Should Ange Postecoglou be replaced in the summer? 

Given that Tottenham have this season lost as many leagues games as they did during the entirety of Mauricio Pochettino’s reign in charge, it’s fair to say that things haven’t gone well for their straight-talking Australian manager, who now cuts a far less jovial figure than he did back at the start of his tenure, when fans, journalists and pundits all seemingly warmed to his jollyness and overuse of the word “mate”. 

It’s gone rather wrong for Postecoglou and Spurs, who with the Premier League campaign approaching an end, find themselves sitting in an unflattering 16th position. For a club that not long ago eyed up a title challenge, not to mention one that charges its supporters title-challenger prices, that’s just not good enough. 

Premier League managers have been shown the door for less, sure, so the possibility of Postecoglou being out of a job very soon is a very real one.  

Lack of options

The problem for Daniel Levy, who has hired and fired his fair share of managers and thus probably isn’t against replacing Postecoglou, is that it’s back to square one, and for what? 

Can Spurs bathe in the luxury of high-quality managerial options? Absolutely not, and anyway, Levy has gone down the big-name route in recent times, not once, but twice, failing to get a tune out of serial winners such as Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte. Even if there was someone of that ilk ready to take Ange’s place, which there really isn’t, it’s not like such an approach is guaranteed to work. 

Forces working against the Aussie boss

In fairness to Postecoglou, he’s had the season from hell in terms of personnel issues. His team has been hit hard by injuries, with key players missing large chunks of the campaign.

It’s also worth mentioning that Spurs simply have a number of below-par players, who don’t meet the level required to finish in the top four. Considering that previous Spurs managers have cited a lack of control over signings as an issue, can Ange really be blamed for that? 

Moreover, Postecoglou has not yet failed to deliver on his second-season promise. Don’t forget, the Aussie always wins in his second season mate. His team find themselves in the final four of the UEFA Europa League, so that second-season win remains on the cards. Somehow. 

If they do limp over the line in Europe, despite being nowhere near the team that they were a few years ago under Pochettino, to use a phrase hated by the fans but widely used by everyone else, it would be quite Spursy. 

The question is, after what has been a poor season in general, should those tasked with making the decision keep him in the job? It seems silly to say Postecoglou should stay if Spurs win the Europa League, but despite a glaringly obvious drop-off in the league, that’s probably the case. 

This is a club that has yearned for tangible glory for such a long time, so if Ange delivers that in the form of a continental trophy, the club surely owes him another season, a campaign ahead of which he’s given the tools to do a proper job domestically. Unfortunately, he’s working for a chairman known for setting managers up for failure before laying the blame solely at their door. 

In fact, because we’re talking about Daniel Levy and Spurs, there’s no guarantee that a Europa League win would see Ange stay. In other words, it’s entirely possible that Spurs win the Europa League and Postecoglou still finds himself looking for new employment during the summer. Isn’t that right, mate?

By Bradley Gibbs for FIRST.com