'Starting to shift' - Pundit tells Ange Postecoglou he must shoulder the blame for Tottenham failures

Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou is hanging by a rope after yet another defeat, with Spurs falling to Chelsea on Thursday night. It has been a nightmare season for the North London club, with injuries causing issues aplenty this term.

But Postecoglou has failed to fix the issues he has faced, and there is now a clear rift being established between the Australian and the Spurs fans. The fans seemed to turn on Postecoglou in the Stamford Bridge away end, and pressure is building quickly.

Tottenham will no doubt keep Postecoglou until the end of the season, but there will be a big decision to make ahead of the summer, with most signals pointing to a change of boss.

National World’s James Trembath was asked about the situation on the latest Spurs podcast, and he said: “Yes, I think it's interesting this week in particular that the tone is starting to shift a little bit. I think that's the first time we've seen Postecoglou talk about a future away from Spurs or certainly alluded to that fact. A really interesting interview during the week as well around this business of we didn't get the preparations right at the start of the season.

“That's kind of been where the problems began and he's been chasing his tail ever since, which I think is very, very interesting as well. On one hand, you think about that as an admission and quite refreshing that he's come out and admitted that and he's trying to lift the lid and give a little bit of insight into what's really been going on behind the scenes.

“But in the other half, we knew players were coming back off a major tournament, lots of very, very short, truncated pre-seasons. We invested in youth rather than experience for the main, albeit some really talented youth. Every Spurs fan, I think in the country and probably worldwide, knew we were undercooked in terms of the squad going into the season with a limited squad with four competitions in store. We've gone deep into the Carabao Cup, we've gone deep into the Europa League and obviously the injuries have just curtailed us really in terms of where we've gone this season and hindered our development, as we all know.

“So that's really, really interesting, I think. You just wonder, how have we allowed that to happen? I mean, every Spurs fan, like I say, knew that we only went into the season with one recognised left-back. We were short at centre-back, we were short of experience probably in midfield, probably could have done with another frontman. So it just begs the question really, doesn't it? How on earth has that been allowed to happen?

“And Postecoglou has got to shoulder part of that blame. I think that's really interesting, as I say, with his tone. He's talking now like he knows the writing's on the wall and I would doubt even if we win the Europa League that would save him, to be honest. He's been talking about Pochettino coming back and flirting with Spurs and, like you say, these ideal candidates that are world-class should Spurs look to go in another direction.

“And that's the first time he's really started to speak about that. So maybe things are afoot behind the scenes. I don't think anything will be happening before the end of the season, but certainly I think we'll be going into next season with a new manager. We start again, we rebuild and it's a sad state of affairs really in terms of on and off the pitch at the moment with the club and a lot of people just feel so disenchanted and disconnected.”

More uncertainty for Spurs

Tottenham are moving into another era of uncertainty just two years after appointing Postecoglou, so what’s next for the North London club.

“It's a case where it's completely unknown in terms of what the club are going to do this summer,” Trembath added. “We mentioned before that there's a real strong core of talent and at the end of the day, yes, they've been in very poor form. It's not been good enough. But you have had the likes of Heung-Min Son not have an incredible season like he has done.

“There's been players underperforming as well. It's a bit of a blank canvas. A new manager can come in and maybe reset. It could actually be a really positive thing for Spurs to go again and try and get it right this time around. Or does it feel a bit like a bit of a merry-go-round where it's just so repetitive and it doesn't go right? They get a manager, they end up sacking him and start again and then it all sort of happens again?

“Yeah, well, I mean, I think the next manager that comes in is certainly going to benefit from this season and the sort of growth.Postecoglou has spoken about that. You know, the growth in Archie Gray, the growth in Lucas Bergvall, the development of some of the players. It has been a perfect storm. We've had lots of injuries, we've had lots of senior players, really, really off colour. But there are green shoots there. It sounds crazy to say when we're 14th in the Premier League with so many defeats and the season feels like it's been a bit of a disaster.

“But then, if you do sort of step back and look at it, the nucleus is there of a really, really core, talented group of players. We need augmentation with leaders, we need more experience in the team, as we've spoken about. But certainly, we're not a million miles off, which again, I know it sounds crazy to say, but in terms of the core of the talent that's there, what we really need now is a manager with a bit more tactical now, so I think it's fair to say perhaps we need a better system in terms of the way we play, perhaps more tailored towards the players that we've got, maybe.

“We need a big summer. We say this every single year at the moment, it feels like a broken record, déjà vu job. But if a new manager is to come in, should Spurs not do the impossible and win the Europa League, which as I say, I still don't think that would be enough to save Postecoglou. We need that investment.

“We need a commitment from the chairman to really back the manager. We need the director of football to go out and buy players early, because there's a full summer this year, which is a rarity. There's no international tournaments. We've got the Club World Cup, Spurs won't be involved in that, as we know. So we can really have a good go at this pre-season, but we need to get players in early.

“We need to identify those targets and also we need to see who's going to be left in terms of players that leave the exit door through the summer. So it's not all doom and gloom, which again, bizarre to say, I think, but we need the right appointment for the next manager.”