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Ange Postecoglou took a big step to securing his future as Tottenham Hotspur manager with victory at Frankfurt - PA/Bradley Collyer
Ange Postecoglou insisted winning Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final against Eintracht Frankfurt does not make him a better manager.
He must hope his board disagrees.
After saving Tottenham Hotspur’s season with a brilliant win in Germany, he should embrace it as the turning point of the season and, possibly, an entire reign.
Such defining moments are what top players and managers live for. You sink or swim when the stakes are at their highest, and after a terrible few months Postecoglou has shown his determination to keep his head above the water.
Had he lost, Postecoglou would have done well to make it to the next Premier League game against Nottingham Forest on Monday night. Now he can see a path to keeping his job.
The euphoric scenes in Frankfurt underlined what a difference a huge result can make. There was dancing, screaming, and leaps of joy the likes of which we have not seen after a Spurs win for ages, the hoarse voices at full-time underlining how much it all meant. And the fans were excited, too!
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There were jubilant scenes at full time as the Tottenham players celebrated their progression to the last four - Reuters /Peter Cziborra
The sight of Postecoglou and his coaching team celebrating undermined some of the pre-match comments trying to play down the consequences.
It was good to see. It can’t be easy being a manager under so much scrutiny. There has to be a release when the big nights go so well.
Now Postecoglou has to make it count. It may yet become a ‘Champions League or bust’ shoot-out with Ruben Amorim if it is an all English Europa League final, but there is no doubt which manager’s position is most perilous. Amorim is sure to get a chance to rebuild United over the summer whatever happens. Postecoglou is still not safe.
That will surely change if Spurs go on to win their first major trophy for seventeen years. In that situation, Daniel Levy and his board will have the same massive dilemma as Manchester United when Erik ten Hag won the FA Cup a year ago.
After Ten Hag defeated Manchester City at Wembley, the United board made an emotional rather than logical decision. They were rightly criticised. All the evidence pointed to the downturn over the previous eight months continuing.
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The Manchester United board decided to stick with Erik ten Hag following his FA Cup triumph at the end of last season - Reuters /Hannah McKay
If Postecoglou wins the Europa League, Levy will also have to choose between his head and heart. The case for keeping Postecoglou will be more compelling because, unlike United, Spurs do not have a long history of winning big prizes.
In such circumstances, the manner of any victory will also win back support in a way Ten Hag should not have had after a gutsy, but underdog win against a superior team in City.
The reason Postecoglou has made it so deep into this season is his attacking football fits the Spurs tradition. When it clicked at the start of his reign, the fans loved what they were seeing.
There is bound to be some rewriting of history when Postecoglou faces Nuno Espirito Santo on Monday, who has excelled since being sacked after a brief spell in north London. Nuno has done brilliantly at Forest, but it was a completely different job with a totally different level of expectation when he took over there, leading a side where the first task was to stay up and in a stadium where effective, defensive, counter-attacking football was a massive improvement on what had been seen at the City Ground for years.
Spurs fans have made it clear what style they want. Deep down, they want Postecoglou to turn it around.
Backing for him has dwindled as the months have passed and the league position kept getting worse – especially when there was a perception he was taking on an element of his own fanbase.
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Postecoglou was seen cupping his ear towards the Tottenham fans in their recent defeat away at Chelsea - Getty Images /Robin Jones
A few more triumphant European nights will get the doubters back on side. That’s how quickly a messy situation can resolve itself.
The manager will also be emboldened by the argument that the return of his best players from injury – particularly his preferred back four – has resulted in an upturn in performance in the games which matter most at this stage of the season.
“It is easy to disregard the issues with injuries, but they are a big part of what we do,” he said post-match in Germany. That is sure to be his message between now and the end of this season, most likely directed towards those who will decide his fate.
Postecoglou’s claim that he always wins a trophy in his second season is yet to be proven incorrect too.
The lesson from Thursday – and this equally applies to Manchester United after the amazing Old Trafford comeback – is that the mood is always dictated by what happens on the pitch. Everything is considered terrible when you lose, and the world looks a brighter place when you win.
No bullish interviews, no combative press conference, and no swipes at critics or supporters – no matter how fair or cruel the jibes are – will make the slightest difference. Fans are persuaded to call for the manager to be backed or sacked by the emotions generated by their team’s performances.
Too often, the most consistent defensive displays at Spurs have come from the manager during his interviews.
If there is one bit of advice those closest to Postecoglou ought to offer, it would be to tone down some of his remarks because his press conferences have become as much of an event as the team’s games.
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Postecoglou has often made the headlines this season for his post-match comments - Getty Images /Simon Hofmann
From that perspective, Postecoglou has been pure box office for the wrong reasons.
That’s great for all of us working in the media, but not so welcome for Levy and the Spurs fans who want Postecoglou to walk the walk more than talk and talk.
“There has been a fair bit of noise around the team,” Postecoglou said after the win, but most of the recent negative headlines have been unnecessarily generated by his remarks.
On Thursday, the players did all the talking.
With respect to Bodo/Glimt, Spurs could not have dreamed a Norwegian club with a stadium capacity of 8,000 would stand between them and a European final, even if they did beat Celtic when Postecoglou was the coach.
With United winning in extraordinary fashion, the English clubs have roared in Europe. The Premier League has shown its strength in the big competitions, raising the possibility of all three UEFA tournaments being won by one of our clubs.
Now the Europa League could be played by England’s 14th and 15th best sides. Maybe this season’s Premier League is not so ‘weak’ after all!
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