‘Who knows’? Ange Postecoglou admits his fate is out of his hands after defeat
Ange Postecoglou admitted his future is out of his hands after a 2-1 defeat to Leicester deepened Tottenham’s troubles and saw furious supporters repeatedly call for Daniel Levy to quit as chairman.
Postecoglou, whose side are eight points above the bottom three after one win in their past 11 league games, had to be realistic. Spurs led at half-time but Leicester moved out of the relegation zone after responding with goals from Jamie Vardy and Bilal El Khannouss.
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The turnaround was met with mutiny at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Anti-Levy chants were constant and Postecoglou felt unity fraying. The manager hopes that the situation will improve when injured players return, while he pointed out that Spurs are doing well in Europe, are still in the FA Cup and lead 1-0 on aggregate before the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final against Liverpool But he was philosophical after being asked if he is in danger of the sack.
“Who knows?” the Australian said. “When you are the manager of a football club you can be very vulnerable and isolated. I don’t feel that. I feel like this group of players are giving everything for the club. I have a group of staff that is really committed. I focus on that. My role within that is to try and support these players.
“When the guys who are coming back come back it is going to give everybody a lift. There is a fantastic opportunity this season to make an impact and I know we can. But in terms of your question, is there anything I can say about that that is going to change anything that I need to do tomorrow morning? Nothing.”
Postecoglou added: “I have felt all along that the players are still very committed to what we’re doing. That’s important to me, because I firmly believe in it and I really believe that this is as low as we’ve been so far this year but I still think that in these last three months we can do something really special.”
Spurs were unable to fill their bench and need reinforcements before the transfer window shuts. “Even one more player coming in, just in the short term will give us an opportunity,” Postecoglou said.
Ruud van Nistelrooy was delighted after Leicester halted a run of seven straight defeats to climb above Wolves to 17th place. “We were 1-0 behind but playing well,” Leicester’s manager said. “I saw a team that were 1-0 behind but not affected. We got the ball. We started the second half extremely well.”
