Tottenham's season is now hanging by a thread.
Dumped out of the two domestic cup competitions in the space of four days, the Europa League is all that is left for Spurs now, with the Premier League campaign already a write-off.
And, as is often the case when it comes to Tottenham Hotspur, they are going to have to do it the hard way. On paper, when the Europa League draw was made, it looked like Spurs had finally had a bit of luck this season, with the more favourable side of the draw.
However, to have any chance of winning the competition, they will have to come from behind after losing 1-0 away at AZ Alkmaar on Thursday night in the first leg of their last 16 encounter.
In truth, it could and should have been a bigger deficit. Spurs were woeful on the night and did not deserve to get anything out of the game. They are lucky that there is only a one-goal deficit to try to overturn at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium next Thursday.
After watching fierce rivals Arsenal smash seven past PSV - a side four places and nine points better off than AZ in the Eredivisie table - defeat to the Dutch side just highlights even further the gulf in quality between the two north London sides at this moment in time.
The problem for Ange Postecoglou now is that he is running out of excuses. This poor season has been underpinned by horrendous luck on the injury front, games every few days, players being forced to play out of position and youngsters having to play week in and week out when their development would be better suited to learning from opportunities here and there, rather than being the go-to players Postecoglou has been forced to call upon.
On Thursday, Spurs had a substitutes' bench that consisted of seven senior players and they had had eight days to prepare for the clash, without a game at the weekend due to their elimination from the FA Cup. Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero were still not risked, so the side was not at full-strength, but they were available and it was Postecoglou's choice not to risk them, due to the state of the pitch.
Spurs had rest, they had a good squad to choose from; so what is the excuse for possibly one of the worst performances of the season, when there have been plenty of other displays to choose from? There really isn't one.
Tottenham were so poor, with the ball and without it. And it is not the first time that has been the case this season. There was a real lack of movement, a lack of desire to want the ball and a lack of any real quality throughout. It was a tough watch - again not for the first time this season.
Guglielmo Vicario, Djed Spence, Lucas Bergvall, Archie Gray, Rodrigo Bentancur, James Maddison, Son Heung-min, Brennan Johnson, Mathys Tel - these are all good players, but in the main they are not showing it as a collective. And when you're talking about the collective, you have to talk about the man in charge.
It has been a season full of disappointment, but there had been mitigating circumstances for it. Those excuses have run out now and nothing but a perfect performance and convincing win in the second leg will do. Ange Postecoglou's job is on the line.