Tottenham could still axe Ange Postecoglou before crunch Europa League clash, just ask Jose Mourinho - opinion

Tottenham’s season this year has been dominated by the ‘will they won’t they’ story regarding the sacking of manager Ange Postecoglou, who is under serious pressure after their 4-2 defeat to Wolves.

Postecoglou’s side have won just one game in their last six Premier League matches, and now sit 15th in the Premier League table, 16 points ahead of the relegation zone.

They are still in the Europa League and take a level game into the second leg of their quarter-final against Eintracht Frankfurt after a 1-1 draw in North London last week. Postecoglou’s future may depend on the result.

Tottenham could still sack Postecoglou before Frankfurt game

Daniel Levy has a history of being fairly impulsive when sacking managers, so it almost comes as a surprise that he hasn’t yet pulled the trigger on Postecoglou’s job at the club after what has been an appalling season for Spurs.

They have a chance to salvage something from their season in the Europa League, by winning silverware and also qualifying for the Champions League, giving them cause to be hopeful heading into next season.

However, it almost feels as though Postecoglou will be sacked regardless of whether or not they win the Europa League, so why not sack him now and give themselves the best chance of making the semi-finals?

The way that Tottenham are currently playing doesn’t strike as a team that is going to win a European trophy, so they may as well take the risk of sacking the manager and hoping that a new manager bounce hands them a chance to win the Europa League - even if it’s a new interim manager bounce.

Levy has proven before that he’s not scared to sack a manager before an important game, because he sacked Jose Mourinho just days before their Carabao Cup final against Man City in 2021. The final didn’t go to plan, but seeing as Levy has done it before, who says that he couldn’t make the same move with Postecoglou ahead of the second leg against Frankfurt.

Who is the favourite to take over at Spurs?

If Tottenham do decide to sack Postecoglou, the name that has been most linked with the club is Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola. However, it is not likely that he would leave the Cherries before the end of the season as they are fighting to qualify for European football. Marco Silva is also somebody who could make the move to North London.

In Monday’s edition of the GiveMeSport newsletter, transfer guru Fabrizio Romano was asked for the latest on who could replace Postecoglou. He said: “I’m still hearing about Iraola and Silva as two concrete options. For Motta, no contacts at this stage.”

Of the managerial situation at Spurs, former Premier League defender Micah Richards said: “How many times have we said about Spurs players? They’ve got Johnson, and they’ve got Solanke and Romero’s back, and Van der Ven’s going to be back, and Udogie’s back. But they’re not performing at the level required for Spurs, and everyone can talk about Spurs, but these players are way better than they’re showing now, and they need to do a lot better because it’s looking bleak.

“It’s looking bleak for the future for Ange, for the club, and it’s sad to see because I genuinely believe he’s a very good manager.”