The Guardian

Maybe Ange Postecoglou’s luck has finally turned? Having complained that the football gods were against him last week, Dominic Solanke’s penalty after an intervention from the video assistant referee – another of the Tottenham manager’s pet peeves – was enough to seal his side’s progress to the semi-finals of the Europa League.

Postecoglou has probably regretted his decision to point out back in September after a defeat to Arsenal that he “always” wins trophies in his second year at a club. But after their north London rivals eased past the might of Real Madrid 24 hours earlier, Spurs also still have something to hang on to in a season that has otherwise been filled with disappointment.

A trip to the Arctic Circle to face Norwegians Bodø/Glimt awaits in the last four following this dogged display against an Eintracht Frankfurt team who look destined to qualify for next season’s Champions League. But a disciplined Tottenham side showed they are still playing for their manager. Solanke had not scored since 4 January – a run of 12 matches – but there were unbridled celebrations in the away end when he stroked home the decisive spot kick just before half-time and at the full-time whistle after almost eight nerve-wracking minutes of injury-time.

Postecoglou – who has increasingly cut a defiant figure in recent weeks as results in the Premier League have gone from bad to worse despite the return of several key players from injury – was in amongst it in between hugs for Solanke and James Maddison. The Australian spikily suggested beforehand that Spurs supporters shouldn’t take being one match away from the last four of a European competition as a regular occurrence “because it certainly hasn’t been for this club”. In the absence of captain Son Heung-min due to a foot injury, he saw his players grasp the opportunity with both hands.

Micky van de Ven and Destiny Udogie were outstanding in defence, while Rodrigo Bentancur marshalled the midfield superbly and, as Postecoglou put it, Maddison put his body on the line to win the decisive spot-kick.

The Eintracht supporters had packed out the end behind one of the goals almost an hour before kickoff. There was an electric atmosphere as they unfurled a tifo when the players emerged with the message “the Eagles are on the hunt” with trophies representing their two previous triumphs in this competition and its predecessor the Uefa Cup.

Almost 3,000 Spurs fans also braved the incessant rain as Jean-Matteo Bahoya and Mario Götze both tested Guglielmo Vicario’s handling on the greasy surface with early shots. There was a moment of panic when Hugo Ekitike raced onto a long punt forward from goalkeeper Kauã Santos but Van den Ven ate up the ground to get back just in time. Götze’s evening came to a premature end when he was taken off just clutching his hamstring before Tottenham had their first sight of goal in the 20th minute, although Son’s replacement Mathys Tel could not make proper contact with Brennan Johnson’s cutback. The Frenchman was on target with his next effort from distance that drew a good save from Santos.

Postecoglou will have been pleased with how his side had grown into the game and he was given even more hope on the stroke of half-time. Santos thought he had escaped when he clattered dangerously into Maddison but VAR thought differently to the Italian referee and sent him to the replay screen. Tel initially looked as if he would take it but eventually Solanke sent the goalkeeper the wrong way as a groggy Maddison was replaced by Dejan Kulusevski after trying manfully to carry on.

One of Dino Toppmöller’s assistants was sent off after reacting to a foul by Johnson that earned him a yellow card just before the break and the hosts began the second half feeling hard done by. A free-kick from 35 yards out from Götze’s replacement Fares Chaibi that had Vicario sprawling across his goal must have quickened Postecoglou’s pulse.

Cristian Romero and Bentancur both had golden chances to make things more comfortable from corners but neither could hit the target. Ekitike was convinced he should have had a penalty after a Romero clearance but this time VAR correctly said no after replays showed there had been no contact.

Postecoglou must have checked his watch umpteen times as Spurs closed in on the victory. Vicario reacted brilliantly to save Chaibi’s effort with his legs before former Leeds defender Rasmus Kristiansen somehow fired wide with the goal gaping to ensure that Tottenham’s season remains very much alive and kicking.

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Updated at 21.28 CEST

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Updated at 21.30 CEST

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Peeeeeeeep!

We’re underway in Germany!

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The teams are out! The stadium is absolutely bouncing. Frankfurt in their all-white home shirt. Tottenham are in their slime green away kit.

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Updated at 21.02 CEST

It’s over eight years since we wrote this 2017 piece.

It’s amazing to see Gotze, Frankfurt’s midfield creator tonight, playing such an important part in a European quarter-final in 2025, over a decade on from his World Cup final-winning goal.

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Five minutes until kick-off. Frankfurt fans are unfurling a huge tifo as the teams prepare to come out. I’ll get a pic of that on the blog as soon as I can.

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Updated at 20.59 CEST

I went to Frankfurt’s stadium at the Euros to watch England against Denmark and it’s a brilliant arena (although that might have been because the Danish supporters were so loud). Beers in the stands, too.

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Eintracht Frankfurt have some great nicknames: they are known as the Eagles, but also ‘Moody Diva’ (due to the often mixed nature of their results down the years) and my personal favourite, Schlappekicker (the Slipper Kickers), after J. & C. A. Schneider, a local manufacturer of shoes and especially slippers (called Schlappe in the regional Hessian dialect), who was a major financial backer of the club in the 1920s.

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The big miss for Spurs is captain Son Heung-min, who is sidelined. The South Korean hasn’t travelled to Germany after sustaining a foot injury.

Tottenham fans, what’s the verdict on Son’s replacement in Mathys Tel? There are reports that Spurs want to keep the Frenchman permanently – Bayern’s asking price is around £50m. I haven’t watched him week-in, week-out but he hasn’t massively impressed from afar. And I didn’t think much about his decision to deny Brennan Johnson a hat-trick the other day against Southampton! Tel took an injury-time penalty with Johnson asking for the ball. He scored in fairness but Tel has just three goals in 25 games this season.

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The teams!

Eintracht Frankfurt (4-2-3-1): Kaua Santos, Kristensen, Kock, Tuta, Theate, Skhiri, Larsson, Bahoya, Gotze, Brown, Ekitike.

Subs: Grahl, Siljevic, Amenda, Chaibi, Wahi, Dahoud, Can Uzun, Chandler, Nkounkou, Batshuayi, Collins, Knauff.

Tottenham (4-3-3): Vicario, Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie, Bergvall, Bentancur, Maddison, Johnson, Solanke, Tel.

Subs: Austin, Whiteman, Danso, Bissouma, Richarlison, Gray, Kulusevski, Spence, Odobert, Sarr, Davies, Moore.

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The Europa League has definitely been enhanced with the carrot of Champions League qualification, first introduced in 2014-15. The only thing is that, in certain cases, the glory of winning a European trophy sometimes feels a little overshadowed by that same carrot.

For Manchester United, for example, who have a proud history of winning the European Cup/Champions League, adding another Europa League probably doesn’t mean a great deal to the trophy cabinet/board/fans, despite all the noise about creating winning habits, etc. Champions League qualification is invaluable, though, especially for a club that has so publicly pleaded poverty and cut costs. United are in action tonight in their own quarter-final, remember, against Lyon. You can follow along with Scott Murray here.

Tottenham are a different beast. They are not at Newcastle levels of silverware droughts but winning the Europa League would be their biggest scalp in at least 34 years (1991 FA Cup) and perhaps back to the Uefa Cup triumph of 1984. I perhaps did Spurs a disservice in the preamble – this competition means more than just Champions League qualification to Tottenham – although that is a huge bonus.

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This is what Postecoglou had to say in the lead up to tonight’s match:

Because I don’t define my career and me as a person by what people think about me. I never have. Never will. If you don’t think I’m a good coach today, you won’t think I’m a good coach tomorrow, even if we win. One game ain’t going to make a difference to that. You either think I’m capable of doing the job now or you don’t.

That’s where I sit with these things. If people think that us winning tomorrow all of a sudden makes me a better manager than what I am today or us losing tomorrow somehow makes me a worse manager, I guess that’s their burden, not mine. I don’t think that way and I don’t think most people think that way. Or I’d like to think they don’t, in terms of their own sort of self-esteem and who they are as people. I couldn’t care less.

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Preamble

Rarely has a quarter-final been so decisive for a team’s season, or a manager’s future. If Tottenham lose this game, and exit the Europa League, then their season is definitely over and it will almost certainly spell the end of Ange Postecoglou’s tenure. Spurs are 15th in the Premier League, and while they are not mathematically safe from relegation, there is nothing left to play for domestically, apart from pride. Managers in N17 have been booted out with a much better record than that.

But win? Tottenham will be just three games from silverware and the promise of the Champions League. And should they qualify for Europe’s elite competition next season – with all the riches and prestige that that entails – then the season, and Ange’s job, will be saved. In a footballing world full of permutations and and and is a thrill (for the neutral, at least) for things to be so binary.

Things are a little rosier for Frankfurt, and not only because they survived the Tottenham onslaught last week to escape the first leg with a 1-1 draw. Now, with the second leg at home, the German side are probably favourites to progress to the last four. This is a club with serious pedigree – the Eagles won the Europa League in 2022 under Oliver Glasner (beating Rangers on penalties in the final) and are currently third in the Bundesliga, well on course to qualify for the Champions League. Tottenham might shout about how ‘the game is about glory’ (and not ‘meeting PSR requirements by qualifying for the Champions League’) but for Frankfurt, the Europa League really is just about winning a major trophy.

Spurs should be thankful that Omar Marmoush made the January switch to Manchester City but in Hugo Ekitike, Eintracht have another of the most exciting young forwards in Europe. Signed from PSG in 2024, in effect replacing Randal Kolo Muani who had gone the other way a year previous. From André Silva, Sébastien Haller, Kolo Muani, Luka Jovic, Frankfurt certainly know how to pick a striker, and Ekitike is the latest off the wagon. With 21 goals in all competitions this season, he’s very good in front of goal, and very nervous when petting the club’s mascot, Attila the eagle.

It’s the eagles against the cockerel. Join me.

Kick-off: 8pm BST.

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An ancient London oak controversially felled earlier this month was assessed to be a “fine specimen” last year by tree experts working for Tottenham Hotspur as part of the football club’s plans to redevelop parkland next to the site.

Mitchells & Butlers Retail (MBR), which owns the Toby Carvery in Whitewebbs Park, Enfield, apologised on Thursday for the “upset” caused by the felling of the tree.

The company’s financial links with Spurs have raised questions about how much the club knew about the decision to fell the tree.

Spurs and MBR are majority-owned by the investment company Enic. In its latest annual accounts, MBR disclosed that it had entered into an option arrangement with Spurs to buy the lease on one of its retail sites, believed to be the Toby Carvery in Enfield.

Spurs have submitted a planning application to build a women’s football training academy on 17 hectares of adjacent land in Whitewebbs Park. It also submitted plans to build an access road from the training ground to the Toby Carvery. The plan for an access road has since been replaced with a scheme for a footpath across the site where the oak, which was up to 500 years old, stood.

As part of the planning process, Spurs commissioned the Tree and Woodland Company to produce an arboreal impact assessment on the veteran woodland in the park.

In a report submitted to Enfield council last July, the company assessed that the now felled oak was a “fine specimen” that was expected to live for at least another 50 years. It recommended conservation measures for the tree as a high priority.

MBR claimed its contractors felled the tree on 3 April for safety reasons after assessing it was dead and diseased. In a letter to Enfield residents on Thursday, its chief executive, Phil Urban, said: “I can only apologise for all the upset that it has caused.”

It said: “We are obliged to act on all health and safety issues where expert advice warns us of a direct risk to life or serious injury. We will complete a thorough review and ensure that, in future, exceptional situations are treated differently from the more regular health and safety issues that arise on a day-to-day basis.”

Enfield council has threatened the company with legal action and imposed a tree preservation order on the whole Toby Carvery site.

The Woodlands Trust, which objected to the training facility plans because of the impact on ancient trees in the area, said Spurs and MBR had more questions to answer.

Adam Cormack, the trust’s head of campaigning, said: “There is some uncertainty about whether the ancient Whitewebbs oak that was felled is or is not part of development plans for Tottenham Hotspur FC’s new training facility and we’d like to seek clarification from the club on this.”

Cormack welcomed Toby Carvery’s apology but said it did not go far enough. He said: “Toby Carvery must now be fully transparent with their paperwork and work with local authorities as they investigate. Did they know about the Spurs tree survey, which called the oak a ‘fine specimen’ and makes recommendations for its conservation? Did they consider any alternatives to felling, and if not, why not?”

Russell Miller, an expert on ancient trees who visited the oak before it was felled and has inspected it since, said: “I refute the claim that the tree was dying and dangerous. I have looked at the structural integrity of the tree and I saw it in December. There was no logic to touching that tree other than wanting an ancient tree out of the way because of some financial interest.”

Police closed their investigation on Tuesday after deciding it was a civil matter.

MBR decline to comment.

A Spurs spokesperson said: “The tree and the decision to fell it has no connection to the club as the tree sits outside of our lease demise for our proposed women’s and girls’ training centre and academy.”

The club confirmed it had an option to lease Toby Carvery’s land within Whitewebbs Park but stressed this was just an option. It also claimed it was “ridiculous” to suggest the tree was felled to make the land easier to develop.

Ange Postecoglou has said Tottenham will fight “tooth and nail” to salvage their season by reaching the Europa League semi-finals and admitted he “couldn’t care less” about speculation over his future.

Tottenham will be without Son Heung‑min for the second leg of their quarter-final against Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday because of a foot injury. Postecoglou admitted that it was a blow to lose his captain as his team prepare for their most important game of the season, after a 17th Premier League defeat of the campaign against Wolves on Sunday.

However, asked whether he was feeling the burden of pressure as Spurs attempt to reach the last four of this competition for the first time since winning it in 1984, Postecoglou said he is not concerned about what fate awaits him if they lose.

“No, not at all mate,” the Australian said. “Because I don’t define my career and me as a person by what people think about me. I never have. Never will. If you don’t think I’m a good coach today, you won’t think I’m a good coach tomorrow, even if we win. One game ain’t going to make a difference to that. You either think I’m capable of doing the job now or you don’t.

“That’s where I sit with these things. If people think that us winning tomorrow all of a sudden makes me a better manager than what I am today or us losing tomorrow somehow makes me a worse manager, I guess that’s their burden, not mine. I don’t think that way and I don’t think most people think that way. Or I’d like to think they don’t, in terms of their own sort of self-esteem and who they are as people. I couldn’t care less.

“What I’m sitting here doing is thinking we’ve got a great opportunity to get to the final four of a major tournament. I’m not going to let that slip by without fighting tooth and nail for it irrespective of what may come the day after.”

Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola and Crystal Palace’s Oliver Glasner – who led Frankfurt to Europa League glory in 2022 – have been linked to Spurs if Postecoglou is sacked. Tottenham are on course for their lowest Premier League points tally after a season that has been scarred by injuries and individual errors, with Postecoglou confirming that Guglielmo Vicario and Cristian Romero will retain their places despite making mistakes against Wolves.

“It’s better they don’t make them at all but they’re human beings, these things happen,” he said. “Both have got a really good mentality, they’re both strong leaders, they’re both strong individuals. They weren’t hiding away from the fact that they made those mistakes, they owned up to them which is no surprise to me. And I think they’ll go out tomorrow night not thinking about that but, again, thinking about the opportunity for us.”

Frankfurt have lost only once at home against an English club in eight meetings and the Frankfurt defender Robin Koch, formerly of Leeds, warned Spurs they will be entering “the lion’s den” of 58,000 supporters at Deutsche Bank Park. But Micky van de Ven is confident they can cope with the hostile atmosphere and was adamant that the Tottenham players are still behind Postecoglou.

“We all still have the trust in the gaffer and still have trust in the way he’s playing,” he said. “So tomorrow we want to win the game of course for him, but also for us, also for the club, and also for the fans.

“It hasn’t been a really good season, but it’s a big game for us and of course we want to achieve something special this season. I think this is the best way to do it.”

Ange Postecoglou has said the media believes he will be sacked even if Tottenham rescue their season by winning the Europa League.

The manager, who accused critics of always trying to “turn gold into crap”, was in spiky mood before his side host the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final against Eintracht Frankfurt and has clearly taken note of the talk over his future. Postecoglou has talked about ignoring external noise but he responded to a question about wanting to prove people wrong by picking out a reporter who wrote that success in Europe would not save the Australian’s job.

“I just think we’re in that position that the good stuff we may do is going to be turned into a glass-half-full rhetoric and, from that perspective, I don’t think that can be a driver in what we want to do,” Postecoglou said. “The lads are really keen to bring success to the club. I just think there’s a real determination to take the opportunity that they’ve earned at this point.

“I think [someone] wrote that even if we win it I’m gone anyway. That’s not having a go at you, that’s just saying the general sentiment of people. So if you’re trying to use that as a motivation, you’re not going to win that anyway. There’s got to be more in it for us, and for us what is the most important thing as a group is that we’ve been through a really tough time but we’re still in a position where we can make an impact.

“We’re in a quarter-final and I don’t know how many times the club has been in a quarter-final in European competition. You don’t want to let that slip you by or have the wrong mindset going into it. I think the players are handling it well. They’re going to face a top team but they have the capabilities to overcome that.”

Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola, Brentford’s Thomas Frank and Fulham’s Marco Silva will be in the frame if Spurs, who are 14th in the Premier League after 16 defeats from 31 games, sack Postecoglou. Reports in Germany cite Crystal Palace’s Oliver Glasner as another contender. Postecoglou is under pressure before facing Frankfurt, who are third in the Bundesliga, and he bristled at the attention paid to a dispute between Brennan Johnson and Mathys Tel over a penalty during last Sunday’s win over Southampton. Johnson won the spot kick and looked deflated after the ball was handed to Tel, whose successful conversion put Spurs 3-1 up.

“It’s incredible, it’s just literally turning gold into crap when it’s Tottenham,” Postecoglou said. “Seriously. If we’re 2-1 up tomorrow night and get a penalty in the last minute, I want the best penalty taker to take it. The one slight against this club is apparently it hasn’t been a winner. Well the winner’s mentality in the last minute of the game is to score a goal.

“We scored a goal. And yet somehow in this ultimate universe where everything Tottenham does is wrong, that’s come out as a negative. I was delighted because if that’s tomorrow night and we get a penalty in the last minute and get a third goal which could be really decisive, I’m really pleased with the way the players handled it.”

When the final whistle went, Ivan Juric advanced on to the pitch and stared across at the corner where the away fans were gathered. Southampton had just suffered the earliest relegation in Premier League history, with seven games still remaining, but there was no bitterness. Juric, who seemed almost moved by their reaction, ensured his players applauded them.

“For me, this is something completely new, a new experience,” Juric said. “I said to the players they have to be really thankful that they have fans like this.

“It is something incredible the way they love their team even though we were relegated. They really deserve much more. It’s another type of culture [to Italy]. They show love in this moment; it is a great thing in English culture, Southampton culture.”

Juric seemingly wants to stay on and try to lead Southampton back into the Premier League next season. “If we take the long road to come back here, I am ready,” he said, speaking of the need to develop young players, such as Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Mateus Fernandes, Tyler Dibling and Kamaldeen Sulemana, so they can compete at Premier League level, rather than getting promoted then signing a new team.

“We have lots of young players, talented players. They are good but lack experience. There is a completely different physicality between us and other teams in the Premier League. The same thing happened to Leicester and Ipswich. The gap is huge but from this moment the players can grow up and improve and be ready for the Premier League; this is my idea.”

This season, all that remains is to try to surpass Derby’s record low tally of 11 points with a -69 goal difference. Derby, in the 2007-08 season, went down with six games left, as did Huddersfield in 2018-19 and Sheffield United in 2020-21. “I liked the second half today and the Crystal Palace game was good,” said Juric. “Our goal has to be to avoid being the worst in Premier League history, I want seven games like the second half today.”

Responsibility, he insisted, is collective. In three full seasons under the ownership of Sport Republic, Southampton have been relegated, promoted and relegated again. “It’s clear that the last two years in the Premier League we haven’t competed,” Juric said.

“We’ve been relegated too easily and that means huge problems in a lot of situations. Now it’s important to understand all the mistakes and try to create something good. You cannot see these fans in all places.”

Tottenham’s manager Ange Postecoglou was understandably focused on Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final first leg against Eintracht Frankfurt. “In the first half we were really disciplined, well-organised and every time we went forward we looked dangerous,” he said.

“The second half not so much. We became way too passive without the ball and let Southampton get a rhythm. But overall we got the win, everybody got through unscathed and now we’re ready for a big night on Thursday.”

It may be that Southampton pick up the two points they need to surpass Derby’s 2007-08 tally of 11 so as not to be ranked the worst team in Premier League history, but no side has ever previously been relegated with seven games of the season remaining. In that sense, and that alone, this was a historic afternoon, a new high in abjection. A facile win, though, did not bring a huge amount of joy for Tottenham.

It’s remarkable just how bad a team in Southampton’s position can become, how beaten-down players become unable to perform even the simplest functions. Like their 5-0 win at St Mary’s in December, the game that led to Russell Martin being dismissed, there was a sense that it was almost too straightforward to be meaningful. Yes, the knife cut through the butter; that doesn’t make it a good knife.

Spurs’ opener was a case in point, four neat passes leading to Djed Spence’s cross for Brennan Johnson, but probably not the sort of interchange you could perform unchallenged against decent opposition.

When Johnson, mysteriously played onside by not one but two Southampton defenders, poked in a second five minutes before half-time, the crowd’s reaction was a half-hearted, “Wa-hey”, rather than a proper cheer. For both sides for several weeks this league campaign has been something to be got out of the way. Rarely can a late goal, to cut the gap to one, have provoked so little drama as Mateus Fernandes’s strike; Mathys Tel’s penalty restored the two-goal margin.

The spring sunshine could not entirely penetrate the chill. Pockets of misery lingered, the metaphorical shadows extending far further than the actual ones. Everywhere there was dissatisfaction, frustration and gloom. Welcome to the Extremely Well-Appointed Luxury Venue of the Damned. On the one hand a zombie side dreaming of not being the worst in history; and on the other a team limping towards the end of the season looking to the Europa League for salvation.

Only victory in Bilbao in May, surely, can save Ange Postecoglou now. Fans have generally been sympathetic, recognising the deep-lying factors behind his struggles, but cupping his ear to his own support on Thursday has burned through much of what limited credit he had left. It probably wasn’t directly related, but the growing discontent at Spurs was evident in a larger than usual protest in the streets before kick-off, with perhaps 350 calling for the defenestration of Daniel Levy. There were chants of “We Want Levy Out” immediately after kick-off, at every VAR check and at sporadic intervals throughout, a leitmotif for the afternoon.

There’s an Australian documentary Ange and the Boss that details the time Postecoglou spent playing for South Melbourne Hellas under Ferenc Puskas. Midway through the season in which South Melbourne won the grand final, during a slump in form, Puskas was barracked by the home crowd, turned and berated them. That seems to have added to his legend, but it’s one thing for somebody who was once the greatest player in the world to make his point to a low stand in suburban Australia, quite another for a 59-year-old in his second season in one of Europe’s top five leagues to gesture at away fans watching their side losing their 16th game of the season.

Still that’s nine fewer than Southampton, who have won one league game in five months. What, you wonder, did Ivan Juric think was going to happen when he took the job? He remains admirably engaged, giving Will Smallbone extended instructions before he brought him off at 2-0 down, as though any of it mattered.

When he was appointed before Christmas, Southampton were already bottom with a meagre record of six points from 17 games. Did Juric really think he could turn things round? If he had somehow kept this squad up, coaches of the future would have sought out his training notes in the way alchemists once hunted for the mythical works of Hermes Trismegistus.

Ange Postecoglou has lamented that he’s “falling out of love with football” the day after Tottenham’s fans had made it clear they’ve fallen out of love with him.

The morning after his instantly infamous “cupped ear” gesture to the Spurs fans during Thursday’s 1-0 loss at Chelsea became the talk of English football, Postecoglou delivered another painful lament about how VAR was souring his once undying love for the game.

The Australian sounded more disenchanted than ever as he reiterated his reaction to what had appeared as a Spurs equaliser at Stamford Bridge had supposed to be a celebration rather than him giving a provocative riposte to the fans who had moments earlier been goading him over what they felt was a clueless substitution.

The Spurs faithful had serenaded him with chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing” when he brought on Pape Sarr in the 64th minute – but when the sub scored within five minutes, Postecoglou responded in a manner interpreted widely as him snapping back at his critics.

If that was a case, the bad news for Postecoglou was that, within minutes, the goal was chalked off after a VAR intervention.

“My mistake was celebrating a goal, VAR defeated me again. I won’t be doing that again,” sighed the 59-year-old on Friday, sounding increasingly like a man who knows his Tottenham reign will be over unless he can guide them to Europa League glory before the season’s out.

“Everyone says ‘they came to the right to decision’, well, yeah,” said Postecoglou, reflecting on the lengthy wait for the decision to be made about the disallowed equaliser.

“If that’s what people want, let’s continue. I don’t like it. I am falling out of love with the game because I love celebrating goals.

“Last night I did and I’m paying a massive price for it. I’ll make sure I don’t do it again, but I reckon that’s kind of sad. Isn’t that sad?

“Maybe I was influenced by England and the old First Division. What I loved about it as opposed to other leagues was the frenetic pace of it. In English football, there was always something happening.

“I’ve tried to design a gameplan that has tempo and energy because I feel if you want people in there for an hour-and-a-half of entertainment and engagement, you want them off their seats.

“But there was 12 minutes of extra time last night. VAR was not brought in last month. It has been here for a long time and it is still taking 12 minutes?

“I am the lone voice. I don’t hear anyone else saying it. That’s why I am sat here and saying maybe I am disconnected. I don’t think anyone else cares. We’re just so accepting.

“Maybe I come from a different generation where we used to rail against anyone who tried to change the fundamentals of our life.

“It is sad for me because I am a lone voice but I don’t think it is sad for the game because I guess people want that. I’ve got to accept it. When I do finally retire, I will probably watch less football and try and find another hobby.”

Ange Postecoglou believes Tottenham must make material changes to their outlook as a club if they are to reach the level of success they crave. The manager, who is fighting to continue into next season, described his job as different to anything he had experienced because of the “weight of things you’re trying to rail against”.

They include the isolation of the post, how the Spurs manager is normally the lone spokesperson for the club, nobody from the hierarchy publicly defending its positions. This echoed the sentiments of some of his predecessors, especially Antonio Conte. Postecoglou did not name names but it is a matter of fact that the chairman, Daniel Levy, almost never gives interviews. The chief football officer, Scott Munn, and the technical director, Johan Lange, are similarly low-profile.

On a related note, Postecoglou considered how media pundits with affiliations to certain clubs will speak up in their favour, creating a more favourable climate for them. With Spurs, it is the opposite, everybody – including former players and managers – piling in on them.

More broadly, Postecoglou suggested that whenever there was a bad season at Spurs, the default move was to change the manager, never mind the amount of positivity which had come before. That, he said, had to change. Postecoglou acknowledged that he would say this – it is plainly in his interests – but he hoped that people could take the point without prejudice.

“I just don’t think it’s about the managers themselves,” Postecoglou said. “I’ve almost lasted two years. It’s pretty good for Tottenham! At some point, the club needs to stick to something. If I say it now it sounds self-serving and defeats the purpose, so maybe not now … but I think that if you want to change the course of your events, you need to change materially a lot of things in terms of the way your outlook is as a club.

“It’s fair to say this year hasn’t worked out but that’s the other thing. We finished fifth last year. In another year, that would have been a Champions League spot. With people, it just doesn’t register. If you have five years at a club and you have maybe one or two disappointing years but you have three really strong years you’d say: ‘I’ll take that.’ But it seems like [at Spurs], you have one good year, you have one poor year and then that’s it. Let’s move on to the next.

“That’s what I accepted so I can’t sit here and say: ‘Woe is me.’ It’s fair to say at the moment I’m not doing a good job of turning that mind-shift around. But I am a fighter. I will continue fighting until told otherwise. As has been rightly pointed out, there’s life after this for everybody, including Tottenham and including me.”

Postecoglou was frustrated that his ear-cupping celebration towards the Spurs fans after Pape Sarr’s ultimately disallowed goal in Thursday night’s 1-0 defeat at Chelsea became the major talking point, rather than the VAR processes that led to the over-rule. Postecoglou is a sworn enemy of the technology, feeling it is ruining the game. But he recognised the reaction as being very much of a piece with life at Spurs.

“People tend to focus on the internals of Tottenham rather than the externals,” Postecoglou said. “Whether that’s the fan disenchantment – that’s internal. External is what happened with the decisions. It seems like every fight ends up being an internal fight at this club. There’s never any defending of the club or the club defending itself.”

Postecoglou, preparing for Sunday’s game at home to Southampton, was asked how Spurs ought to do that. “By being more vocal,” he said. “I think you hear enough from me. You probably hear too much from me. It doesn’t have to be just from people at the club, either. I hear plenty of people talking and defending other clubs but it seems with Tottenham, wherever there’s a sore there’s a real pile-on to stick a finger in that sore and then we accept our fate.

“In the time I’ve been here, we’ve had two decisions that have gone for us against Liverpool and there has been a national campaign, almost.”

Postecoglou was referring mainly to the reaction that followed the Luis Díaz goal that was mistakenly disallowed by the VAR team in last season’s Premier League fixture at Spurs’s stadium. The other flashpoint came this time out in the Carabao Cup semi-final, first leg, also at Spurs, when Postecoglou’s midfielder Lucas Bergvall was surprisingly spared a second yellow card. He went on to score for 1-0.

“You guys [in the media] know the landscape better than I do but it seems like … I never switch on and hear any sort of strong voice [for Spurs]. The only voice you hear is me. When we’re talking about the bigger clubs, there seems to be a lot more voices. And not always defending them. You need scrutiny and constructive criticism, as well. We definitely get enough of that. But we never get any of the other stuff.”

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Brighton: Fabian Hurzeler takes his Brighton side to Selhurst Park tomorrow for what promises to be a spicy M23 derby between two sides whose extreme animus mystifies many but dates back to the 1970s. Brighton go into the game on the back of an emphatic midweek defeat at the hands of Aston Villa, while Crystal Palace will be hoping to retrun to winning ways after their late, late smash-and-grab to rescue a point at Southampton on Wednesday.

With his side just four points away from the fifth place that will almost certainly guarantee qualification for next season’s Champions League, Hurzeler has urged his players to prepare for a succession of finals during the run-in. “The whole season we have to deal with setbacks and it’s always about how you come back,” he said. “It is always the question, if the glass is half full or half empty and I always see it as a half-full glass and that’s the main message. It’s to see all the upcoming games like a final, and like this we have to prepare, and like this we will go into the games.

“Everything in the past was in the past and now it’s really about winning something and we have to be on our highest level. We need two things. We need this togetherness and we need this positive energy. We will go all in with the staff, with all the players and then we see what we get.”

Palace inflicted the first home defeat of Hurzeler’s reign by romping to a 3-1 success at the Amex Stadium in mid December and the 32-year-old German is fully aware of the importance of the fixture to Brighton supporters and admits his side have a duty to make amends.

“I can feel it [the passion] and I think it’s also our responsibility to give them something back,” he said. “In the first derby we weren’t on our highest level, we didn’t give the fans what they deserve and tomorrow it’s an opportunity for us and also our responsibility to make it better than the last time. There’s already a big motivation because it’s the final third of the season, it’s about achieving something, it’s about winning something, and every game will be important, and therefore the motivation is very high. We will go all in, we will try to win this game for our fans.”

Joel Veltman, Adam Webster, Tariq Lamptey, Igor Julio, Ferdi Kadioglu, James Milner and Georginio Rutter remain sidelined for Brighton.

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An email: “On the subject of Ange Postecoglou,” writes Peter Wilkinson. “I’m not a Spurs fan so I don’t have a dog in the race but it amuses me that while fans give players and managers absolute pelters, as soon as they get a bit back the fans start clutching their pearls saying it’s a disgrace. If you can’t take it, don’t give it out.”

A fair point well made, Peter. Ange is due to face the press shortly in an appointment he’s probably looking forward to with as much relish as a trip to the dentist for root canal surgery. It could get spiky, mate.

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José Mourinho: Fenerbahce have issued a strident defence of their manager after he grabbed the nose of Galatasaray boss Okan Buruk in bad-temperered scenes that followed the Turkish Cup quarter-final clash between the two sides on Wednesday night.

The altercation occurred following Fenerbahce’s defeat at the hands of their bitter rivals, but Fenerbahce claim Buruk was play-acting by tumbling to the floor after Mourinho pinched his hooter. The Portuguese was shown a red card for his troubles and now faces a potentially lengthy ban but his club are standing resolutely by their man, insisting his opposite number incited the incident and then dramatised his reaction.

“[Buruk] had the audacity to make disrespectful hand gestures after crossing the police line,” harrumphed a Fenerbahce statement posted on X. “After our manager touched his nose momentarily in response to these provocations, the person in question threw himself to the ground in an exaggerated manner.

“The disrespectful statements and actions of this person, who professionally threw himself to the ground with a ‘shot’ reflex as a continuation of this plan after excessive provocations, are recorded in the images.

“The meaninglessness of a person whose nose was touched jumping to the ground and writhing for seconds and the acting that was played are known to the entire public. It is obvious that the images of this person throwing himself to the ground from his football career continued in his coaching career, and that this attitude is a characteristic stance.

“It is clear that the evaluation of the ugly provocations and what happened afterwards should not be one-sided, but should be based on a cause-and-effect relationship.”

As Elton John famously sang, sometimes sorry seems to be the hardest word.

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Updated at 11.06 CEST

Leeds United: In news that is unlikely to comfort fans who are worried their team will “do a Leeds” and blow their chances of promotion o the Premier League, Daniel Farke has assured Leeds fans their team will not “do a Leeds” and blow their chances of promotion to the Premier League.

Second in the Championship table after surrendering a five-point lead, Leeds have won only one of their last five matches and could fall out of the automatic promotion places if they fail to beat Luton Town tomorrow and Burnley get a result against Coventry, but Farke is convinced they will be in the top flight next season.

“I was involved in that [2018-19 promotion, with Norwich City] battle and yes, Leeds fell apart and I was struggling to explain it because they had a really good coach in Marcelo [Bielsa],” he said. “And for me, I liked the Norwich team, but Leeds had by far the better players and by far the better side and I was thinking, ‘why does this happen?’.”

Farke sensed the weight of expectation at Elland Road from the opposition dug-out when his Norwich side won 3-1 there in February 2019 when both teams were vying for top spot.

“I was thinking then I loved so much to be in this stadium and the atmosphere and what a big club this is,” he said. Of course I was working for a different club at this time, but I was thinking one day I would like to come back and help this club to stay, in these situations, a bit more calm and positive. This is why I wanted to sign two years ago. I know how difficult it is to stay calm and cool with this club, believe me.

“So my composure and calmness is more than enough for all Yorkshire. Everyone is allowed to panic, it shows how much they care. But my task is to make sure we stay cool, that we stick together, don’t over-react, that we’re not over-motivated and that we totally believe.

“This is what I bring to this club. I can’t guarantee [promotion] right now, but I’m totally calm right now, totally composed and I totally believe the boys are doing a great job. And believe me, in the end, next season we will play in the Premier League. I’m 100 per cent convinced of this.”

Leeds face relegation battlers Luton tomorrow at lunchtime and Farke, who has no new injury worries, has confirmed goalkeeper Karl Darlow will start in place of Illan Meslier after a string of costly errors by the Frenchman.

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Updated at 10.55 CEST

West Ham: Graham Potter’s side host out-of-sorts Bournemouth at the London Stadium tomorrow, hoping to win for the first time in four Premier League outings. West Ham go into the game on the back of a defeat at the hands of Wolves on Tuesday, their sixth loss in 11 matches since Potter took over from Julen Lopetegui. The 49-year-old has told his misfiring West Ham stars they are “some way off” what he expects of them and says they are playing for their futures.

“You can’t play for West Ham and throw games away,” he told reporters. “It’s impossible. Every game is massive for us. So we have to remember that, starting with Bournemouth on Saturday and finish as strong as we can. I would say we are some way off, for sure. In the end we want to control games and dominate games through attacking football, and we are far from that.

“When you understand where we’ve come from and what the bigger picture is, it’s a bit more understandable. But at the same time we have to acknowledge we’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ll need to carry on improving daily and then see how we can improve the team in the next transfer window, and keep taking steps. But with the ambition I have for this football club, we are some way off from where that is.”

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England women: Leah Williamson has praised the form of her Arsenal and England teammate Alessia Russo before the No 9 spearheads the Lionesses’ attack in their Women’s Nations League double-header against Belgium, starting in Bristol tonight. Tom Garry reports …

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Updated at 10.38 CEST

The weekend’s Premier League fixtures

Everton v Arsenal (Sat 12.30pm BST)

Ipswich Town v Wolves (3pm)

Crystal Palace v Brighton (3pm)

West Ham v Bournemouth (3pm)

Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest (5.30pm)

Tottenham Hotspur v Southamptopn (Sun 2pm)

Brentford v Chelsea (2pm)

Fulham v Liverpool (2pm)

Manchester United v Manchester City (4.30pm)

Leicester City v Newcastle United (Mon 6pm)

View the Premier League table

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Absolution of Hillsborough officers prompts fury

A 12-year investigation into the Hillsborough disaster by the police watchdog has concluded that no senior South Yorkshire police officers were guilty of misconduct for falsely blaming misbehaviour by Liverpool supporters. David Conn and Peter Walker report …

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Postecoglou cops earful during Spurs loss

Tottenham Hotspur: Despite his post-match protestations to the contrary, Ange Postecoglou appeared to goad Tottenham’s travelling fans at Stamford Bridge last night with a gesture that further damaged the increasingly fragile bond between the Australian manager and dissatisfied supporters. Jacob Steinberg reports from Stamford Bridge …

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Updated at 10.38 CEST

Premier League: Enzo Fernandez scored the only goal of Thursday’s game to move Chelsea into the top four, while a clearly exasperated Ange Postecoglou may have finally fractured his relationship with Spurs fans beyond repair. David Hytner reports from Stamford Bridge …

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Updated at 10.38 CEST

The weekend is almost upon us ...

Welcome all as we strap ourselves in ahead of another weekend of piping hot football action. The weekend’s first order of business is tonight’s Women’s Nations League match between England and Belgium at Ashton Gate, but before that we’ll get to see and hear no end of top flight managers fielding interrogatory projectiles from the men and women of the Fourth Estate ahead of the latest round of Premier League action.

As is customary, we’ll be here throughout the day to flag up all the major talking points and bring you any other news that happens to present itself as the day unfolds. In the meantime, our crack team of writers have been scouring the weekend fixture list to come up with these 10 things you ought to keep your eyes peeled for in the Premier League this weekend.

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Updated at 10.38 CEST