Ange Postecoglou circles drain, booed off field as incident exposed

Ange Postecoglou has been forced to address his future after the Tottenham manager sunk to a new low with an ugly incident caught on camera.

Ange Postecoglou has been forced to admit his future at Tottenham is uncertain after the club sank to a new low with a miserable defeat at home to battlers Leicester on Sunday morning.

The 2-1 defeat is a “new low” for Postecoglou’s side — a sixth defeat from their last seven Premier League matches.

Pressure is building on the Australian manager and he knows it.

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Richarlison’s 33rd-minute header gave Tottenham hope of a first top-flight win since December 15.

But Jamie Vardy levelled for Leicester less than 60 seconds after half-time before Bilal El Khannouss fired the winner four minutes later.

Furious Tottenham fans called for chairman Daniel Levy to quit throughout the match, while boos greeted full-time whistle after Postecoglou was jeered for substituting Richarlison.

The booing continued as the team walked off the field — and it appeared to strike a nerve with Postecoglou.

The 59-year-old walked back up the players’ race after a fan was heard shouting: “We’re going down. We’re going down with you”.

After looking up into the crowd, Postecoglou appeared to speak with officials around him before continuing on his way.

You can watch the incident in the video player above.

Ange Postecoglou was not happy with a fan shouting at him as he walked down the race after Tottenham's 2-1 home loss to Leicester City.

Tottenham are languishing in 15th place, just eight points above the relegation zone.

The loss to Leicester was the club’s 13th of the season.

The run of seven matches without a win in Premier League football is the worst the club has faced since 2008.

Postecoglou claimed his injury-hit squad — deprived of 10 players at present — are still behind him, but the former Celtic boss conceded he could not guarantee he would still be around when the walking wounded eventually return.

“Who knows. I reckon there is probably a fair chunk that will say ‘no’,” he said.

“When you are the manager of a football club, you can be very vulnerable and isolated. I don’t feel that.

“I feel like this group of players, not for me, are giving everything for the club. I have a group of staff that is really committed. I focus on that.”

One person calling for the former Socceroos manager’s head is former Spurs midfielder Jamie O’Hara.

Ange Postecoglou circles the drain. Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images.

Speaking on Sky Sports News, O’Hara said: “An inquest needs to be had into what Ange was telling them at half-time. They’re going, they’re 1-0 up, keep the game tight.

“It was edgy in the first half, nervous performance, but you got your noses in front [so] to come out and play like we did in the second half. And it was just desperation after that. Leicester City were the best team.

“Tottenham didn’t trouble the keeper once, apart from the ball from Porro, which he swings in, which is a great cross for Richarlison, who’d done nothing else in the game, by the way, gets his head on it and scores.

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“That’s his job, to score goals. But after that, when Leicester went 2-1 up, they were non-existent, Tottenham. The performance was pathetic.

“Top players are meant to be at that football club in terms of Son, Kulusevski, Bentancur, Richarlison, Porro. It was one of the worst performances I’ve seen. Again, another shocking result, another shocking performance.

“I don’t know how Ange can stay in the job. I don’t know what needs to happen. And I don’t know what happens at the top with Daniel Levy.”

Hello darkness my old friend. Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

A 3-2 win at Hoffenheim in the Europa League on Thursday lept Tottenham on track for the last 16, while they hold a 1-0 lead in the League Cup semi-final against Liverpool ahead of the second leg at Anfield in February.

Postecoglou’s hopes of fulfilling his boast that he always wins a trophy in his second season lie with those competitions and the FA Cup.

But, after a run of one win in 11 league games, climbing away from the relegation zone is essential if Postecoglou is to survive the storm raging around his club.

“I really believe in this group of players. Even today, what I asked of them, some of the performances were outstanding considering what they’ve been through,” he said.

“To me that’s all positive, but ultimately, the fact that we’ve lost another game of football, the focus is on that.

“I have felt all along that the players are still very committed to what we’re doing. That’s important to me because I firmly believe in it.

“This is probably as low as we’ve been so far this year but I still think that in these last three months we can do something really special and I think these players believe that.

“Right now it’s very hard to visualise that when you think of the current circumstances we’re in.”

First-choice defenders Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven returned to training this week, while Tottenham continue to chase additions in the transfer window.

“You just have to look at our absences today and they’ll all be back,” Postecoglou added.

“Even missing Madders (James Maddison) today, he was so good the other night. “All these little things that are not allowing us to get any momentum, I’m sure will change and when they change, I’m really confident we can make an impact.”

— with AFP

Originally published as Ange Postecoglou circles drain, booed off field as incident exposed