Tottenham Hotspur suffered a defeat at home against Leicester City, who had lost their previous seven games, as more pressure was piled on manager Ange Postecoglou.
Richarlison put Spurs ahead after 33 minutes in his first league start of the season, but Leicester shocked the home crowd with two goals in the first five minutes of the second half to turn the game around.
While Tottenham pushed for an equaliser, there were protests against chairman Daniel Levy, boos for Postecoglou and a general unease among the Tottenham fans. Their side sit 15th in the table, with 24 points from 23 games. Spurs have now dropped 21 points from winning positions this season.
Here, Jay Harris and Nick Miller break down the talking points.
The Athletic‘s match dashboard, showing how Spurs dominated possession and territory but could not make it count
What does this mean for Postecoglou?
Most of the fan frustration on Sunday afternoon was aimed towards the chairman Levy but Postecoglou is rapidly running out of time to reverse this situation.
In the last eight days, Tottenham have been defeated by two teams fighting to avoid relegation, taking their league record to 13 defeats from 23 games.
It did not help that James Maddison missed this game through injury but Spurs have to perform much better. Maybe Postecoglou can feel aggrieved that his players did not score more in the first half. Son Heung-min impressed up against James Justin and had one effort saved by Jakub Stolarczyk while another hit the crossbar. Pedro Porro hit the woodwork in the second half from a deflected free kick. The margins are not going in their favour.
Over the last couple of months, Tottenham’s progress in the cup competitions has been a tonic to their woes in the league. They are into the fourth round of the FA Cup, have a slender advantage over Liverpool in the Carabao Cup semi-final and should progress directly to the Europa League round of 16.
They face Liverpool in their second leg on February 6 and three days later take on Aston Villa away in the FA Cup. Those two matches feel like the only things keeping Postecoglou in charge because this miserable form in the league cannot continue any longer.
Jay Harris
What went wrong at the start of the second half?
Spurs have not kept a clean sheet in the Premier League since they beat Southampton 5-0 over a month ago and Hoffenheim, who are fighting to avoid relegation from the German top flight, demonstrated on Thursday evening in the Europa League that Tottenham’s defence will fall apart at the slightest bit of pressure.
Even with all their absentees, Spurs should have secured all three points after going 1-0 up. Instead, they wasted all their hard work with an error-strewn start to the second half that allowed Leicester to turn the game around, reflected in the expected goals (xG) timeline below.
Opta’s X account highlighted how it was the first time since 1912 (vs Notts County) that Tottenham had lost against a team on a seven-game losing streak in the league.
It all started when Rodrigo Bentancur clattered into a tackle on Victor Kristiansen on the right wing. Bentancur was out of position and Boubakary Soumare drove into the space. He slipped the ball to Bobby De Cordova-Reid and goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky missed his cross. Jamie Vardy then scrambled the ball over the line.
The second goal was arguably even worse. Porro misplaced a pass and De Cordova-Reid pounced on it. He played it to Bilal El Khannouss, who dribbled to the edge of the box completely unopposed. Spurs’ defenders were almost encouraging him to shoot. The Morocco international obliged and curled a shot into the bottom corner.
Spurs are low on confidence and missing their best players but these were basic mistakes that allowed a team with even less confidence than themselves to win. If you think this sounds like a familiar story, it is because Tottenham did the same thing against Everton last weekend.
Jay Harris
Is Levy feeling the heat?
Arguably football fans’ protests are more valuable and hold more weight when they aren’t governed by events on the pitch.
If you’re unhappy with broader issues at your club, it’s important to make the point and not be distracted by whether the team is winning, as counterintuitive as that might seem. That way, you don’t seem as fickle, and the people you’re aiming your protest at can’t hide behind the short-term salve of a couple of wins.
With that in mind, the Tottenham fans who expressed their displeasure towards Levy should be commended for doing so even when their team was winning, and not just when things turned against Leicester.
The “We want Levy out” chants were certainly audible in the first half, combined with banners in the stands expressing their displeasure at the man with whom they have emphatically lost patience: the common factor in a quarter of a century of disappointment and underachievement. One of those banners read, “24 years, 16 managers, 1 trophy: time for a change.”
After the break, as the game started going the other way, the anger only escalated, the chants graduating to, “Daniel Levy, get out of our club.” The problem is that Levy is among the more stubborn men in football, so the chances of him bowing to their wishes any time soon seem remote.
The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is a toxic place at the moment and unless something extraordinary happens, it’s hard to see how it will change in the coming months.
Nick Miller
What did Ange Postecoglou say?
Speaking after the match, Postecoglou said: “For the most part, we controlled the game pretty well. We certainly created enough opportunities to win the game. We had that five-minute spell after half-time where we were punished but either side of that, there was enough there for us to win the game.
“The players are giving everything. From my perspective, I can’t get away from the fact that this group of players are trying as hard as they possibly can to turn our fortunes around.
“I have felt all along that the players are still very committed to what we’re doing. That’s important to me, because I firmly believe in it and I really believe that this is as low as we’ve been so far this year but I still think that in these last three months we can do something really special and these players believe that.
“Right now it’s very hard to visualise that when the current circumstances we’re in, you just have to look at our absences today. They’ll all be back. Even missing Madders (James Maddison) today, he was so good the other night. All these little things that are not allowing us to get any momentum I’m sure will change and when they change I’m really confident we can make an impact.”
What next for Tottenham?
Thursday, January 30: Elfsborg (H), Europa League, 8pm GMT, 3pm ET
Recommended reading
The Transfer Radar 2025: The Athletic’s ultimate guide to players who could be on the move
Inside the injury crisis that threatens to wreck Tottenham’s season
Spurs’ youngsters are performing superbly – but at what cost?
Tottenham are a club drifting – who is going to take control?
(Top photo: Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images)