Tottenham Hotspur have had a truly terrible season.
Indeed, Spurs are sitting 14th in the Premier League table, and barring a minor miracle, they will finish in the bottom-half of the Premier League for the first time in a generation.
| Position | Team | Played MP |
Won W |
Drawn D |
Lost L |
For GF |
Against GA |
Diff GD |
Points Pts |
| 12 |  |
28 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 36 | 33 | 3 | 39 |
| 13 |  |
29 | 10 | 7 | 12 | 37 | 40 | -3 | 37 |
| 14 |  |
29 | 10 | 4 | 15 | 55 | 43 | 12 | 34 |
| 15 |  |
29 | 7 | 13 | 9 | 32 | 36 | -4 | 34 |
| 16 |  |
29 | 9 | 7 | 13 | 33 | 49 | -16 | 34 |
Ange Postecoglou is under pressure, but, somehow, the Australian is still in a job.
Postecoglou’s position is in jeopardy, but he does have one potential saving grace, the Europa League.
Postecoglou keeps telling his players how important a Europa League win would be, and, triumph in that competition could well save his job.
Postecoglou could be saved by victory in Europe, but there’s an argument to make that would be a short-sighted decision.
In fact, we’ve seen another top Premier League team fall into the exact same trap recently.
Tottenham could repeat Manchester United’s Erik ten Hag mistake
Cast your mind back 12 months, and you may remember that Erik ten Hag was in a similar position to Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham.
In fact, Ten Hag was in a better position, Manchester United were eighth in the Premier League and heading into an FA Cup final.
The Dutchman’s positions was under fire, and United were seriously considering sacking Ten Hag.
However, United managed to beat Man City in the FA Cup final, and, thus, Ten Hag’s job was saved.
The former Ajax boss was given a new contract at Old Trafford and the Ten Hag era would continue.
Unfortunately, United quickly realised that one cup run doesn’t paper over 12 months’ worth of poor performances, and the same issues crept up again at the start of this season.
Just a few months after being given a new contract and millions of pounds’ worth of new signings, Ten Hag was sacked and replaced by Ruben Amorim as he failed to get his team to produce consistent performances.
Jim Ratcliffe admitted that he regretted keeping Ten Hag on and giving him that new deal.
“Yeah, it was the wrong decision. We made the wrong decision. It was an error. So yeah, I suppose in that sense I regret it,’ Ratcliffe said, via Sky Sports.
“I think there was some extenuating or mitigating circumstances in having made that decision, but at the end of the day it was the wrong decision, so hands up, me of course on that one.”
Ange Postecoglou’s overall stats for Tottenham
Then we come back to Postecoglou and Tottenham.
Yes, Spurs could realistically go on and win the Europa League. After all, there isn’t tons of quality left in the competition.
However, if Tottenham do win the Europa League, that short-term lift won’t necessarily transform into long-term results.
Postecoglou’s stats at Tottenham are worrying, regardless of if he manages to win the Europa League.
| Ange Postecoglou stats this season | |
|---|---|
| Games | 87 |
| Wins | 42 |
| Draws | 12 |
| Losses | 33 |
| Win percentage | 48% |
The reality is that Postecoglou’s style isn’t working in the Premier League, Tottenham keep losing matches, and they’re set for an embarrassingly poor league finish this season.
A Europa League victory would paper over a lot of the cracks, and it would give Spurs a route into the Champions League.
However, as when you paper over any crack, eventually, that crack will get worse and worse before things start to crumble.
Even if Tottenham win the Europa League, Daniel Levy should have a long, hard think about if Postecoglou is the man to take Tottenham forward.
