Ange Postecoglou says those calling for him to be sacked are “agenda driven”, with the Tottenham boss claiming no team would cope with the injuries Spurs have suffered this season.
Less than 72 hours after watching his side limp out of the Carabao Cup via a 4-0 thrashing at Liverpool, injury-hit Tottenham were beaten 2-1 at Aston Villa in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
"I’m not talking about me. People can judge me. They can say I’ve done a bad job, I’m not up to it, or whatever,” said Postecoglou.
“That’s fine. What I’m saying is you can’t be critical of players or players’ performances at this time. Because if you do, then do that with everyone else. Be as critical of other clubs when they’ve got nine or 10 or 11 players out. And none of them have. And have to play every week. And not for one game.
“How did Liverpool go [at Plymouth]? And they just did that for one game. Do that for two and a half months. Any team... do that for two and a half months in multiple competitions."
Next Premier League manager to leave odds (via Sky Bet)
- Ange Postecoglou - 4/7
- Ruud van Nistelrooy - 5/2
- No Manager to Leave - 7/1
- Ivan Juric - 16/1
- Vitor Pereira - 22/1
- Enzo Maresca - 22/1
- Ruben Amorim - 25/1
- Pep Guardiola - 33/1
To a large degree, he is right.
Whenever Tottenham have been scrutinised during what has been an undeniably difficult campaign - they sit in the Premier League's bottom half, are now out of both domestic cups and have their entire season hinging on the Europa League - there has been little to no acknowledgment of the aforementioned context.
Instead, Postecoglou has faced unrelenting questions about his tactics, his future and the situation in general.
The trip to Villa Park was their 39th game of the season, just two shy of the entire number of fixtures Spurs contested last term - a campaign largely viewed as a success, with the club only narrowly pipped to fourth place by Sunday's opponents despite the sale of Harry Kane days before the start of the season.
With an entire starting XI out injured, they brought in three fairly unproven players during the transfer window.
It's no surprise Tottenham are struggling.
The Australian, and his players, frankly look exhausted.
"I don’t care about me. People will judge me, but you can’t judge this group of players on what’s happened," Postecoglou continued.
“Me, that’s not of interest to me. My responsibility at this football club is this group of players and this team, to get them to play in the manner I want them to and bring us success.
“Whether people think I can do that or not, that’s for others to judge. But there's got to be a better appreciation for what a very small group of players have been doing for the last two and a half months.
“It can't be that people think that’s an excuse. That’s just not anywhere near close to objective analysis. That’s just agenda-driven stuff.
“If it's to get rid of me that's fine. Good on ya. Go for it a million times. But in terms of this group of players, what they've given over the past two and half months has been outstanding, it's a credit to them, I can’t speak highly enough of them.”
Odds correct at 0820 GMT (10/2/25)
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