Tottenham face Eintracht Frankfurt in their Europa League last-eight second leg
It is a do-or-die situation for the under-fire Postecoglou in the Spurs hot seat
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Back in the days before naming rights tore into German football, they called Eintracht Frankfurt’s home the Waldstadion, literally forest stadium, due to its setting in an area of woodland outside the city.
The path to the 100-year-old sporting venue, now completely modernised and rebranded Deutsche Bank Park, still involves a stroll through the trees and, on the eve of Tottenham’s Europa League quarter-final created a shady idyll at odds with the do-or-die nature of the tie.
When the beer starts flowing and the grills are lit and the mood lurches towards hostility tonight, there will be no mistaking what is at stake for Spurs against the Europa League winners of 2022.
Ange Postecoglou, with the tie poised at 1-1 and his job on the line, will lead his team into a ‘lion’s den’ according to Eintracht’s former Leeds defender Robin Koch. ‘They will feel it,’ agreed boss Dino Toppmoller.
It will be noisy and intimidating in the forest, it’s just how they roll in Frankfurt and Spurs have not coped well in those circumstances this season. There was an awful start to the defeat at Galatasaray in November, when they conceded inside six minutes and were 3-1 down by half-time and the place was shaking.
Similarly, at Ibrox, they went behind to Rangers and wobbled before battling back to draw.Away form in the Europa League has been sketchy. Spurs won at Ferencvaros in September and Hoffenheim in January but lost at AZ Alkmaar in the away leg of the last-16 tie, in February.
Go back further and they have lost 12 of 24 European away games since the Champions League final in 2019, including embarrassing defeats at Mura of Slovenia and Pacos de Ferreira of Portugal. ‘Playing away in Europe is always a challenge,’ said Postecoglou, calm and composed, not picking fights or railing against anything ahead of training last night in Frankfurt. ‘The experiences we’ve had this year have been good for that. A lot of our younger players got exposed to that, which will be helpful.
‘But no doubt the experienced guys in the squad, who have probably been through something similar will be hugely important for us. Having the key ones apart from Sonny fit and available, and feeling good in terms of conditioning, is going to be important.’
Captain Son Heung-min has not travelled to Germany. He has a foot injury which ruled him out of the 4-2 defeat at Wolves on Sunday. He tried to train on Tuesday but was in pain and the decision was made to let him rest and recuperate. On the plus side, Dejan Kulusevski returned from a foot injury as a substitute at Wolves and Kevin Danso is fit after a hamstring problem, bringing Spurs as close to full strength as they have been in months.
‘It’s massively positive,’ said Postecoglou. ‘You realise when we’ve got everyone together, we’ve got a really exciting young squad we can build on. And just the general feeling around the place. Everyone’s excited. All the players are looking forward to it.
‘We’ve had a lot of players who’ve had to train on their own, deal with the mental grind of trying to get themselves back in amongst the group. That affects the feeling around the place because invariably there isn’t this overwhelming feeling of everyone being in it together.
‘So just having the whole group together; the dynamics of training, of the dressing room, even the dynamics when you travel because for the most part, everyone’s got their best buddy with them, they’re not back at home. It’s a good feeling and you miss it when you’ve had the kind of season we’ve had.’ Tottenham’s Premier League campaign has been calamitous. They have lost 17 games and wallow in 15th, with supporters regularly turning their ire on chairman Daniel Levy and, to a lesser degree, Postecoglou.
Faith in the project has faded and yet this final hope remains. There were hints of rhythm returning in the first leg against Eintracht, although this was nowhere to be seen when a weakened team with six changes misfired at Molineux.
And now it comes down to this. Ange — never Daniel — in the lion’s den, at pains to stress it is about opportunity, not salvation. The chance to reach the last four and a clash with Lazio or Bodo/Glimt. ‘There’s no burden on me, no anxiety,’ said the Spurs boss. ‘Irrespective of everything else that has happened this year, we’re a game away from the final four of a major competition.’