The numbers surrounding Ange Postecoglou’s tenure at Tottenham continue to get worse.
A 4-2 loss away to Wolves on Sunday condemned Postecoglou’s side to their 17th league defeat this season.
Tottenham went behind in the second minute and never recovered, with Matheus Cunha’s 86th-minute strike proving to be the final dagger at Molineux.
Postecoglou bemoaned a string of ‘unusual’ individual errors from Guglielmo Vicario and Cristian Romero that proved costly, but did not believe it was a ‘major concern’ for his team.
But as much as Postecoglou may want to point the finger at his team’s decline not being a tactical or organisational one, the result does not detract from the Australian sinking to a new low.
That’s because Tottenham’s 17 league defeats this season matches the number of games they lost under former boss Mauricio Pochettino in his three seasons at the club between 2015 and 2018.
Under Pochettino, the north London side lost just six, four and seven games in the 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons respectively.
With six league fixtures to go, there’s every chance Postecoglou may eclipse that figure.
Sunday’s defeat also left Tottenham languishing in 15th place and just two points ahead of Wolves and West Ham United.
It means the north London outfit is firmly on course to record its worst Premier League finish since 1993/94 when they came 15th.
As the club staggers and stumbles towards the finish line, some Tottenham fans have made no secret of their desire for the Australian to be axed.
One of which was Tottenham supporter Mark, as he called into talkSPORT’s The Final Word to vent his frustrations.
“He hasn’t a clue,” Mark, who was in the away bay at Molineux on Sunday, said.
“For us to get anything out of Thursday night in Frankfurt, to which we’re going out to, he’s (Daniel Levy) got to get rid of him.
“Put one of the players in charge, I don’t care.
“Somebody who’s got any knacks about them how to play a game of football.”
Mark added: “We’ve been saying it all season. He hasn’t a clue. He hasn’t got a clue how to set a team up.
“I think they’ve given up playing for him, I really do.”
Despite Tottenham and Postecoglou’s demise, The Final Word co-host and former Newcastle manager Alan Pardew was reluctant to stick the boot into the Australian.
However, Pardew pointed out Postecoglou’s publicly revealing he had a leak within the club was a sure sign of what was to come on Sunday.
“I think that (exposing the leak) was an error because as soon as you do that, you’re obviously pointing a finger at somebody,” Pardew said.
“That somebody will know who it is, but the other players and staff members will be thinking, ‘Does he think it’s me?’
“It causes unnecessary stress for you as a manager, so you just deal with it internally. Why bring it up in the press?
“I was really, really surprised Ange did that. Then on the back of that, that result has come in and I was a bit, ‘I could see that coming.’”
Although Tottenham’s form in the league has been rather dismal, Postecoglou’s saving grace is the Europa League as his side go into the second leg of their quarter-final against Eintracht Frankfurt locked at 1-1.
The second leg takes place in Frankfurt on Thursday and a loss in Germany may spell the end of the Australian’s tenure at Tottenham.
Tottenham Hotspur next manager odds (talkSPORT BET)
- Andoni Iraola – 2/1
- Mauricio Pochettino – 5/2
- Xavi Hernandez – 4/1
- Thomas Frank – 9/2
- Edin Terzic – 8/1
- Marco Silva – 8/1
- Kieran McKenna – 12/1
- BAR – 14/1
