Ange Postecoglou: Under pressure, Spurs boss believes ‘quite a few’ will say he should be sacked after Leicester defeat | Football news
Ange Postecoglou admits “a fair number” of people will think he should be sacked as Tottenham boss, but believes his players are giving him everything.
Spurs blew a 1-0 half-time lead against Leicester to suffer a fourth successive league defeat, while their only top-flight win in their last 11 games came at last-place Southampton.
Tottenham suffered back-to-back defeats against struggling sides after being beaten at Everton – a game they were 3-0 down at half-time – followed by defeat at Leicester, who had previously lost seven league games in a row.
Spurs are still favorites to win their first trophy in 17 years with the north London side in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup, the fourth round of the FA Cup and on course to reach the last 16 of the Europa League.
But their alarming form in the Premier League, which has seen them drop closer to the bottom three than the top half of the table, has put Postecoglou under huge pressure after seven league defeats in their last eight matches.
Asked if he should still be in charge once all his key players are back from injury, he said: “Who knows? The fair share will say no.
“When you are the manager of a football club, you can feel vulnerable and isolated, I don’t feel that. The players do their best. I focus on that and try to support the players.”
Postecoglou revealed that both Richarlison and Pape Sarr, in an ideal world, would not start against Leicester, but given their injury problems, he had no choice but to play them.
He said: “I don’t think about trying to convince people, I’ve been around long enough that people will judge where we are at the moment, which wasn’t good enough.
“If people want to put it in context that’s fine. The players are giving everything they can. Two players shouldn’t have been there but they’re desperate to turn our fortunes around. We should get some significant results from the players in the next 10 days, which will help us . We still have fantastic opportunities to make an impact – I’m sure that will happen.”
Despite the defeat and uncertain position in the Premier League, Postecoglou remains hopeful that Spurs can do “something special” in the cup competitions this season.
He added: “The players are committed to what we’re doing. That’s important to me. I believe in that. This is as low as we’ve been this year, but in the next three months we can do something really special. The players believe in that. Now it’s hard to imagine that in our circumstances, but all those things will not allow us to gain momentum.”
Son: A painful loss for Leicester
Tottenham captain Heung-Min Son described the Leicester defeat as “painful”.
The South Korean, who has been at the club for almost a decade, told Sky Sports: “Scoring or scoring goals is always difficult when it’s a day that doesn’t happen and you’re always more frustrated than you should be.
“We were very frustrated and we made the wrong decisions. It’s painful.”
The 32-year-old added: “Mentally we have to refresh ourselves and start again because we have a game in three days. Sometimes it’s really difficult.
“We came back after the victory in Germany and lost an important game in the league. It’s very difficult.”
Tottenham’s upcoming fixtures
- Elfsborg (H) – European League – January 30
- Brentford (A) – Premier League – February 2, live Sky Sports
- Liverpool (A) – Carabao Cup – February 6, live Sky Sports
- Aston Villa (A) – FA Cup – February 9
- Man Utd (H) – Premier League – February 16, live Sky Sports
- Ipswich – Premier League – February 22
