Spurs have dropped to 15th in the Premier League table and have won one of their last 10 matches, leading to calls for the Australian to be sacked
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As 18-year-old Archie Gray turned the ball into his own net in first-half stoppage time of Tottenham's trip to Everton to put the Toffees 3-0 up, goodness only knows what was running through Ange Postecoglou's mind as he stood lonely on the edge of his technical area.
Spurs were sliding to their eighth defeat in 10 Premier League games, a run which has only seen one win – a 5-0 walkover of 20th-placed Southampton. This is relegation form, and the north Londoners should be a tad thankful the true contenders for the drop are already a fair bit adrift of safety already.
Watching on from above in the Goodison Park precipice were chairman Daniel Levy, executive director Donna-Maria Cullen and chief football officer Scott Munn. At least they didn't have to stomach going over to the volatile away section come full-time.
There's some pretty stiff competition, but Tottenham are the Premier League's number-one basket case right now, and everyone at the club has to do some soul searching. It does, however, feel increasingly likely that the person who will pay the price first will be Postecoglou.
Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱Getty ImagesAn impossible job
No matter which strategy Tottenham have pivoted to in the post-Champions League final era, it seems to wind up proving an unsuccessful venture. They went down the 'serial winner' route with Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, only for them to both leave the club in a worse state in which they found it. Nuno Espirito Santo, who took Wolves to unprecedented Premier League heights and is now third in the table with Nottingham Forest, was quickly deemed a failure and misstep.
Now is the turn of Postecoglou, who was meant to be the face of a revolution. To give the affable Australian some credit, he played that role superbly in his first season in spite of the massive challenges facing him. Harry Kane, the club's all-time leading scorer and arguably best-ever player, played a full pre-season before being sold to Bayern Munich a couple of days before Spurs' Premier League campaign kicked off, and a direct replacement for him wouldn't be signed for another year.
That was on top of already finding the club on its knees and at their lowest ebb since Harry Redknapp steered them away from a relegation battle to an eighth-placed finish in 2008-09. Any connection between the team and fans had completely evaporated, but both parties seemed willing to resolve that issue.
Postecoglou's first home game, a 2-0 win against Manchester United in August 2023, was among the loudest atmospheres sampled in Tottenham's new billion-pound stadium. Three months into the season, Spurs sat top of the league and were the neutral's favourite for their buccaneering and uncompromising style. Even when that house of cards collapsed with a 4-1 defeat to Chelsea having been reduced to nine men, fans were energised and applauded the squad's efforts. There was something meaty enough to work with.
Tottenham ended the season in fifth – several positions above many doomsayers' predictions – and were only a whisker away from qualifying for the Champions League, while the enthralling style of play was completely unrecognisable from the last five years. Postecoglou had probably hit the ceiling with what was available to him after 12 months and spirits were high heading into his second campaign, where everything has come crashing back down again.
AdvertisementGetty Images SportHolding back the tide
As with many of his predecessors, Postecoglou hasn't quite kicked on in year two with that same upward trajectory. At this point, that's no coincidence.
On the whole, Tottenham don't have a terrible squad, rather it has some nice players without any of them being truly elite. Dejan Kulusevski has gone to another level as a midfielder this year, while Spurs' back five on paper ought to be among the Premier League's best.
It still, however, is missing dynamism and ingenuity. All of the wingers, bar 17-year-old Mikey Moore and summer recruit Wilson Odobert, are extremely one-dimensional. Those in central areas prefer to take risks in the defensive or middle thirds rather than in the attacking one. This lack of creativity has manifested into 11 of their 12 Premier League defeats being by one goal, with 10 of those coming at the end of matches where Spurs could hardly fashion a chance.
That's the added factor of losing Kane, while also moving into a different phase of Son Heung-min's career at the age of 32. No one available to Postecoglou can conjure up magic when all seems lost. There is no taking a game by the scruff of the neck and winning the hard way. Spurs are trying to walk the ball in but all the while getting overrun. It's a recipe for disaster.
Getty Images SportMounting injuries
The saving grace Postecoglou can turn to is he has not had a full squad to choose from all season long. Even at their peaks this term – maulings of Manchester United and Manchester City away from home, as well as an impressive cup win at home to Liverpool – he has had to patch the team up in some way. Spurs at their free-flowing best are definitely top-four contenders.
Alas, the injuries have piled up and Postecoglou has had to sift his way through a squad unable to meet demand. Again, he is not the first Tottenham manager to suffer from a stark gap in quality between first XI and the rest.
At present, Tottenham's cohort of 10 injured first-teamers – Guglielmo Vicario; Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Destiny Udogie; Odobert, Yves Bissouma, Rodrigo Bentancur, Timo Werner; Brennan Johnson, Dominic Solanke – could very well give the team that started Sunday's trip to Everton a run for their money.
The finger of blame has been pointed in Postecoglou's direction, yet this is an inconclusive assumption. We do not know what happens at their Hotspur Way training complex, what data is available to them and if this is a matter of the coach simply pushing them too far from the off. What definitely hasn't helped has been a lack of rotation mixed in with the high intensity of their pressing, but that's part of a self-fulfilling cycle here.
Getty Images SportCan't stop the bleeding
Postecoglou has always stressed his stubborn nature is down to his belief it will benefit the team and the players in the long run. There's method to that madness, and you could even find yourself defending that notion if Spurs were, say, 10th and fighting in the competitive upper-mid-table pack. After eight losses in 10 and languishing in 15th, that doesn't fly. You can't keep losing and expecting to get better without acting on it.
Tottenham cannot buy a win, which can be attributed to the make-up of their squad. All of their victories have been deserved and emphatic, while the defeats have been limp and equally as justified. If Spurs are losing with 20 minutes to go, you already know they're not salvaging the game. If the advantage is slender, it's fair to assume it will be wiped out. If this team doesn't sprint into leads, they stand little chance of taking the three points.
In Postecoglou's recent career, he hasn't had to deal with a situation like this, as he is usually more accustomed to battling at the other end of the table. Good for him, but now he needs to show some survival instincts.
