Ange Postecoglou sack: Tottenham expert drops intriguing update tonight
Tottenham Hotspur’s player recruitment has effectively been put on hold as they weigh up whether or not to sack Ange Postecoglou.
Postecoglou faces a nervous wait over his long-term prospects in North London, with Tottenham only having the Europa League left to play for this season amid a miserable campaign on the domestic front.
Having already lost 15 of their 29 matches, Spurs sit a lowly 14th in the Premier League table with nine games remaining, and exited both the EFL and FA Cups within a few days of each other last month.
Former Manchester United and Blackburn chief scout Mick Brown told Football Insider that Postecoglou looks unlikely to still be in the dugout next season, with Fulham’s Marco Silva a front-runner for the job.
Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola is another highly-rated manager whose side is having a much better season than Tottenham, and as such he’s another name at the top of their list to replace the Australian.
However, former Tottenham and England goalkeeper Paul Robinson told Football Insider that the Europa League may be a reprieve for Postecoglou, and going all the way to win it will flip the narrative on its head.
Tottenham in turmoil until Ange Postecoglou decision reached
Although the calls for Postecoglou’s axing this season have been justified given their abysmal domestic form, winning the Europa League would break a trophy drought stretching back over 17 years.
Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, Robinson said that while a European title would mask a poor season, anything other than victory will see Postecoglou given the boot.
Robinson, who won that 2008 EFL Cup with Spurs, told Football Insider: “The only way he keeps his job is by winning the Europa League – you look at the season that they’ve had, it’s been a really poor season. A really poor season.”
“If they win the Europa League, it’s not been a poor season – they’re in the Champions League next year and they’ve got a trophy in the cabinet. Other than that, there’s no other way that keeps his job.
“I can’t see a different way; they’re not closing the gap on the top six, top seven – whatever it’s going to take to get European football – they’re not even closing the gap on the top 10.
“The outgoings at Tottenham… The conversation’s on hold basically for players coming in and out of the club. You wait and see who the manager is, who the new manager’s going to be next year.”
Postecoglou prospects all point towards Tottenham sack
Winning the Europa League may sound like a successful way of ending a season to otherwise forget, it’ll be much easier said than done for Tottenham to lift their first continental title since the 1984 UEFA Cup.
A two-legged tie with Eintracht Frankfurt stands in their way of either Bodo/Glimt or Lazio in the last four, and given their erratic inconsistency of late, you wouldn’t confidently back Tottenham to beat any of them.
Postecoglou’s claim that he’ll win a trophy in his second season comes down to these two, or potentially four marches – and if they make it a fifth by reaching the final in Bilbao, it’ll be a one-game shootout for the 59-year-old to keep his job.