Ange Postecoglou sack: ‘Tottenham to replace Australian with defensive manager’
Tottenham will replace Ange Postecoglou with a defensive manager if they sack the Australian, according to Paul Merson.
Postecoglou has been under pressure for Spurs’ recent results, the club currently sit 15th in the table in a disappointing season.
Despite being at risk of losing his job, the Australian has still retained the support of some fans, members of the media, and even from former Spurs icons.
Postecoglou has committed to playing a fearless and energetic brand of football, and has blamed injuries for his sides poor results [BBC Sport], despite indications that his teams injuries may be through his unwillingness to change Spurs’ style of play.
Speaking on Sky Sports Soccer Saturday, former Arsenal and Aston Villa man, Merson, said (1.42pm): “I feel sorry for them, I do feel sorry for them. I’d ask Tottenham fans, ‘What do you want? What do you want? Do you want to go back?’
“Tottenham have got to be careful what they do here, because all they keep on doing is going ‘Right, that’s too open, we’ll go and get a Mourinho or a Conte’. Then it’s too defensive. ‘Then we’ll go and we want someone whose gonna be entertaining. Oh, that’s too entertaining, we’ll go back to this’.
“Give him a chance, give him three or four years in my opinion. He’ll get it right, I think he will if he gets the injuries right, but if they go from him they’ll go to a defensive manager again, they will, they won’t go to someone like that because there’s no point. Why sack him because he’s as good as anybody in my opinion when he’s got all his players fit.
“I just feel sorry for him. Tottenham need to stay with him because they’ll go back to a defensive manager then the fans will all be moaning, then they’ll go to an attacking one and in the next five years they’ll have three managers and be nowhere different.”
Tottenham manager may lose the fans if wins do not come soon
Football Insider Verdict
Despite his sometimes moody and curt demeanour towards reporters, as seen with his comments [The Mirror] after their 3-2 loss to Everton (19 January), Postecoglou is generally still well-liked.
He retains a lot of goodwill for finishing fifth last season, after losing club legend Harry Kane to Bayern Munich, and Chris Sutton used that as his reason for Spurs to not sack their manager.
But if the Australian is unable to find a way to drag his side up the table as the season nears its end, any good results from the 2023/24 season will be forgotten quickly.
Spurs’ infamously hard-negotiating chairman, Daniel Levy, has shown his desire to back the former Celtic manager, by buying him Antonin Kinsky and showing a desire to make other signings to help his manager this season.
Tottenham will have the opportunity to begin turning around their poor form, when they take on Leicester on Sunday (26 January).
The Foxes are on a seven game losing streak, and Postecoglou will likely feel confident that this is an opportunity to instil some confidence in his players with a big win.
In other news, Richarlison has dropped a bombshell as rumours that he may leave Spurs grow.
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