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Daniel Levy is seemingly very reluctant to do the very obviously necessary and put Ange Postecoglou out of his and our misery. Spurs are bad and getting worse and the only really compelling argument against not sacking him now is that it should have been done weeks and weeks ago.

But Spurs continue to wait. We think we can sort of understand why they’re doing that, but we are very sure they’re wrong. Here are five reasons we’ve heard for why Spurs shouldn’t sack Postecoglou now, and why we think they’re bunk.

‘You can’t keep sacking managers every 18 months’

Obviously correct. And we strongly suspect Levy hasn’t pulled the pin on Postecoglou precisely because he desperately doesn’t want to have yet another manager chewed up and spat out inside two seasons.

It is, undeniably, a theme of Levy’s Spurs chairmanship. Spurs have appointed 12 new permanent managers under Levy’s watch, and of those only Martin Jol, Harry Redknapp and Mauricio Pochettino have managed to survive for two full years.

Spurs have become locked in a cycle of 18 months under one manager, a sacking, a caretaker stint (or two if you’re really lucky) and then another new manager, and then rinse and indeed repeat.

It is very obviously a strategy that is not working. Spurs have been sinking, with the odd misleading bob back to the surface, since the final 18 months under Pochettino.

So, yes, we get why there is reluctance and resistance towards doing the same thing again and expecting different results.

But that this is a negative overall trend that Levy and Spurs should absolutely look to reverse in general doesn’t automatically make it the wrong move right here, right now, in the very specific instance of them being catastrophically worse and at more immediate risk of actual disaster than at any point since the 1990s.

Even if all of those other managerial departures were wrong, the point is that Spurs now are worse than they were at any time under any of those managers.

Yes, you might well have been wrong to bin off Andre Villas-Boas at the first sign of trouble. But we are so very far beyond the first sign of trouble here. About 15 months beyond it.

TL;DR: It being wrong to sack every manager after 18 months doesn’t mean it’s automatically wrong to sack this one.

READ: Who will be the next manager of Tottenham after Ange Postecoglou?

‘Are you not entertained?’

We get it. Postecoglou is a decent guy and quite entertaining himself. His post-match interviews are always good value after big win, occasional draw or yet another harrowing defeat.

People like him. Specifically, people in the media like him and enjoy the daft and entertaining football his team plays. But as we’ve noted before, the problem with his ‘entertaining’ football is that it is only really entertaining if you don’t actually support Spurs.

There is no great desire to drum Postecoglou out of Our League. He might be a foreigner, but he’s the right sort of foreigner, isn’t he? A straightforward, plain-speaking foreigner and most importantly not a bloody nerd, mate.

England’s sporting relationship with Australia is always an interesting one. The rivalry is obvious, but deep down it’s one built on a grudging respect that for all their ghastly uncouth faults, Australia are really bloody good at sport. And they play it properly, don’t they?

It is somehow different to other sporting rivalries in this country. We frequently find ourselves wondering just how different the media coverage of Postecoglou and Spurs might be were the exact same results coming from more dour football played under an irritatingly chippy American who uses slightly different terminology to the rest of us, or a bespectacled German nerd with a laptop.

And what we suspect is that he’d be long, long gone. One reason Levy has been able to avoid sacking Postecoglou is that there really hasn’t been a concerted media effort to nudge him towards doing so. The outside noise has never become deafening, because everyone (else) has always found it entertaining.

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‘Can’t judge him during an injury crisis’

Postecoglou is the injury crisis.

It is paradoxically the most frequent mitigation for Postecoglou’s terrible results while simultaneously being largely his fault.

Postecoglou defenders using this line very rarely pause to consider just why Spurs have been in the midst of a catastrophic injury crisis for all but the first three months of his reign.

Some injuries really are bad luck. Contact injuries in a contact sport will happen and you do just have to cope with those as and when they arise.

But that all too often leads to a situation where all injuries are dismissed as rotten bad luck with no further investigation. Spurs have had a couple of those unlucky injuries – most notably and damagingly to goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.

But the overwhelming majority of the injuries are soft-tissue injuries. There can be bad luck here, but when you as a club find yourself having an unprecedented run of such ‘bad luck’ and it’s happening under a manager who prides himself on tactics that involve non-stop running and swapping of positions for 90 minutes twice a week and also replicating that workload in training, and also a lot of the injuries you have suffered have happened in training, then it does start to look like it might be worth at least considering that it might not just be bad luck after all.

But most importantly, when all that’s happening, the injury crisis becomes self-sustaining. The injuries mean you have to rely on a smaller pool of players at any given time, that pool of players is overworked and itself becomes more susceptible to injuries.

The specific names of unavailable players may change over time, but as some players return, all the evidence points to new ones getting injured in an endless doom-spiral of churn.

Postecoglou himself has taken to talking about ‘when we get the players back’ but this is a fantasy. Spurs will never have all their players back. They will never have a fully-fit squad. Angeball as a system breaks players.

Now you can decide for yourself how you want to divvy up the blame for Spurs’ injury crisis: Postecoglou himself for the brand of football, the medical staff for not coping better, and Levy for not realising that he was hiring a manager who would require a squad of at least 30 first-team-ready footballers which he was never, ever going to provide him.

But the options for Spurs are: sack Postecoglou and try something different, build an enormous squad capable of surviving the rigours of Angeball, or cope with a permanent state of injury crisis.

What they can’t do is keep pretending this state of affairs is unfortunate or mitigating.

MAILBOX: Ange Postecoglou should learn from Unai Emery on injury ‘moans’

‘He’s showing more willingness to adapt.’

He is, kind of. But it’s primitive. Even the new adaptable, versatile Spurs still only operate at one of two extremes. It’s double the number of plans they used to have, sure, but it’s still very basic

There’s the trusty old Plan A – the one where they all run around all the time in all directions and either win 4-0 or lose 4-3 – and the new Plan B – the Jose-lite low-block-and-counter where they sit six or seven men behind the ball and only the other three or four run about in all directions and they either win 2-0 or lose 4-0.

These are not the subtle tactical tweaks of an Andoni Iraola or situational adaptations of a Thomas Frank or Marco Silva. This is sledgehammer nut-cracking, an almost sarcastic response to criticism of witless all-out attacking by resorting instead to witless all-out defending.

‘He hasn’t been backed with the players he needs.’

This really has elements of all the previous three problems. He has been backed, and a lot more than some previous Spurs managers who were given less time and opportunity to make it work.

He hasn’t been given all the players he needs, but it’s become clear that this could never be. For reasons Spurs-specific and more general.

The Spurs-specific ones are that we know how Spurs operate. Now we have every sympathy with the Levy Out position but what we will keep saying is that the changes you want to see that might come about from Levy Out probably still won’t if it’s Ange In.

Spurs are never going to have a squad of 30 first-team-ready players to switch and rotate as the season unfolds. But do you know who does have that? Pretty much nobody. Chelsea at a push, and it does them at least as much harm as good because of the chaos and uncertainty it generates.

You know what you’ve got if you’ve got the dream squad of two equally good players ready to slot into every position? A bunch of unhappy underused players.

It really isn’t talked about enough just how demanding Angeball is on the players. They really do sprint harder and further than anyone else. And crucially they do this both in and out of possession; that’s what separates them from literally everybody else.

There are teams who play a high-intensity game in possession but low intensity when they don’t have the ball. Your Forests, your Fulhams.

There are teams who play a high-intensity game out of possession but low intensity when they have it. This is the classic Man City way, and the key change Arne Slot has made at Liverpool from the more hectic, Ange-adjacent (though never as extreme) stylings of Jurgen Klopp.

And then you have the middle ground where most teams live, for better (Arsenal) or worse (Southampton). And then right out on their own, you have Spurs.

This season Spurs players have spent more time sprinting when out of possession than anyone else in the league. But they are also third, behind only Newcastle and Fulham, for time spent sprinting when in possession.

Nobody else in the Premier League plays like this. It is fundamentally impossible to back that unsustainable system with the players it needs in a competitive league. There is a reason why it worked wonderfully well for 10 games and hasn’t worked since.

A new report has provided an ‘update’ on Ange Postecoglou’s future at Tottenham Hotspur, who have been told to “go and get” one replacement.

Postecoglou is in his second season at Spurs and he’s under immense pressure as the clear favourite to be the next Premier League manager sacked.

Tottenham were expected to kick on after they narrowly missed out on Champions League qualification but they have massively dropped off as they have slumped into the bottom half of the Premier League table.

Injuries have been a massive contributing factor as Spurs have been without several key players for most of this season.

Tottenham’s dire Premier League form made them overly reliant on cup competitions, but they suffered disappointing exits from the Carabao Cup and FA Cup last week.

READ: Manchester United slump shock but Salah, Spurs and a sacking nailed in kneejerk reactions

Despite this, a report from Fabrizio Romano after the defeats to Liverpool and Aston Villa claimed there are “no indications” of an immediate “change at Spurs”.

“At the moment, there are still no indications of changes at Spurs,” Romano said.

“Of course, no one is happy with the current situation, but no indication of imminent changes. Let’s see in the next few days and after the next games.”

Now, a report from Football Insider has provided an ‘update’ on the potential ‘kneejerk axe decision’ as Postecoglou ‘still has the backing’.

‘Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou still has the backing of the board and club chiefs – for now – after a chastening week, sources have told Football Insider.’

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‘Sources say there is still sympathy for Postecoglou over the club’s injury crisis despite sack pressure building for the Australian boss.

‘Tottenham will make no knee-jerk reaction to recent results but it is clear results will have to improve in the coming weeks.’

Regarding potential replacements for Spurs, AFC Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola is the joint-favourite to become Tottenham’s new head coach.

Iraola has done a sensational job since replacing Gary O’Neil as Bournemouth have emerged as a credible challenger for Europe this season.

Given Bournemouth and Tottenham’s differing positions, Iraola may be put off a move to Spurs. Despite this, former Aston Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor reckons he is the manager they need to “go and get”.

“Top managers now, Iraola, all these managers, like they’ll find you out, and that’s what happens,” Agbonlahor said.

“Spurs need to probably keep Ange, I would, for now, also because who’s out there to go and get?

“And I would go and get, maybe the Bournemouth manager.

“But why would he [leave Bournemouth]? That’s the problem.”

The opening fixtures of the Premier League season were reversed recently so our kneejerk reactions should be revisited, including an Everton sack prediction.

Those kneejerk reactions can be reviewed in their full glory, but here follows a thorough assessment of just how actually okay they were.

The Premier League title is probably just out of reach – that 7-0 Forest thrashing did their goal difference no good – and Liverpool eventually just about dumped them out of the Carabao Cup. But Brighton could soon have their third crack at an FA Cup semi-final since promotion.

Manchester City eliminated them at Wembley in 2019 and the Seagulls basically beat themselves when drawn against Manchester United four years later. An impressive comeback win over Chelsea has helped open up the competition again and Brighton should fear no-one. Not even Newcastle.

As written in August, they ‘boast a ludicrously stacked squad’ and ‘a trophy would feel like a fine and equally attainable next step towards establishing their position as a force’. Doubts remain over Fabian Hurzeler but his reaction to a record-setting defeat and the fact European qualification might be just out of reach bodes well.

It is certainly theoretical possible as Wolves are within touching distance of both Leicester and Ipswich in the Premier League table, but there would be no surprise if the current bottom three cannot extricate entirely themselves from the relegation zone come season’s end.

Southampton are as doomed as Sheffield United were before them, down to the red-and-white stripes and weird obsession with both Cameron Archer and Ben Brereton-Diaz. Ipswich deserve to face the same fate as Burnley for signing Aro Muric. Leicester might well go the same way as Luton, who are battling against successive relegations.

Either way, it is great to see another mention for the pre-season predictions in which half of us tipped Forest to go down.

Another unnervingly decent prognosis, albeit not one which required a great deal of foresight or expertise.

Wolves overachieved to finish in the bottom half last season, then doubled down on Gary O’Neil without ever actually supporting him. His new four-year contract came with the slight caveat of even more sales to the tune of more than £100m, a fraction of which was reinvested back into the team.

A 2-0 defeat to Arsenal, while far from a worrying start, represented the continuation of a miserable run of form which stretched across two seasons. O’Neil oversaw four wins in 29 games before his sacking and while Vitor Pereira has ostensibly steadied the ship, Wolves are pedalling frantically two points above choppy waters.

Not bad, but also ruinously embarrassing that at no point was Chris Wood mentioned as a contender.

When Erling Haaland burst out of the blocks with a record-breaking 10 goals in Manchester City’s first five games it seemed like another question of how high he would raise the bar. Not until fairly deep into a historically poor run of team results did it dawn that his individual brilliance had faded either as a cause, a consequence or both.

Salah might envy Haaland’s ludicrously well-remunerated new contract but the Norwegian has had to bow to the relentless production of the Egyptian king so far this season. The Liverpool forward has at least three more league assists than any other player in Europe’s top five divisions in 2024/25, and only former Golden Boot rival Harry Kane has been able to keep up in the European Golden Shoe race.

Outrageous.

It does, in all fairness, seem unlikely. Although it is difficult to decipher whether being relegated while winning the Europa League would be the least or most Spursy outcome imaginable.

Spurs had finished fifth and broke their transfer record in an exciting but ultimately flawed summer transfer window, so predicting a failure to qualify even for the lowly Europa Conference League was more outlandish than it seems in February, when Ange Postecoglou would take just missing out on continental football thank you very much, mate.

But yes, sitting 14th does feel quite sub-optimal in terms of Champions League aspirations. ‘The advent of European football from September onwards will start a balancing act it is difficult to envisage them mastering,’ it says here. They might possibly have managed if their whole squad had not been simultaneously struck down by muscle injuries Postecoglou cannot possibly control while running them into the ground.

There it is. A bona fide, stone cold, absolute gem of a miserably dreadful prediction. It took a while but it was worth the wait. Just look at it.

A phenomenal Community Shield performance and customary stumble past obdurate opposition at home to open the campaign has a lot to answer for, as well as a £200m summer spend. That Joshua Zirkzee fella looks handy, doesn’t he? And fair play for rinsing £25m out of those fools Napoli for Scott McTominay.

There was an element of it being what should happen rather than what will – ‘there is no excuse for Erik ten Hag and his players to fall short of that minimum bar of Champions League qualification’ – but at no stage did anyone expect it to a) get as bad as it did, or b) become even worse once Ten Hag was replaced.

The man loves a November deal renewal.

With an assist in each of the opening five games of the Premier League season, a total of 10 alongside five goals in the first 13 and some similarly commanding Champions League performances after his European Championship summer heroics, it seemed certain Saka would be in the running for long-overdue wider personal acclaim.

That he remains among the favourites to win the PFA Player of the Year award despite being sidelined with injury for almost two months is testament to a quality Arsenal have missed.

We are in teasing hourglass emoji territory so a late push to inspire an incredible, trophy-laden close to the season cannot be ruled out (until Arsenal collapse in on themselves out of sheer fear when confronted with Alexander Isak again in May).

That should have afforded time, patience, confidence and the foundations from which Dyche could build but they were squandered almost immediately and if anything a December salvo of successive draws with Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City only crystallised the need for change.

David Moyes, like Dyche and Frank Lampard before him, inherited an Everton mess in January and was able to turn things around fairly quickly. The perhaps forlorn hope will be he can take them further than two middling years.

There aren’t many clubs whose managerial history Wikipedia entries list the number of days for each incumbent – even Watford just go for matches and the like – but Chelsea are happy to lean into the stereotype. And it handily reveals that Maresca recently passed the Graham Potter landmark, with Mauricio Pochettino about 100 days in the distance.

The Italian will absolutely reach and surpass that point, partly because he has overseen some improvements on his predecessor (while presiding over many of the same issues) and partly because at some point the Chelsea owners have to settle on someone for a respectable period of time.

Fabio Paratici is attempting to persuade Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy to hire Inter Milan boss Simone Inzaghi when Ange Postecoglou leaves Spurs, according to reports.

Paratici stepped down from his role at Spurs in April 2023 after losing his appeal against a 30-month Italian Football Federation (FIGC) ban on certain football related activities, which FIFA ruled to extend worldwide.

The Italian, who had been in his role at Tottenham since the summer of 2021, was handed a two-and-a-half-year suspension from working in Italy in January 2023 by the FIGC Court of Appeal for his involvement in allegations of false accounting at his old club Juventus, who were given a 15-point deduction.

A report in November 2023 claimed that Paratici still ‘remains heavily involved at the club despite resigning in April’ and that he is continuing to ‘pull all the strings’ in terms of Tottenham recruitment.

And now Tottenham’s former managing director of football is looking to influence their potential search for a new manager with Postecoglou coming under intense pressure.

There are no reports claiming that Postecoglou will be sacked but there is unrest among the fanbase with many supporters looking for the north London club to make a change.

Tottenham have won just one of their last eight Premier League fixtures and have exited both the Carabao Cup and FA Cup in their last two matches in all competitions.

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Previous reports have claimed that the Spurs board have sympathy with Postecoglou over his injury problems with Tottenham currently missing 11 first-team players.

But now Italian website Inter Live claims that Paratici is ‘trying to convince the club’s top brass to focus on Simone Inzaghi’ if they decide to get rid of Postecoglou.

Levy is ‘considering sacking’ the Australian with Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola and Fulham’s Marco Silva the other two candidates if Postecoglou leaves.

Former Tottenham midfielder Jamie O’Hara wants to see Postecoglou sacked and insists it’s “time to go” with Aston Villa boss Unai Emery “on a different planet” to the Spurs boss.

O’Hara wrote on X: “It’s time to go now Ange is out of his depth, Emery is on a different planet compared to him and his players bopped us off the park should of been 5, we’re like reserve team playing in academy games that don’t matter, it’s crazy.”

Aston Villa beat Tottenham 2-1 on Sunday as they knocked Spurs out of the FA Cup but their manager Emery had some kind words for Postecoglou amid the pressure on his job.

Emery said: “I can analyse his work last year and the first six months of this season and I really appreciate a lot how Tottenham are playing with their style. Last year they performed fantastic. Of course, every team has their injured players – they have more than normal.

“The potential they can have with every player being available is a little bit lower without them. I think we played a very good match today to stop them. They played well but it was not enough to beat us in this match. When they are going to recover players, they will perform again like they were doing.”

Fabrizio Romano has revealed Tottenham Hotspur’s stance on sacking head coach Ange Postecoglou after they exited the FA Cup on Sunday afternoon.

Spurs are enduring a woeful season as they are languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League and only sit ten points clear of the relegation zone.

In September 2024, Postecoglou – firm favourite to be the next Premier League manager sacked – put pressure on himself, insisting he “always wins” a trophy in his second season. He said: “I don’t usually win things, I always win things in my second year [with a team]. Nothing’s changed.”

These comments have not aged well as Spurs exited the Carabao Cup and FA Cup last week.

Tottenham took a 1-0 aggregate lead into their Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Liverpool but did not put up much of a fight in the return tie, losing 4-0 at Anfield. Then on Sunday, Aston Villa beat Spurs 2-1 at Villa Park to book their place in the FA Cup fifth round.

READ: Postecoglou sack unavoidable as Spurs’ second cup escape route disappears in four days

Before Tottenham’s loss to Villa, a report from GiveMeSport claims a defeat could leave Postecoglou ‘on the brink’.

‘Postecoglou’s position will come under the microscope if Tottenham are knocked out of two cup competitions in a matter of days, according to GMS sources, while the manner of the defeat to Liverpool has led to there being uncertainty over whether he will be given the opportunity to see out the rest of the season.

‘GMS sources have been informed that influential figures at Tottenham remain fully behind Postecoglou, with Levy’s willingness to dip into the transfer market in the final hours of the winter window highlighting his support, but being beaten by Aston Villa could leave his future at the helm in jeopardy.’

Despite this, Romano claims there are “still no indications of changes at Spurs.”

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Romano told GiveMeSport: “At the moment, there are still no indications of changes at Spurs.

“Of course, no one is happy with the current situation, but no indication of imminent changes. Let’s see in the next few days and after the next games.”

Speaking post-match, Postecoglou admitted his “disappointment” at failing to progress in the FA Cup.

“Obviously disappointed we don’t progress,” Postecoglou said.

“It wasn’t a great start, that’s the last thing you want, and we really struggled to get some control. Then we had an enormous chance at 1-0 we didn’t take to equalise.

“We got a better grip of the game but unfortunately fell short. When you go a goal down it gives the opposition momentum and confidence. You want to wrestle control early and we didn’t do that.”

Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur are all out of the FA Cup, giving 11 Premier League clubs extra motivation to go all the way.

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We are giddy about seeing a Championship team in the Europa League, but we need it more than Ipswich Town. Their focus is on staying in the Premier League.

Although Vitor Pereira named a strong starting XI against Blackburn Rovers on Sunday, we all know the Portuguese cares a lot more about Premier League safety than the FA Cup.

Winning the FA Cup could put the cherry on top of the cake for Forest this season. If you ask their entire fanbase to choose between Champions League qualification and a cup win, it would likely be split down the middle. Had you asked them at the start of the season, they would have p**sed themselves laughing and muttered something about relegation and Leicester…

Like Forest, Bournemouth might feel they have bigger fish to fry with the smell of Champions League football tempting Andoni Iraola to toss all his eggs into the Premier League basket.

Winning the FA Cup would be absolutely fantastic for the Cherries but just imagine the Vitality hosting Champions League nights…oof.

They will believe they can make both realistic targets but there are quite a few injuries Iraola has been forced to contend with.

Sure, the FA Cup is City’s best chance of winning a trophy this season and going potless would be a kick in the teeth for Pep Guardiola, but we feel qualifying for the Champions League is a bigger priority.

The only trophyless season in Guardiola’s managerial career came in his first year at City back in 2016/17.

Winning the FA Cup glossed over an abysmal Premier League campaign last year – for the Manchester United hierarchy anyway. That glory at Wembley kept Erik ten Hag in a job and sent the Red Devils into Europe at Newcastle’s expense, while knocking Chelsea from the Europa League to Europa Conference League in the process.

A trophy win would be a huge achievement for Ruben Amorim and he is no doubt desperate to lift the FA Cup, but wouldn’t a year with no Thursday-Sunday schedule be lovely? Winning the Europa League is the best-case scenario; winning sod all and finishing outside the Premier League top eight is the second-best-case scenario.

Winning a trophy would give Brighton supporters something tangible to show for their incredible progression and they are in the same boat as a few teams here who are lingering in mid-table and could qualify for Europe through their league position but won’t. They should and can give this competition a right go.

Palace have never won a domestic trophy in their 120-year history and let’s be real, they aren’t doing anything in the Premier League this season.

They and Forest still have fourth-round ties against lower-league opposition to navigate and Oliver Glasner’s side have some pretty big Wembley dancing demons to exorcise.

Despite being in the hunt for Champions League qualification, Newcastle would be first if they weren’t already in the Carabao Cup final.

Securing their spot at Wembley does not mean all of their eggs should be in the Carabobbins basket; they are facing an imperious Liverpool (first) team after all.

It has been a whole 70 years since the Magpies last won a major trophy. That is quite a long time and this season’s FA Cup is a realistic target. Eddie Howe made a lot of changes for Saturday’s cracker at Birmingham City but he is not and will not be taking this competition for granted.

No domestic cup final since 1975. No domestic cup win since…ever.

Fulham are currently ninth in the Premier League and in the hunt for Europe but getting there via an FA Cup win would make all of these players and Marco Silva immortal. They are the biggest ‘Why not?’ team for us.

After a year in the Champions League, Aston Villa fans would surely take winning the FA Cup over finishing fourth (or possibly fifth depending on the coefficient).

There is no reason why they can’t do both and while staying in the Champions League is another task being juggled by Unai Emery, that journey can end at any point with no sense of regret. Without a major trophy since 1996, Villa will be full of regret if they throw away the chance to win this season’s FA Cup, especially with Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool missing in action.

Tottenham supporters have been told to forget about replacing Ange Postecoglou with former Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino by Ramon Vega.

Spurs are in a rotten run of form that has seen them win just one of their last eight matches in the Premier League and pile pressure on Postecoglou.

That has been made worse in their last two matches with a 4-0 loss to Liverpool seeing them exit the Carabao Cup and a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa on Sunday means they are now out of the FA Cup too.

There were reports last week indicating that Postecoglou ‘could find himself on the brink’ of losing his job at Tottenham if he failed to beat Aston Villa.

It’s still unclear whether his job is in serious danger as it has been previously reported that the Spurs hierarchy have sympathy over their recent injury woes.

But it’s becoming clear that many in the Tottenham fanbase are now looking for a change of manager with ex-Spurs head coach Pochettino a name some are keen to see return.

However, former Tottenham defender Vega insists there is little chance that Spurs would be able to appoint Pochettino, who is the head coach of the USA.

Vega wrote on X: “There’s no point in calling for Pochettino. 1. He is already contracted and committed to @USMNT, and it would be disrespectful both to @USMNT and to him. 2. He was sacked without proper support after achieving the remarkable feat of reaching the Champions League Final in Madrid.

“This was a significant opportunity to establish a real football project, but the board missed the chance and failed to support him. We are currently facing the revolving issue for years a lack of genuine support in the football department. Changing Ange will not solve anything. The solution lies in changing the mentality and commitment at the top regarding football.”

Tottenham are currently missing 11 first-team players and Postecoglou thinks the criticism of him and his team is agenda-driven.

Postecoglou said after the defeat to Villa on Sunday: “Take them out of any team. How did Liverpool go today? And they just did that for one game. Do that for two and a half months. Any team, do that for two and a half months in multiple competitions.

“I don’t care about me, people will judge me or whatever. But you can’t judge this group of players on what’s happened. They’ve given everything. Two 18-year-olds, a 17-year-old, a 19-year-old and a 21-year-old goalkeeper starting against one of the best teams in the country at home.

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“They [Villa] had a week off, they didn’t play on Thursday night against Liverpool. We did. Same group of players, not a change. You can’t measure this group of players on that and their performance. It’s too easy for people to be critical of them. I have huge admiration and respect for them.”

When asked whether he would get the time to show what this squad could do, Postecoglou added: “I’m not talking about me. People can judge me, they can say I’ve done a bad job, I’m not up to it or whatever, that’s fine.

“What I’m saying is you can’t be critical of players and players’ performance during this time. If you do, then do that with everyone else when they’ve got nine or 10 or 11 players out – none of them have – and for every game.

“I’m not just saying we had to do it today. We’ve been doing this since the middle of November. You can’t judge the performance of these players or critique them on what they’ve done. All they’ve done is give all they can and that’s all you can ask for.

“My responsibility at this club is this group of players and team to get them to play in the manner I want them to that will bring us success. Whether people think I can do that or not is for others to judge but there’s got to be a better appreciation for what a very small group of players have been doing for the last two and a half months.

“It can’t be that people think that is an excuse. That’s just not anywhere near close to objective analysis. That’s just agenda-driven stuff. If it’s to get rid of me that’s fine, good on you, go for it a million times. But in terms of this group of players, what they’ve given over the last two and a half months has been outstanding. It’s a credit to them, I can’t speak highly enough of them.”

New Tottenham signing Mathys Tel would like to move to Man Utd in the summer transfer window if a deal becomes possible, according to reports.

The Red Devils were keen to sign another attacker before the transfer window shut earlier this week with Tel, Juventus’ Dusan Vlahovic and Napoli’s Victor Osimhen among the names linked.

Man Utd interest in Tel was revealed to be concrete by multiple reliable reports with the Bayern Munich forward initially reluctant to make the move to Tottenham.

But, after talks between Man Utd and Bayern broke down, Tel made a U-turn and decided to make a loan move to Spurs with Tottenham having a €60m option in the deal.

It may not be straightforward for Spurs to seal a move in the summer if Man Utd are still interested as Sport Bild journalist Christian Falk insists that Tel would still like to pursue a move to Old Trafford, if possible.

Falk wrote in his Caught Offside column: ‘True✅: Bayern would have liked to have sold Mathys Tel in the January transfer window. In fact, they were very disappointed that, at the last moment, Tel said, ‘No’ to a permanent move to Tottenham. That was before the weekend, but during the weekend it seems he wanted to stay at Bayern Munich.

‘So, this is how the loan deal with Tottenham eventually came about. Tottenham were really fighting for this release clause – Bayern initially refused and then agreed on a €60m release clause. Bayern see it as a success that they managed to agree a big loan fee, which could rise to €10m, which is a lot for only six months.

‘If they manage to then sell Tel in the summer, by their calculations they could earn as much as €70m, which would mean they’d get a lot of money back from their Harry Kane purchase (€100m) back in 2023. If you think about it that way, they would have only spent €30m for Kane – that’s cheap!

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‘There were also talks with Manchester United who were interested in Mathys Tel’s signature. Tel was certainly open to the move, but United weren’t prepared to pay the loan fee Bayern Munich were demanding at the time (€5m).

‘So, you see, there was a huge difference to the offer Tottenham came to the table with. Whether Tel stays with Bayern beyond the summer or moves on, it’s entirely up to him. If he can make the step to United, he would like to do it.

‘If he sees a chance at Bayern Munich, perhaps he would also stay, but I think it’s hard for him, as he didn’t make it under Vincent Kompany. So, I think if he is performing very well, he will stay in the Premier League.

‘If he doesn’t, he has to go back to Bayern and start again. All in all, though, Bayern are the big winners in this case, as he wasn’t getting game time in Munich, so they’ll get some money from the loan, they don’t have to pay his salary, and, in the end, they get either a transfer fee or a player with Premier League experience. A good solution!’

Paul Merson reckons Arsenal should bring former Tottenham star Harry Kane to the Emirates Stadium in the next January transfer window.

The England international scored 280 goals in 435 appearances for Spurs, including 213 in the Premier League, and he has continued his amazing scoring rate in Germany with Bayern Munich.

Kane has scored 72 goals in 73 matches in allc competitions for the Bavarians with 57 of those coming in 51 Bundesliga appearances.

Despite a record-breaking first season in the Bundesliga, Kane is still without the trophies he moved to Bayern Munich for, although Vincent Kompany’s side are on track to win the title this season.

And a recent report in the Daily Telegraph revealed that Kane has a release clause in his Bayern Munich contract that will become active next Janaury.

The report claimed:

‘Telegraph Sport understands that there is a release clause in Kane’s Bayern contract, even though he is said to be extremely happy in Germany and has no thoughts of activating it any time soon. Premier League clubs are already aware of the existence of Kane’s release clause, which could be crucial to a potential return to England.

‘Kane moved to Bayern on a four-year contract for £100m in August 2023, with Tottenham also securing a first option agreement as part of the transfer. That would only be applicable should Bayern agree to sell Kane and the striker wanted to return to Spurs, where he spent 13 years and became the club’s all-time highest scorer.

‘There is no fixed fee in Tottenham’s first-option agreement, meaning the club would still have to trigger his release clause or negotiate a price with Bayern for Kane.

‘Should a rival club ever trigger his Bayern release clause, Tottenham would have to decide whether or not to match the bid and hope the 31-year-old preferred a return to North London.’

Kane himself commented on the report over the weekend, he said: “What I can say is that I’m very happy at FC Bayern. No comment on the clause.”

And now Merson reckons Arsenal should go and buy Kane with the Gunners finding it hard to find an available striker with the quality to improve their attack.

Merson told Sky Sports: “I keep on saying Isak but there’s not a lot around. I’d go Harry Kane. I’d pay the £60-odd million for Harry Kane.

“I know it’s not my money. Like Sol Campbell didn’t (go to Arsenal)?

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“He’s got that clause. If he wins the league which he should with Bayern now but when he does that I think that’s it and come back.

“If he thinks he can beat Shearer’s record at Tottenham, but I don’t see the point coming back to Tottenham.

“There’s no point just coming back just to beat that and I don’t think he’d have as much of a chance of beating that than he would at Arsenal.”

Former Tottenham boss Tim Sherwood added: “I can’t see it but I think wherever he comes back to a club where he thinks he can win something and beat the record.

“He could do that at Tottenham, he’d score a lot of goals there. He wants to win trophies.

“He won’t let up, he’ll keep going. If he does decide to come back to the Premier League there will be plenty of takers but he’ll want a team who he thinks can win.”

A new report has revealed whether a loss to Aston Villa on Sunday would tempt Tottenham Hotspur chiefs to sack head coach Ange Postecoglou.

The Spurs boss is the firm favourite to be the next Premier League manager sacked as the North London outfit are enduring a terrible season.

Tottenham are 15th in our Premier League form table and they were dealt a further blow in midweek as they were knocked out of the Carabao Cup.

Spurs took a 1-0 aggregate lead into their Carabao Cup semi-final second leg at Anfield against Liverpool, but they did not put up much of a fight in a 4-0 loss in the return tie to exit the competition with a whimper.

Postecoglou put himself under increased pressure at the start of this season as he insisted he would win a trophy in his second season.

READ: Spurs crisis blamed on Postecoglou discarding player he ‘treated pretty badly’ – and why no-one likes Arsenal

Tottenham’s elimination from the Carabao Cup makes Sunday’s FA Cup fourth-round tie at Aston Villa even more important.

A new report from GiveMeSport provides a ‘big future update’ regarding Postecoglou, who ‘could find himself on the brink if he is unable to steer his side to an FA Cup victory over Aston Villa’.

‘Postecoglou’s position will come under the microscope if Tottenham are knocked out of two cup competitions in a matter of days, according to GMS sources, while the manner of the defeat to Liverpool has led to there being uncertainty over whether he will be given the opportunity to see out the rest of the season.

‘GMS sources have been informed that influential figures at Tottenham remain fully behind Postecoglou, with Levy’s willingness to dip into the transfer market in the final hours of the winter window highlighting his support, but being beaten by Aston Villa could leave his future at the helm in jeopardy.’

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Ex-Tottenham goalkeeper Paul Robinson has explained why he expects Postecoglou to have an exit “conversation” with club chiefs “on Monday”.

“I think they’ll be having that conversation on Monday,” Robinson said.

“Spurs have a very difficult game against Aston Villa and a week is a long time in football. How they played against Liverpool was extremely disappointing – they were tactically inept again.

“It was one of the poorest performances I’ve seen. It’s disappointing in a semi-final not to have a shot on target, which a lot was made from. But I didn’t expect them to get a result against Liverpool.

“I’ve always said that the thing keeping Ange in the job was the first 10 games at the start of last season, which a lot of people are hanging their hats on, the fact they’re in all the cups and how well they’re doing in the Europa League.

“But this week, they’re out of the EFL Cup, and they could be out of the FA Cup on Sunday if they play like they did against Liverpool. The conversation about Ange’s future really starts to heat up next week. They’ve got no chance of getting Champions League football.”