Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has been told the Europa League match against Eintracht Frankfurt is “all or nothing” after another Premier League defeat.
Spurs‘ 1-0 loss away at Chelsea was the club’s 16th league defeat of the season, leaving them 14th and heading for their worst finish since 1994.
With qualification to Europe via the league a near impossibility, former player and now Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp said Tottenham’s Europa League tie against Eintracht Frankfurt has become the most important game of their season.
“The Frankfurt game is all or nothing,” Redknapp told Sky. “I’ve never seen a club where it’s joy or despair in every aspect because he [Postecoglou] will be proven right. Everything he said early on in the season.
“He is all in on that Europa League and right now the players look like that as well. Ange said they did okay but the players weren’t at it.
“Considering they had everyone back. It’s as poor as I’d seen them play all season.”
Tottenham have reached the quarter finals of the UEFA competition but are not favourites to win it with Manchester United, Lyon, Athletic Club and Rangers all still in.
The North London club host Frankfurt next week and Redknapp believes if they were not still in the competition, Postecoglou would have already been sacked.
“If they weren’t in Europe, I don’t think he’d still be the manager. It’s been that poor and he knows the price on the ticket.
“You don’t lose 16 games at a club like Tottenham. He’s got to win the cup, if they do – they are creating history. If you don’t, you will be history. That’s why it is all or nothing for Ange Postecoglou.”
The Australian manager clashed with a Sky Sports reporter after being questioned on a gesture that seemed to show him cupping his ear to the away support.
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The 59-year-old claimed it had been misinterpreted and that he was asking to hear the fans cheer.
“It’s incredible how things get interpreted. We just scored, I just wanted to hear them cheer,” he said.
“We’ve been through a tough time and I thought it was a cracking goal. I wanted them to get really excited.
“I felt at that point we could potentially go on and win the game. I just felt momentum was [going] our way.
“It doesn’t bother me. It’s not the first time they’ve booed my substitutions or my decisions. That’s fine, they’re allowed to do that, but we just scored a goal, we just scored an equaliser.”