Ange Postecoglou remains under intense pressure as Spurs manager, with his team's latest performance being a drab European tie where they failed to offer much threat - and some fans in the football.london comments section are wondering how much further he can take the team after a mixed set of results in the Premier League and cup competitions.
Spurs fell to defeat in the Europa League on Thursday night, losing 1-0 to AZ Alkmaar in the first leg of the round of 16. The only goal of the game came via a Lucas Bergvall own goal, inadvertently turned in from a corner, and they struggled to stamp their mark on the game despite having more of the ball.
Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Dominic Solanke returned from injury to sit on the bench, but Solanke was forced off 15 minutes after coming on thanks to a collision with the goalkeeper.
Speaking after the game, Postecoglou said: "Yeah, it wasn’t great from us tonight. Pretty much all facets of the game. We didn’t really get to grips with any part of the game. We struggled to gain any momentum with the ball, we weren’t as aggressive as we needed to be without the ball.
"Look, it’s a combination of things, but we’ll analyse it and have a look at the areas where we struggled with, but it’s fair to say yeah it was nowhere near the level it needed to be."
It was far from convincing for some fans. Reader Tunic says: "It's not two or three players we need to buy in the next transfer market, it's a whole team and manager. I'm not seeing any exciting attacking football, correct me if I'm wrong."
Commenter 1chuckspurs1 writes: "After 8 days off, for Spurs to play that terribly against a weak team, is not acceptable. Toothless attack is almost a compliment. Spurs could have played 270 minutes and they would not have scored. The manager does not play on the pitch but he is responsible for how his team plays. If Spurs were any flatter, their chins would be on the turf."
Lillywhite1978 says: "Poor to shocking all round. I went from excited to to depressed in 60 seconds. Ange's time is coming to an end, I've tried to be supportive & get behind him. I thought he'd be out of his depth, it's his way or the highway so with that naivety he'll be taking the highway."
Spuredon says: "It really was dreadful to watch. I was looking forward to a game I was confident we would win but that confidence lasted about 5 minutes. I’ve been an ‘Ange in’ guy up to now but I think he’s got to win the return leg convincingly to save our season and keep his job."
Others have appealed for calm or blame other factors. Reader Christo.cy writes: "I am really surprised with people supporting Ange all this time and now suddenly changing minds. Personally I haven't liked Ange for a long time now. But if we want to be honest Ange last night was the last to blame. He put on the pitch the best 10 available (Tel I don't consider he was playing), he rested the team properly, and I think he did the best he could do."
BobbeP says: "Players need to look at themselves. You can’t blame the manager for poor individual performances even though ultimately the buck stops with him."
LXI_Martin writes: "I think Ange was not sure whether to risk his returning defenders and decided to play it safe this time, opting for continuity, in the hope that we can settle it on home soil. Ange may be proved right, but I think he himself did not seem confident about the best approach. And this unsure and cautious approach may have affected the players. Let's hope it works out, and that we win well enough next week, so that we can put this miserable display behind us."