFA have successfully captured the essence of pre-season friendlies with their new format for the Champions League. A blur of matches, hard to keep track of as they appear at different times on different days on different channels with an almost complete absence of danger. On first impressions, it’s all a bit tepid. It may well come to a head around Christmas, but don’t expect all these extra matches to amount to much more than the same old names once we get into spring.

West Brom’s Maja could finally fulfil his potential

Josh Maja is flourishing at West Bromwich Albion with six goals in six games. The London-born Maja is 25 and has never quite realised the potential he showed when he first broke through at Sunderland.

He went to Bordeaux in France, was loaned to Fulham and Stoke and his first season at the Hawthorns was marred by injuries. This season he has not looked back since a hat-trick on the opening day. He scored the only goal against Plymouth on Saturday and Carlos Corberan’s side are top of the Championship.

West Bromwich Albion’s Josh Maja could fulfil his potential after enjoying a strong start to the new season

Clemence is enjoying his role as manager at Barrow

Stephen Clemence has made a fantastic start to his new job as manager of Barrow, who are top of League Two after seven games and have a number of interesting games on the programme this week.

On Tuesday, Clemence takes his team to Chelsea for the Carabao Cup and on Saturday to Gillingham, the club level on points who sacked him in the summer after less than six months in charge.

Stephen Clemence has made a fantastic start to his new job as manager of League Two leaders Barrow

Family matters for England interim coach Carsley

England interim manager Lee Carsley took a break from scouting duties to watch son Callum make his debut for Nuneaton Town, the latest incarnation of the club formed after the last demise of Nuneaton Borough. They play home games at nearby Bedworth Town and have won 7-0 against Allexton and New Parks in Midland League One.

England manager Lee Carsley took some time off to watch his son play football for Nuneaton Town

Roy Hodgson’s (right) loyal assistant Ray Lewington (left) has started his third term as interim manager of MK Dons

Hodgson’s former lieutenant Lewington is back to help his son at MK Dons

Former England manager Ray Lewington is back on the touchline. Roy Hodgson’s loyal assistant in various roles until their departure from Crystal Palace in February, he is helping out his son Dean, now a player-coach who began his third spell as caretaker manager of Milton Keynes Dons following Mike Williamson’s abrupt departure to Carlisle last week. The Lewingtons wore tracksuits on the touchline during Saturday’s draw with Doncaster Rovers, who played 80 minutes with 10 men at Stadium MK.