The Guardian

Liverpool appeared unusually vulnerable as they made the visit to White Hart Lane on 2 March 1986. After losing 2-0 to Everton at Anfield the week before, Kenny Dalglish’s team were grimly trying to stay in the title race, trailing their Merseyside rivals by eight points with 12 matches remaining.

With Everton extending their lead by a further three points the day before Liverpool’s match in north London, Dalglish’s men could see the last chance saloon nearing over the horizon. Victory was imperative at a ground where Liverpool had not won a league match since 1975.

The glimmer of hope for the visitors was the form of their opponents. Under their new manager, Peter Shreeves, Tottenham had been contenders in the league during the previous campaign. But second season syndrome well and truly kicked in, as Tottenham’s fortunes slumped in 1985-86.

Locked firmly in mid-table, Shreeves’ team had lost 13 out of the 29 league matches, including six defeats at White Hart Lane. With gates dropping – 13,135 had recently attended the match against Coventry – and Shreeves’ past signings Chris Waddle, Paul and Clive Allen, and John Chiedozie all struggling, the pressure was mounting on Tottenham’s manager.

Another man under scrutiny was the Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar. His recent performance against Everton was a microcosm of his time at the club; stunning saves with the occasional clanger thrown in. Allowing Kevin Ratcliffe’s 35-yard shot to somehow squirm through his body, Grobbelaar had seemingly hammered a nail in Liverpool’s coffin.

“The fact is, when he’s at his best, he’s unbeatable,” Nigel Clarke wrote in the Daily Mirror. “But too often these days his concentration cracks and errors stud his game.” There would be no hiding place at White Hart Lane for Grobbelaar, with the match being shown live on BBC One. As Arctic conditions continued to sweep across the UK, the heat was definitely on Liverpool’s keeper.

Unfortunately for Grobbelaar, another error did little to silence the critics. Palming a Glenn Hoddle corner straight up in the air underneath his crossbar, Grobbelaar could only look on in horror as Waddle prodded the ball over the line. Hands on hips, staring at the ground, Liverpool’s keeper cut a dejected figure as he contemplated his latest mistake.

“I have had a week of publicity and to start the game like I did today was a poor show,” Grobbelaar said. A goal behind after just two minutes, Liverpool’s title credentials were now being tested. Dropping points would surely spell the end of any championship hopes.

It would take a half-time ear bashing from Dalglish to kickstart Liverpool’s surge to the title. “Sometimes a lot of noise works wonders,” Grobbelaar said. “Kenny is a hard man and you have to go and play for him.” Whatever was said in the dressing room obviously had an impact. In the second half, Liverpool were a different beast.

Swarming over Tottenham, there was an inevitability that the equaliser would arrive, the only surprise being that it took until the 66th minute for the goal to come. Before then, the Tottenham keeper Ray Clemence did well to thwart Steve McMahon and Craig Johnston before Jan Molby hit the bar, as the red machine worked through the gears.

It would take a Molby drive from the edge of the box to level matters, and the momentum was firmly behind the visitors as Liverpool searched for the winner. McMahon struck the woodwork and Clemence saved superbly from Ian Rush, yet as the clock ticked down, Grobbelaar’s error looked like it had cost Liverpool dearly.

However, before you could say “never write off Liverpool”, Rush struck a pivotal goal in the 1985-86 campaign. As Steve Perryman misjudged the bounce of the ball on the halfway line of the rock hard pitch, Ronnie Whelan swept forward before playing a delicious through ball to Rush. The Welshman poked the ball past Clemence to send the travelling supporters wild as the television pictures cut to a jubilant Dalglish.

“Bruce was the most relieved man in the ground when I scored the goal,” Rush revealed. “I’m glad for him that I got the winner.” Grobbelaar blew a sigh of relief. “Fortunately the lads were able to pull it out for me.”

If Liverpool were ecstatic, the agony for Tottenham continued. Losing their fourth home league match in a row, Shreeves was struggling to find answers to Tottenham’s problems. When Everton ended Tottenham’s last chance of silverware just two days later in the FA Cup at White Hart Lane, Shreeves was on borrowed time.

The end would come on 13 May, the Tottenham board acting due to their disappointing 10th place finish. Three days earlier, Liverpool had completed a remarkable Double, the result at Tottenham the start of something special that saw Dalglish’s men recover from the brink at half-time to somehow overhaul their city rivals.

Alan Hansen recalled the 1985-86 title triumph with fond memories on Match of the 80s. “Looking back that was probably one of the best ones of the championships of my eight, because at no stage until quarter to five on the Saturday that we played Chelsea did I think that we would win that championship.”

Including the Tottenham match, Liverpool took 34 points from a possible 36, taking advantage of an unexpected Everton slip-up against Oxford to win the first part of their Double. Dalglish’s team talk, followed by Rush’s injury-time winner, proved a significant turning point for Liverpool’s season and history.

Ange Postecoglou has said some of the criticism he receives is offensive, personal and disrespectful. The Tottenham manager, whose attack-minded tactics have been questioned – most recently after Thursday’s 4-3 Carabao Cup quarter-final win over Manchester United – ­wonders whether this is influenced by his ­Australian accent or the disdain he shows for established practices.

Postecoglou said he saw the same thing happen to Unai Emery at ­Arsenal and Nuno Espírito Santo when the Portuguese was in charge of Spurs. Emery, now at Aston Villa, was ­ridiculed at times for his ­difficulties with English ­pronunciation. Nuno is doing well at Nottingham Forest after an unhappy 17-game spell at Spurs in 2021.

The current Tottenham manager took aim at the Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher, who said after the United tie that Spurs needed to change their approach; they almost blew a 3-0 lead with shaky ­defending. Carragher was not mentioned by name but Postecoglou knew who the questioner was talking about.

“Jamie Carragher, mate … you can name him, he’ll enjoy that,” he said. “People tell me he likes me so that’s a good thing. They say: ‘Did you hear what he said? But he likes you as a person.’ So that’s important to me.”

Postecoglou accepts that pundits such as Carragher are there to offer opinions and “it is healthy if it’s ­coming from the right sort of place”. The trouble is – and Postecoglou was not referring to Carragher here – that it is not always the case.

“Some of the other stuff, I kind of don’t understand because it’s just about getting headlines,” he said. “There is some stuff out there which I find … and at the appropriate time I’ll call it out … just offensive towards me. I don’t know … I’m up here with a silly accent and maybe I don’t take things as seriously as people want me to and I’m fairly dismissive of them. But that’s all right. I love my life and I’ll keep doing what I’m doing.

“It’s not the first time in my career. You feel that 26 years of hard graft [as a manager] should get you a ­little more respect and I’m not the only one – I have seen it happen to other managers. I saw it happen to Unai. I saw it happen to Nuno when he was here.

“I said last week that we have crossed the Rubicon in terms of how we treat people sometimes. I get that not everyone will be a fan of the way I do things and even the way I play. People will have different opinions – that’s normal, that’s healthy. But some of it has been pretty dismissive.”

The style debate continues to rage, sparked in part by ­Postecoglou’s ­comment immediately after the United game. “Are you not ­entertained?” he said, echoing the famous line from Russell Crowe’s Maximus in Gladiator.

“Top film, top actor and a ­fellow Aussie,” Postecoglou said. “I ­genuinely believe that a big part of our game is … maybe entertainment is the wrong word, but you go to the game to feel emotions that in your day-to-day existence you don’t get the opportunity to – both ­exhilarating and anxious. That’s what we love about it. There’s a lot of suffering in there but if you come out on the right side it’s an exhilarating feeling.”

Postecoglou had another film reference at the ready when asked whether he saw himself as some sort of messiah for the game. “I don’t think I’m an evangelist; to quote Monty Python, I’m just a naughty ­little boy,” he said, with a nod to Life of Brian. “It’s what I love about football. There has got to be ­differences, people who are prepared to do things a little bit differently. That allows opinion and emotion.

“We all want to leave a little bit of a footprint on our journeys. I want that to be my footprint – that I was successful in a different way because that stays in people’s consciousness longer than doing things normally.

“It’s a bit of human nature but I don’t think we know what we want. We get something and we want ­something more. Whatever makes you happy, hold on to it, ­cherish it and embrace it. We’ve all got that uncle who, even on the best day, says it’s raining outside. Even though we’ve just won the lottery, we have to share it with someone because two people won it.”

Postecoglou was without 10 ­players against United but he hopes to welcome back Destiny Udogie from injury and Timo Werner from illness at home to Liverpool on Sunday.

“For the Carabao Cup semi-final [also against Liverpool], we’ve got Pape Sarr and James ­Maddison ­suspended [for the first leg after ­getting yellow cards against United],” ­Postecoglou said. “If I lose ­anyone else between now and then, I’ll go nuts.”

Arne Slot has lavished praise on Ange Postecoglou and said he hopes the Tottenham manager is rewarded with a trophy this season for delivering a style of play that is “a privilege” to watch.

Liverpool visit Spurs in the Premier League on Sunday and the teams will meet again in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup after the latter secured their place with a thrilling 4-3 defeat of Manchester United on Thursday. Tottenham’s high-risk strategy attracted more criticism from pundits after the game, prompting Slot to issue a staunch defence of a rival manager for restoring his club’s identity.

“If I look at Tottenham and I come from Holland, but I did watch a lot of Match of the Day, I think about [David] Ginola, Paul Gascoigne, Glenn Hoddle, and more recently [Luka] Modric, Rafael van der Vaart and Gareth Bale,” the Liverpool head coach said.

“They’ve always been a certain brand of football for me and have a certain identity. I think Ange ­Postecoglou gives them that identity back completely. Ange is doing great work over there. I hope this is seen a bit more. I also hope, hope, hope that he wins a trophy – not the League Cup.

“I’m completely a fan of his team for the Europa League because people always talk about trophies and that it’s so important. For his brand of football and his style, it is so much more important and if he can combine that with winning something that would be so good for football in general because people can stop talking about it’s too attacking or ­whatever. How on earth can you play too [much] attacking football?”

Slot believes Spurs were unfortunate not to beat United by a bigger margin in their quarter-final and questioned how Postecoglou can be considered under pressure at a club that is not synonymous with silverware. “I don’t think there are many season-ticket holders in the country that can say they watch so many great games. Maybe the ones at Liverpool!” said Slot.

“I think it is a privilege to be a ­season-ticket holder at Tottenham at the moment because they play such a great style and it’s not like since Ange arrived they don’t win anything any more. Before that they were not a club that won many things, but they always won the sympathy of the fans in Europe, maybe also in England as well, I don’t know, because of the style of play they had. That is something you cannot underestimate.

“If I think about Spurs, I think about the shirt, the playing style and their identity and certain players. For me, he brought that back completely. I’ve said so many positive things about Ange now that if I say another thing it will seem like I’m his agent!”

Spurs tried to tempt Slot from­ ­Feyenoord in the summer of 2023 before turning to ­Postecoglou. Slot’s contract with the Dutch club contained a release clause that did not come into effect until this year, when Liverpool moved in for him, making negotiations difficult for ­Tottenham. He would not be drawn on how close he came to joining Spurs. “It’s the same answer that I always give you about Mo [Salah]’s contract situation and those things,” Slot said. Nor would he comment on Spurs’ claim, issued after he announced he would be staying at Feyenoord, that they had turned him down.

“So many things that are said are not true,” said Slot. “The problem is that the ones who know do not want to talk about it, and the ones who don’t know do want to talk about it. That sometimes happens in football. I’ve always preferred not to say anything about it. It might be true, it might not be true.

“I’ll leave it with what I said back then. I was really happy that I stayed at Feyenoord. That I can say.”

Ange Postecoglou described the first semi-final of his Tottenham Hotspur career as “progress” for his injury-ravaged side, even if they were made to sweat by Manchester United in a hectic 4-3 victory. “It’s one thing me praising them,” he said. “But they need the reward of winning, and how it makes them feel, so they can go to the well again.”

Spurs will play Liverpool over two legs in the last four of the Carabao Cup, with the first leg in north London taking place in the first week of January and the second at Anfield in the first week of February. The winner will face Arsenal or Newcastle in the final at Wembley, and Postecoglou will hope that his injury worries have eased by the time those fixtures come around.

Ten senior players were missing for this quarter-final, Timo Werner the latest to go down with illness on the day of the game, but Postecoglou was brimming with praise for his makeshift side.

“Four goals with the bare bones of a squad is a massive credit to the players,” he said. “We got tired in the second half, but I’m still so proud of the players’ efforts.”

Tottenham’s task was complicated in the second half by two uncharacteristic errors from the goalkeeper Fraser Forster, gifting United a route back into the game at 3-2. But true to form, Postecoglou was in no mood to dissolve the possession-based principles upon which he has built his coaching philosophy.

“Fair to say in 26 years there’s been a few of them [errors],” he said. “But I’ve always felt the pros well outweigh the cons. I don’t think we’d be the team we are if we didn’t maintain the conviction around our beliefs.”

The United head coach, Ruben Amorim, defended the decision to leave Marcus Rashford out of his match-day squad again. “If I feel that I do the right thing for the team, it’s never a mistake,” he said. “The guys who came on the pitch [Amad Diallo and Alejandro Garnacho] changed the game.”

Amorim also claimed that his team were more in control of the game than the scoreline suggested. “We disconnected for eight minutes in the second half and that cost us the game,” he said. “We suffer a goal, and then we needed to have long possession to calm down the game. But I saw a team that knows what we want to do.”

Like a song that changes time signature for the hell of it, like a friend that inexplicably blanks you, like a match report that noodles away for ages instead of just telling you what happened, Tottenham Hotspur remain medically incapable of doing things the simple way. This is becoming a kind of mania, a disorder, a cry for help. What is this? Who are you really? And, you know, can you not?

For all this, Ange Postecoglou’s side are League Cup semi-finalists, the latest plot twist in a season where nobody can really agree whether things are going well or not. Great football. But also some terrible football. But also, three games from a trophy. But also, 10th in the Premier League. But also two goals for Dominic Solanke. But also two goals basically given away by Fraser Forster.

And this game was the video explainer you would give to someone who had never seen Tottenham play before. Three goals in a rampant first hour: Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison running amok, Yves Bissouma a pillar of poise in midfield, Djed Spence and Archie Gray sparkling in unfamiliar defensive roles. Then the childlike defensive implosion to allow Manchester United a richly undeserved path back into the game. Then Son Heung-min scoring directly from a corner. Then, finally, another United goal to make it 4-3 because, you know, why not?

There will be a temptation for United to take the positives out of this. To put the Spurs goals down to freakish individual errors, to put their own down to a voracious pressing game being further honed under Ruben Amorim. This is an urge they probably need to resist. Amorim is a smart enough manager to harbour no illusions about the scale of the shambles still awaiting him, a squad that basically looks three pints to the wind and in need of a little sobering up.

For all the vague Jesus vibes that have pursued Amorim since joining the club, perhaps this was a valuable reminder that these are many of the same players who thrashed and flailed so ineffectively under Erik ten Hag, a combination of the once good enough, the potentially good enough and the not-quite good enough. Antony and Victor Lindelöf and Jonny Evans are still hanging around the place. Altay Bayindir has three years left on his contract and definitely should not be allowed all of them.

There is still a new system being seeded and sowed. Marcus Rashford is still marooned on the thinking chair. And for all their new energy and thrust, United still look uncomfortable in defence, disturbed by teams who make them turn and run. One clean sheet in eight games tells its own story. For an hour Spurs simply ripped them up, a version of themselves that Postecoglou must wish he could roll up in a duffle bag and take everywhere with him.

This is Spurs when it all makes sense: full of hard running and clever angles and flicks upon flicks. When the players are largely interchangeable because the parts are meant to interchange anyway. Spence, a right-back at left-back. Gray, a midfielder at centre-half. Kulusevski on the right but occasionally moonlighting on the left. Passages of humming chaos in which possession is lost, regained, lost again, regained again, to the point where you’re not quite sure whether they’re attacking or defending.

These were the combinations that produced the first goal, Pedro Porro with the shot from distance, Bayindir parrying the ball into the path of Solanke, who buried the rebound first time. United had spells of possession but the final pass was often lacking, and with a diet of long balls being pumped up to Rasmus Højlund the wider strategy was not entirely legible.

It was still not legible when Spurs doubled their lead 47 seconds into the second half. As Son drove through the centre, as Maddison overlapped on the left, United were still grasping at phantoms, herding and narrowing, a safety in numbers that was really no safety at all. Kulusevski slammed the ball in from close range after a non-clearance by Lisandro Martínez.

When Solanke created and fired home the third emphatically in the 54th minute, it was game over, at least unless Spurs did something unutterably stupid. Like giving the ball away to Bruno Fernandes five yards from goal. Or letting Amad Diallo tackle the ball into the net. Well, you won’t believe what happened next!

First Forster and Radu Dragusin shared an awkward moment, Fernandes stole in and substitute Joshua Zirkzee had a tap-in into an empty net from two yards: the sort of range from which Zirkzee, and indeed your most elderly relative, is deadly. Next Forster dithered over a clearance, Diallo put in a speculative slide and Forster – a man older than many countries – obligingly smacked the ball straight at him.

There were a couple more late scares, even after Son scored despite United howling for a foul on Bayindir. Evans headed in to stir a little undeserved jeopardy into the final seconds. But Spurs held on, as they hold on to the dream of a first trophy since 2008. It would be a profoundly strange thing to happen. But Spurs are turning into a profoundly strange team.

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Here’s Jonathan Liew’s report from the Tottenham Stadium.

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Ange and Amorim hug as if they had just escaped an elevator together after a night of panic. Bayindir is angry, and confronts the referee,

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Full-time: Tottenham 4-3 Manchester United

Two teams in full malfunction mode, two keepers to be clear. In the end, it’s Bayindir’s folly that takes Tottenham to the semis. Fraser Forster will have nightmares, having almost undone the good work of Spurs’ attackers. Ange is on course for that trophy. Ruben Amorim needs to find his Mark Robins and Lee Martins. United are way off it.

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Goal! Tottenham 4-3 Manchester United (Evans, 90+4)

Oh wow! They couldn’t, could they? It came from a corner.

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Six minutes added on.

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Goal! Tottenham 4-2 Manchester United (Son, 88)

Straight from a corner!

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Updated at 22.55 CET

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Bloody oath!

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Goal! Tottenham 3-2 Manchester United (Diallo, 70)

Ball passed back to Forster and Amad slides in and deflects the ball in.

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Updated at 22.34 CET

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Someone – was it Ange? – shouts: “You cannot be serious?” John McEnroe vibes.

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Goal! Tottenham 3-1 Manchester United (Zirkzee, 63)

Comedy stuff. Forster tries to play the ball out and in steps Bruno, and a pass inside and Zirkzee scores.

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Updated at 22.26 CET

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Yes, a few fans fell for his initial performances, and his dirty play but he’s joining the ‘bust’ pile soon enough.

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A Premier League manager has a tougher job than the prime minister, according to Ange Postecoglou. The Tottenham manager was reflecting on the departure of top-flight peers Gary O’Neil and Russell Martin while looking ahead to a meeting with the new Manchester United manager, Ruben Amorim, in the Carabao Cup on Thursday.

“This job is the hardest job now in any walk of life,” declared Postecoglou. “You can say politics but this is harder than any job. The tenure and longevity of this role means very few are going to come out of it without any scars. How many times does [Keir Starmer] have an election? I have one every weekend. We have an election every weekend and either get voted in or out.”

Martin was sacked by Southampton after Tottenham’s 5-0 win at St Mary’s on Sunday. Postecoglou expressed his disappointment with Martin being asked to carry out post-match press duties only to lose his job within the hour. “You don’t even get sacked in the morning now, you’ve got to change your song,” he said. “We have lost all sort of modes of respect in our society where guys are in jobs and they are putting up names of who is going to replace them while they are still working.”

Amorim replaced Erik ten Hag who lost his job in October after a little over two years in charge at Old Trafford and Postecoglou was scathing about the treatment of managers. “This notion that clubs want to bring managers in and build stuff doesn’t exist,” he said. “The moment there is a bit of a wobble there will be flak coming from all areas.

“Gary and Russell are both outstanding young managers who have long careers ahead of them. Unfortunately, for them at the beginning of their careers that’s what a manager’s career is going to look like. You’ll find that from now on managers are going to have about 20 clubs on their CV. Even the successful ones.”

The Australian’s previous declaration that he always wins trophies in his second season at a club places pressure on Spurs’ Carabao Cup run, but Postecoglou said winning one trophy would not be nearly enough. “I always say that my ambition is to build a team and a club that has an opportunity for sustainable success. I don’t think winning a trophy will have done that but it will help the cause as it will show the ability to win things, create an environment that does bring trophies. If you win one and you fall off the cliff in another, I don’t think it’s the way forward.”

With Marcus Rashford suggesting his future lies away from United, Postecoglou sidestepped any possible link with the 27-year-old forward and Tottenham.

“That’s not on my radar,” he said. “You can ask me about Marcus but you can ask me about every single Premier League footballer and I’ll say the same thing.”

Tottenham’s appeal to reduce Rodrigo Bentancur’s seven-match ban over comments he made about teammate Son Heung-min has been dismissed.

The Uruguay midfielder was given the suspension by an independent commission on 18 November and two days later, Spurs indicated they would appeal. On Tuesday, the Football Association confirmed an appeal board had dismissed Tottenham’s challenge against that sanction.

“This appeal was dismissed following a hearing, and the seven-match suspension remains as ordered by the regulatory commission,” the governing body said in a statement.

Bentancur was charged with misconduct in September over a television interview he gave in his home country in June, with the reference to Son’s race making it an aggravated breach. The standard minimum ban where such a breach is established is six matches, but Spurs said they felt the sanction was “severe” when confirming their intention to appeal.

Bentancur was asked during an interview to show the shirt of a Spurs player, and replied: “Sonny’s? It could be Sonny’s cousin too as they all look the same.” Bentancur apologised on Instagram to Son for his remarks and Son accepted that apology in a statement on the same platform.

“I’ve spoken with Lolo [Bentancur]. He made a mistake, he knows this and has apologised,” the South Korea captain said. “Lolo would not mean to ever intentionally say something offensive. We are brothers and nothing has changed at all. We’re past this, we’re united and we will be back together in pre-season to fight for our club as one.” Bentancur was also fined £100,000.

The original panel said it felt the breach fell “towards the lower end of the [sanctioning] guideline range but not the lowest point”. It added: “Cases can easily be envisaged which are less serious than this, but nevertheless subject to the minimum suspension of six matches.”

The panel said it should have been “reasonably foreseeable” to Bentancur that the remarks would be widely distributed via social media, but took into account as mitigation his sincere apology and his previous clean disciplinary record. The appeal board’s written reasons for dismissing Spurs’ challenge have not yet been published.

Kick It Out said in a statement: “Kick It Out received more reports about Tottenham’s decision to appeal against the discrimination sanction for Rodrigo Bentancur than the original incident itself. Many of the reports from the East and Southeast Asian community and beyond told us how angry and disappointed they were with the club’s actions and how it extended the pain for those who were affected by the original incident.

“We know this has been an upsetting episode for many fans and hope the club will now reflect on its decision and how it might seek to engage with the community. The number of reports to Kick It Out over recent seasons shows that more education is needed to highlight East and Southeast Asian racism in football, and we would urge clubs to tackle this in the same manner as other forms of discrimination. We await the written reasons for the dismissal of the appeal with keen interest.”

Meanwhile, Wolves forward Matheus Cunha has been charged by the Football Association for his part in the ugly scenes at the end of Saturday’s defeat to Ipswich. Cunha was seen confronting members of Ipswich’s security team after his side had fallen to a last-gasp loss at Molinuex. If found guilty Cunha, who has been Wolves’ best player this season, could be facing a suspension.

Teammate Rayan Ait-Nouri was also sent off after the full-time whistle as tempers flared following Jack Taylor’s winner deep into injury time. The loss saw head coach Gary O’Neil lose his job, with former Porto boss Vitor Pereira set be appointed as his replacement in the next 48 hours.

As a battle of the Premier League’s most idealistic managers, it ­registered as no-contest. Such was the dominance of Ange Postecoglou’s version of the glory game over ­Southampton’s it led to Russell ­Martin’s misguided evangelism being discontinued. Saints’ main contribution to any free-flowing football was letting Spurs play as they liked.

Two seasons ago, on Tottenham’s previous Premier League visit to St Mary’s, a rancorous 3-3 draw had ­preceded Antonio Conte’s post-match rant for the ages, leaving ­Daniel Levy and the club’s exec class’s ears burning, the Italian’s last act at Spurs. This time, Martin became the casualty, Saints fans making their feelings clear.

“I don’t know, mate,” Martin replied to post-match questions on his job prospects. “You’re speaking to the wrong person.” The response of the Southampton board was swift.

For Spurs, Sunday night by the south coast proved a highly enjoyable holiday from the eternal existentialism of being English football’s most mercurial club. If Southampton were easy prey, particularly in the first half, then Tottenham’s top stars rose to the occasion. There was even a role to play for a forgotten man in a first win since Saints’ fellow Premier League whipping boys, Manchester City, were beaten 4-0 on 23 November.

“It was outstanding,” said Postecoglou. “We had 10 first-team ­players unavailable tonight. We had to come out quickly because we knew we were going to get tired. We are asking a lot of our players and the quality and energy showed was outstanding.”

The defensive selection had looked makeshift, with Archie Gray at centre-back and at right-back, Djed Spence making his first ­Premier League start since joining from ­Middlesbrough in August 2022. Could a discarded relic from the Antonio Conte era deliver an instant impact? Spence ­marching through the ­yawning gap in Saints’ midfield and laying on James ­Maddison to score after 38 seconds provided an answer.

“He’s been patient, and he’s a great lad,” said Maddison. “Djed is quite a laid back character anyway, so I don’t think he needed too much of a pep talk.”

Martin’s team’s reputation as a soft touch with poor levels of concentration preceded itself, and was augmented again, this time fatally. No Sunday songs of praise for Saints. The home boos and calls for Martin to depart rang out once Spurs scored their quick second, Son Heung-min slotting home after Maddison’s ball was helped on by Jan Bednarek.

“I understand it’s not personal, so I don’t know them and they don’t know me,” said Martin of the fans’ reaction. “As a manager? Yeah, of course it hurts me. It hurts the team. I also understand it.”

“We want Martin out” sounded as the third came. Son’s cross found Dominic Solanke, and Bednarek could only divert the ball to Dejan Kulusevksi. If home fans had seen enough then so had their manager. A 14th-minute tactical substitution of Kamaldeen Sulemana for defender Nathan Wood led to a touchline standoff between the subbed player and his desperate manager. Having completed five from six passes, the Ghanaian was guilty only of being the closest player to Martin. “I could have taken anyone off,” said Martin.

Saints fans barrelled to the exit en masse as Pape Sarr scored the fourth in the 25th minute. Martin stood, isolated and aware that, like Steve Cooper last month, and Gary O’Neil earlier on Sunday, when a manager’s ­number is up, it is public ­opinion that delivers the final blow. He headed down the tunnel before the half-time whistle even came, thus ­missing Maddison scoring the fifth from a tight angle.

Would he quit at half-time? Anything seemed possible before he made a reappearance to low-level boos. Spurs fans, meanwhile, sang the praises of their manager, whose team, when getting it right, give them much to enjoy.

“Nothing has changed with me,” said Postecoglou. “I still have the same resolve and determination to make sure we become the football club and football team we want to be. Tonight was about the players, really.”

With Tyler Dibling leading the charge, and those fans who remained finding their voice, there was a Saints improvement. Spurs did not go for the throat. The scoreline’s lack of jeopardy meant Lucas Bergvall could gain further experience in midfield on his first Premier League start. Gray’s all-round talents are being used at centre-back and he looked as composed as in midfield and at full-back.

Spence, subbed off, left the field to a standing ­ovation. Southampton’s fans recovered their humour with sarcastic laughter when Mateus Fernandes scored an offside goal. Not that the gallows humour spared Martin, well aware his team’s first-half performance had likely damned him. “I think we have no choice but to work and fight, and that’s what I’ve done since I’ve been in this job,” he said. “And so I’ll continue to do until I’m told otherwise.” Little more than an hour later, the inevitable news arrived.

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GOAL! Southampton 0-3 Tottenham (Kulusevski, 14)

What is happening! A long ball finds Son who whips in a low cross. Solanki can’t get it but the ball is loose and swept home by Kulusevski from about five yards in front of goal.

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GOAL! Southampton 0-2 Tottenham (Son, 12)

Boos around St Mary’s as Son slams home the second! A pretty innocuous cross from the right takes a deflection and bobbles across the box and Son, totally unmarked on the left, runs onto the bouncing ball and crunches it home.

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GOAL! Southampton 0-1 Tottenham (Maddison, 1)

What a start! Maddison gets on the end of a through ball from and slots home from inside the box!

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Updated at 20.12 CET

Away we go! Saints in their classic red and white, Spurs in baby blue.

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This has a bit of a desperate feel to it. Both managers on TNT were doing their best to mask their anxiety (at least that’s my pop psychology take). They know that the ice below their feet is getting thinner.

The players are now making their way out the tunnel. All the noise, all the pressure, all the injuries and absentees, this could be anything.

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Young Tyler Dibling is getting heaps of praise in the build up. The 18-year-old is apparently on Manchester United’s radar with a rumoured £21 million offer on the table.

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Russell Martin says he has worked on “lots of things” this week. That’s encouraging.

Ange Postecoglou says he needs “another performance of ours that reflects the kind of football we want to play”.

Southampton’s boss looks the more chipper of the two.

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Ivan Victor has written in and taken issue with some of my phrasing:

“Maybe this is pedantic (I don’t think it is), with 8 or 9 players out injured and a bench with five academy players it’s hard to be able to select your preferred starting XI.”

Nope, I don’t think that’s pedantic Ivan. I think that’s totally fair. You’re right, it’s not been ideal for Big Ange.

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History is not on Southampton’s side.

They have won just one of their past eight matches against Tottenham in all competitions with three draws and four defeats.

But we should expect goals. The three most recent meetings between these two have produced 16 goals in total.

Perhaps the best stat is that Southampton have scored in each of their last 15 league games against Spurs. Fifteen!

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My colleague Luke McLaughlin wrote this week that Spurs’ style seems unsuitable.

He took the 3-4 reverse at home to Chelsea as a case in point and asked, “is it sustainable to play with all guns blazing, all season, as if the bell is about to ring for the end of lunch break?”

It’s not the first time this has been asked of a Postecoglou team. I do wonder, though, if Tottenham’s fans would accept anything other than swashbuckling go-forward footy?

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Big Ange isn’t holding back. After calling out Timo Werner, stating that the german’s performance against Rangers this week was “not acceptable”, the Tottenham boss has claimed that he has no time for “bruised egos”.

It’s a heavy approach but perhaps that is what’s needed. A bit of a kick up the rear to jumpstart a spluttering season.

We’ll find out if it’s worked.

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Tottenham team

Big Ange is still searching for his preferred starting XI.

Dejan Kulusekvski, Lucas Bergvall, Djed Spence, Pape Sarr and Dominic Solanke all start. Timo Werner, after getting chewed out by his boss midweek, is on the bench alongside a bunch of youngsters.

Tottenham 4-2-3-1: Forster, Gray, Dragusin, Spence, Udogie, Bergvall, Sarr, Maddison, Son, Kulusevski, Solanke.

Subs: Austin, Porro, Lankshear, Dorrington, Olusesi, King, Hardy, Werner, Johnson.

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Southampton team

Four changes for the Saints from the team that lost to Villa last week.

Alex McCarthy returns in goal with Jan Bednarek in front of him. Joe Aribo and Kamaldeen Sulemana are also given an opportunity to show their stuff from the start.

Southampton 4-5-1: McCarthy, Walker-Peters, Manning, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Sulemana, Downes, Aribo, Fernandes, Armstrong, Dibling.

Subs: Lumley, Bree, Wood, Sugawara, Amo-Ameyaw, Fraser, Lallana, Onuachu, Archer.

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Preamble

Admittedly this is usually the case with football, but both these teams could really do with a win this evening.

Southampton are rooted to the foot of the table and haven’t won in over a month. Tottenham, down in 12th, have been doing that thing they do where they beat (or at least compete with) good sides but then stink the place up against everyone else.

The wolves are howling outside the doors of both managers and only a positive result on the south coast will keep them at bay a little longer.

Does this mean we’ll get a classic encounter where players fly into tackles and every blade of grass is fought over? That’s certainly the hope.

Kick-off at 7pm.

Teams and further updates to follow.

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