Tottenham Hotspur is set to back beleaguered manager Ange Postecoglou ahead of its Carabao Cup semi-final showdown with Liverpool. The Reds are currently trailing the north London outfit by a goal to nil as they prepare for the second leg at Anfield on February 6, following a contentious winner in the first leg.

Lucas Bergvall netted the sole goal of the initial encounter late on, but his strike came hot on the heels of an unpunished foul on Kostas Tsimikas. The Swede had already been cautioned earlier in the match after fouling Luis Diaz, yet he managed to avoid a second yellow card before scoring the decisive goal, giving Spurs the upper hand.

Despite their early January setback against Spurs, Arne Slot's team has rebounded impressively with four victories from their last five matches. Conversely, Spurs have hit a rough patch since their win, requiring extra time to overcome non-league Tamworth in the FA Cup and suffering three consecutive Premier League losses — including a crushing defeat at home to Leicester City on Sunday.

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According to Football. London, Daniel Levy is standing by the Australian manager despite the club languishing in 15th place in the league and only eight points clear of the relegation zone. It's suggested that the current injury crisis in north London and the potential for new signings in the January transfer window have bought the Spurs boss some additional time.

"Yeah, it hurts. It hurts a lot. The players gave everything again," admitted Postecoglou. "We are going to look at a lot of things, but in terms of effort I can't ask any more of this group. Things just didn't go our way today. We created some good opportunities and unfortunately things just didn't drop for us because not because the players weren't trying and that's the main thing.

"The players are giving everything they can. That is all we can ask for as a football club and me as a manager. They are trying their hardest and that is all anyone can ask for. You can analyze the goals, they were disappointing goals for us to concede, but I thought we had enough chances in the game to come out on top.

"When you're in this situation, they are trying as hard as they can, and sometimes that doesn't give you clarity in decision-making. All you can ask is for people to do as much as they can and from my perspective I see a group of players that are giving as much as they can.

"I know it will turn. We'll get some players back, we were short again today but in the next couple of weeks there's some really important players coming back that I know will help this group.

"We've not hit a ceiling. We've been going like this for two months. They put in an enormous performance on Thursday to make sure we're OK in Europe and they had to back it up today but there were probably at least two or three players that weren't at 100 per cent. I'm a football manager and I get judged on results, that is the way of the world."

Liverpool.com says: The second leg is surely the only thing keeping Postecoglou in a job at the moment. Results have been so poor lately and Tottenham is looking in danger of being dragged into a relegation battle at this rate. If Liverpool can overturn the deficit next week, the Australian could be in trouble.