The Guardian

Ange Postecoglou has admitted there are some “outstanding candidates” waiting to take over if Tottenham decide to sack him. With Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola and Brentford’s Thomas Frank expected to be in the running if Spurs move in a different direction, Postecoglou finds himself under growing pressure as a defining point in the season approaches.

Although the former Celtic manager’s job is likely to be on the line if his team lose their Europa League quarter-final to Eintracht Frankfurt this month, he said he was relaxed about the speculation over his position. Postecoglou denied having any issue with Mauricio Pochettino’s remarks about wanting to return to Spurs one day and dismissed suggestions that talk over his future was a distraction before Thursday’s trip to Chelsea in the Premier League.

“I know what my responsibilities are and I am sure if the club decide to go in a different direction there are some outstanding candidates for it,” he said. “And you know what, maybe someone will think: ‘Ange Postecoglou is not a bad coach, maybe we’ll take a punt on him.’

“It doesn’t rock my world. It doesn’t consume me. I am here, I am passionate about what we’re doing. I was brought in to change the way the club plays, rejuvenate the squad and bring success. I am focused on that.”

Postecoglou, who said Dejan Kulusevski and Kevin Danso would miss the game, gave short shrift to the idea that Pochettino’s comments about managing Spurs again were disrespectful.

“If he wants to come back one day I hope it happens for him,” Postecoglou said. “We all have dreams and aspirations. You’re suggesting he is trying to put pressure on me? I don’t feel disrespected. I think if you ask Mauricio that question directly, you’d get a pretty clear answer as to what his intent was. I’m more focused on trying to make sure we win tomorrow night.”

Spurs are 14th, lost their Carabao Cup semi-final to Liverpool and went out of the FA Cup in the fourth round. Much rests on whether they can end their 17-year wait for a trophy by winning the Europa League, which would earn qualification for the Champions League.

The Tottenham chair, Daniel Levy, has defended the club’s spending in advance of a planned protest by supporters at Sunday’s meeting with Southampton.

Spurs announced their financial results for the year to 30 June 2024 on Monday, with losses falling from £86.8m to £26.2m despite a 4% decrease in revenue to £528.2m. Match-day income fell from £117.6m to £105.8m owing to Tottenham not being in Europe last season and Levy referenced the “highly challenging season” under Ange Postecoglou this term.

That, and frustration over ­spending by the owner, Enic, has increased discontent among ­supporters, with another protest planned by the fan group Change for Tottenham.

Levy pointed out they had spent more than £700m net on players since opening their ­stadium in 2019 and called on supporters to get behind the team when they face Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-finals of the Europa League next Thursday.

“We currently find ourselves in 14th position in the Premier League, navigating what has been a highly challenging season on the pitch,” said Levy. “We are, however, in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. Winning this competition would see welcome silverware and mean ­qualification for the Champions League. We must do everything we can to support the team in these final key stages. Since opening our new stadium in April 2019, we have invested over £700m net in player acquisitions. Recruitment remains a key focus, and we must ensure we make smart purchases within our financial means.

“I often read calls for us to spend more, given we are ranked as the ninth-richest club in the world. However, a closer examination of today’s financial figures reveals that such spending must be sustainable in the long term and within our operating revenues. Our capacity to generate recurring revenues determines our spending power.

“We cannot spend what we do not have and we will not compromise the financial stability of this club – indeed, our off-pitch revenues have significantly supplemented the lower football revenues this year, testament to our diversified income strategy.”

AroundAbout 2,000 fans attended the Change for Tottenham protest before the home fixture with Manchester United on 13 February. There were chants for Levy to leave the club and several banners were held up. Spurs were ninth in Deloitte’s list of the world’s richest clubs and spend 42% of their revenue on wages, the lowest of any team in the top 10.

For most football fans, the name Jack Marshall would be of no significance. But for the Tottenham forward Lenna Gunning-Williams the name is synonymous with the start of a compelling – and unorthodox – journey into the world of professional football.

Unlike most professional players in the modern game, the 20-year-old did not get her first taste of academy football until her mid-teens. Instead, she spent the earliest stages of her career juggling grassroots football with an acting job. Between the ages of 11 and 16 Gunning-Williams played a leading role in the hit CBBC football drama Jamie Johnson. Her character, Jack Marshall, was a young girl vying with the boys while dreaming of going pro – something that resonated with the actor herself. “I feel like we actually kind of relate, being young, growing up in football with boys. Our journeys are similar,” the England Under-23s international says as we sit down at Spurs’ training ground.

Gunning-Williams’s time on Jamie Johnson came with some unforgettable experiences – including a training session with the England players Fran Kirby, Jordan Nobbs and Nikita Parris at St George’s Park. That day in particular remains special to the Tottenham player as six years later she found herself in the exact same spot, only this time as an England international.

“It is funny, the pitch we train on for the under-23s is the pitch in the bit from Jamie Johnson. So that’s the first thing I thought. I was like: ‘Oh, like a full circle moment.’ I don’t really tend to think about Jamie Johnson too often because my focus now is football. But it’s little things like that I’m like: ‘That’s really cool.’ Lenna then would have no idea that Lenna now would be in the under-23s training at St George’s Park.”

The forward’s time on the CBBC show came to an end in the series three finale, although she did return for the odd cameo after that. A career in acting was never something that Gunning-Williams entertained as a teenager despite her success – it was always football. “I knew I couldn’t really act either,” she jokes. “I just got away with it because I was young! If I tried to do that now people would be like: ‘What is she doing?’”

Jack Marshall was taken out of the show at Gunning-Williams’s request, and her exit storyline mirrored what she was striving for in real life. “I got written off Jamie Johnson by going to an academy in London and then I joined Spurs’ Academy,” Gunning-Williams recalls. “It was really weird how they aligned.”

Although she stepped away from CBBC in 2018 to pursue a career in football, Gunning-Williams still gets recognised as her on-screen alter-ego: “Most of the time it literally is like: ‘Jack, oh wait, Lenna.’ A lot of people really do believe that I am real-life Jack Marshall, which is quite cute actually. Because I suppose the people that grew up watching it were around my age, they grew up with me because I was acting as an 11-year-old being 11, so it makes sense. But yeah, it’s crazy how much the new generation have watched it because I thought it fizzled out a bit but I still get recognised for it, which is quite cool.”

Still playing Sunday league football, the forward was scouted by Tottenham in her mid-teens. Back then, the under-16s were still a grassroots team so it wasn’t until the following year that Gunning-Williams experienced academy football for the first time.

In just her second term with the under-21s she was called up to the first team and in November 2022 the dream was finally realised when the London-born player, who grew up not too far from Tottenham’s training ground in Enfield, scored on her first-team debut in a League Cup tie with Coventry.

“I imagined the night before – because I’m very much a visualisation, manifestation type of person – I was like: ‘It would be really cool if I scored a header.’ Scoring on your debut is something that you’ll remember for ever. Then I came on, 85th, 90th minute or something, it was really late. I scored and I was absolutely buzzing! I thought I was offside so I looked to the lino but their flag was down. It was really cool.”

Gunning-Williams’s whirlwind journey from child actor to professional footballer has been nothing short of unique. Following a successful season-long loan with Ipswich last term, where she scored 14 goals in all competitions, the forward has now established herself in the Tottenham first-team squad.

“I’ve really got stuck in with the girls and now I’m starting to make relations with them on the pitch. I trained with Spurs alongside playing matches with Ipswich last season. But being here full-time and my head being fully assigned with Spurs, I think it’s helped building relations and learning new positions. I’m only 20. I’m playing with people who have been in the game a lot longer than I have and I just need to learn from them, watch them and when my opportunities do come, take them.”

So, would Jack Marshall – that girl who dreamed of becoming a top player – be a fan of WSL star Lenna Gunning-Williams? “Wow. You know what I actually do. I feel like Jack would have a Lenna Gunning-Williams poster on the wall.”

It feels like there might be a lot of this between now and the end of the season. The title and relegation are effectively resolved, which means all that remains is the squabble over European qualification with nine teams in the mix for (probably) six places. The result was a strange, threequarter-pace game.

It would be unfair to say both sides were going through the motions but, equally, this wasn’t the most intense game you’ll ever see. It had seemed a phenomenon many thought impossible: a game even Angeball couldn’t make interesting. Tottenham’s defending, though, can conjure goals from anything.

The game had seemed to be drifting to stalemate when Spurs twice failed to clear, and Andreas Pereira reacted sharply to control Adama Traoré’s jab into the box and then shovel the ball on to Rodrigo Muniz, who rolled a neat finish just beyond the scrabble of Guglielmo Vicario. As if that weren’t generous enough, Ben Davies was then muscled off a bouncing ball by Ryan Sessegnon, who whipped a fine finish into the top corner. He rejoined the club from Spurs in the summer.

Fulham had rather more on the line than Spurs and it showed. The win lifted them to eighth, still outside likely European qualification but within three points of a Champions League place. Just as significantly, perhaps, the game served as an audition for Marco Silva if Ange Postecoglou is shuffled out in the summer and if he is interested in taking the job. The two exchanged a notably protracted hug before kick-off, Postecoglou laughing as his right arm waved animatedly. You could only imagine what he was saying: “Don’t take it, mate. It’s an absolute shambles.”

Now 36, Willian made his first start for Fulham since rejoining the club in January. He was typically involved – it’s easy to see why Silva is such a fan – and for much of the first half the game seemed principally to involve Willian snapping at the heels of Djed Spence as the Spurs defender was forced back towards his own goal. There was a scurrying run and a low shot deflected just wide early in the second half and a late long-range effort that also arced past a post, but the highlight, though, was an extravagant volleyed flick with outside of his ankle to Emile Smith Rowe.

Tottenham are not one of those sides chasing Europe through league placing, their potential route to the Champions League lying in the Europa League. That is now very clearly the priority, with the result that their side featured seven changes from the win against AZ Alkmaar on Thursday. Given how many injuries Spurs have suffered this season, how exhausted they have appeared at times, that was an entirely understandable decision: rotation is either necessary or it’s not.

With no James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski or Lucas Bergvall, Tottenham were always going to struggle for creativity. The double change at half-time, Son Heung-min and Bergvall coming on for Brennan Johnson and Yves Bissouma seemed more a reaction to that early flatness than a pre-planned move to spread the minutes around.

It was Bergvall’s 52nd-minute cross that led to Spurs’ first real chance, Dominic Solanke heading just wide. This was the second successive game in which Bissouma was withdrawn at half-time. Given 12 players have played more minutes than him this season and he has only one year left on his contract, it would be little surprise were he to be offloaded in the summer.

Replacing him in Tottenham’s midfield, perhaps, could be Archie Gray, who, on his 13th league start for the club at last was used in his preferred position. The 19-year-old is a player of exceptional talent as he demonstrated by completing more than 90% of his passes and will surely in time make the deep-lying midfield role his own. But his most significant contribution was defensive, hacking the ball clear from inside the six-yard box as Spurs withstood an extended period of Fulham pressure in the minutes leading up to half-time. Otherwise, there was very little for Tottenham to take from the game.

For Fulham, though, the prospect of a return to European competition is very real. Five points now separate fourth from 10th; there might not be much to play for elsewhere but upper mid-table is shaping up to be a real dogfight.

Build it and they will come – but you should be aware that you will be left with significant debt repayments, an element of the story to which Kevin Costner took a characteristically cavalier attitude. Which may be why Field of Dreams was about building a baseball stadium in Iowa for Shoeless Joe Jackson and the ghosts of the 1919 Chicago Black Sox rather than, say, Daniel Levy constructing a football stadium in Haringey for Vincent Janssen and the remnants of the 2019 Tottenham Hotspur team.

In the past week, Manchester United have revealed plans for a new £2bn stadium, capacity 100,000, next to Old Trafford, while Newcastle are reported to be looking to move from St James’ Park to a 65,000-capacity stadium on Leazes Park. Everton will move into a new stadium at Bramley-Moore dock next season. Wrexham are building a 5,500-capacity Kop. New stadiums suddenly are fashionable again after a period in which they came to seem almost an afterthought. That, perhaps, is an unintended consequence of profitability and sustainability rules (PSR).

Most clubs find that moving to a new stadium works out in the long term – at least in terms of attracting fans. Perhaps the biggest single reason for Manchester United’s status as the largest club in England – albeit Manchester City’s revenue is now higher – is that in 1910 they moved into Old Trafford, at the time the biggest and best stadium in the country.

Arsenal’s average attendance these days is a little more than 60,000, while Highbury’s capacity was just 38,000. Tottenham similarly get about 61,000 as opposed to 36,000 at White Hart Lane. There have been times when Sunderland’s Stadium of Light, capacity 48,000, has felt pretty empty, but average attendance is about 40,000 as opposed to 21,000 in the final season at Roker Park, despite being a division lower. Even West Ham, whose fans have a distinctly ambivalent attitude to the London Stadium, have seen attendances climb to 62,000 from 35,000 since leaving Upton Park.

Look at the emptiest grounds in England – MK Dons, Port Vale, Tranmere Rovers, Colchester United and Wigan Athletic – and there tend to be specific issues that have caused the disparity between stadium size and support that go beyond the hubris of building an overly large stadium.

Perhaps it could be argued that Colchester were overambitious in building a stadium with a capacity double their average attendance even when they were in the Championship, but 10,000 hardly seems excessive for somewhere that markets itself as Essex’s largest entertainment venue and has hosted Elton John, Lionel Richie and Olly Murs.

But there is a cost. Arsenal always offered the cautionary tale. It was their misfortune that they made the bold decision to leave Highbury – which, for all its charms, simply wasn’t big enough to allow them to compete with Manchester United – at just the wrong time. It took nine years from beginning the process in 1997 to the first game at the Emirates and, by the time they got there, the financial landscape had changed utterly.

Not only had broadcast revenues increased to reduce the significance of gate receipts and corporate hospitality, but Roman Abramovich had taken over at Chelsea. Just as his money, unchecked by any form of financial fair play (FFP), was transforming the Premier League, Arsenal were having to curtail their spending to meet interest payments on the stadium debt.

The precise moment at which Arsène Wenger’s gifts began to wane can be debated, but Arsenal’s struggles to keep up with Chelsea and United after winning the title in 2003-04, at least initially, were caused in large part by the financial restrictions they were operating under.

That was a not unfamiliar story. Nottingham Forest had taken a similar gamble in 1979-80, beginning work on a new stand that took a decade to pay off and was, in its way, just as responsible for Forest’s failure to build on their two European Cup successes as the falling-out between Brian Clough and his longtime assistant Peter Taylor.

Tottenham’s league form was already in decline when they reached the Champions League final in 2018-19, a season in which, thanks to the cost of their grand new stadium, they didn’t make a single signing.

But FFP regulations mean the sort of splurge undertaken by Abramovich is no longer possible. Domestic television rights have plateaued and while overseas rights continue to climb, the sense is they are nearing their peak. Clubs having to generate their own revenues for PSR purposes have turned to two exigencies: the sale of homegrown talent and revenue generated by the stadium.

Commercially, Tottenham’s new ground has been a huge success. Last year’s financial results show match receipts up to £117m and commercial revenues, which include sponsorship, merchandising, visitor attractions, conferences and events at the stadium, up to £227.7m of a total revenue of £549.6m.

As Spurs have scratched around the lower half of the Premier League this season there has been much sneering at the emphasis given to American football, boxing and concerts, but the problem is less the way revenue is generated than the fact so little of it ends up being spent on players.

For Newcastle, the new stadium would seem to come with few risks. Investment in infrastructure is exempted from PSR calculations, so a new revenue-generating stadium is a way for Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to put significant money into the club that would yield a return and be within the regulations. The benefits may take a few years to be felt, but far less time than they would if the stadium were funded by a standard loan.

And that’s where Manchester United must be careful, however powerful the case for moving after two decades of neglecting Old Trafford. They already have interest repayments of about £50m a year, so, even if public funding is secured, it is hard to see how they would not at least be doubling that at a time when money is required for a complete overhaul of the squad.

Build it and they would almost certainly come to a new Old Trafford, but as Tottenham have found, as Arsenal and Forest found in the past, some thought has to be given to what they would be watching once they are there.

James Maddison believes Tottenham are real contenders to win the Europa League and is hoping their victory over AZ Alkmaar can be the catalyst for Ange Postecoglou’s side to make it a “special season”.

Spurs overturned a 1-0 deficit from the first leg with a stirring 3-1 home victory over the Dutch side on Thursday to set up a quarter-final against Eintracht Frankfurt next month. Maddison was instrumental in the move that created Wilson Odobert’s winning goal, having earlier scored his 11th of the season to make it 2-0.

It meant Tottenham, who had not reached the last eight of the Europa League since 2013, have an opportunity to win a first trophy since 2008 and Maddison said they can go all the way. “It would be naive to say no. I could give you a cliche answer and say we’re focused on the next game, but it has to be there, there has to be that drive.

“The quarter-final is the next stage and we’ll focus on that, but the gaffer always talks about having a special season and this is one way we can have a special season. There are lots of good teams in it, but we’re a good team, so the belief is definitely there.”

Maddison was not called up by Thomas Tuchel for his first England squad but Dominic Solanke was included and he provided the assists for Odobert’s first Spurs goals. The Frenchman’s tie-clinching goal capped a flowing move when all but two Spurs players touched the ball and Maddison revealed they had been working on this kind of move.

“Credit to the gaffer and the coaches, we work on the overlaps and the winger being in at the back stick,” he said. “How many times have you see Brennan Johnson score that goal at the back stick and today it was Wilson.”

Ange Postecoglou can breathe again. The Spurs manager had been hoping that someone would step up to save their season and his salvation arrived in the shape of Wilson Odobert, with a little bit of help from James Maddison.

When the England midfielder made it 2-0 early in the second half to add to Odobert’s well-taken first goal for the club, it looked like Postecoglou’s side were cruising to a last-eight showdown with Eintracht Frankfurt. This being Tottenham, however, things are never that simple and a mistake from Odobert allowed Peer Koopmeiners to level the scores on aggregate with 20 minutes to play to leave the home crowd fearing the worst. But Odobert kept Postecoglou’s hopes of ending the season with some silverware alive – and perhaps even saved his job – when the Frenchman swept home at the end of a flowing move instigated by Maddison to send Spurs into the quarter-finals of the Europa League for the first time since 2013.

“We made it more nervy than we needed to,” admitted Postecoglou. “It was a big night for us and I couldn’t be happier with the way the players handled it. We looked strong, we looked dominant and threatening in the final third – all the things we want to be.”

Postecoglou had promised to provide the home supporters with “something to get behind” in his programme notes after his side’s disappointing display in last week’s first-leg defeat in the Netherlands. They duly responded with a much-improved performance that was typified by the captain Son Heung-min, who was embraced by a bear hug from his manager at the full-time whistle in joyous scenes. Many have questioned whether Son, at 32, can still deliver on the biggest stage after a difficult season but he was instrumental in Odobert’s winner having covered every blade of grass for the cause.

Lucas Bergvall – tasked with playing the holding role in midfield ahead of Yves Bissouma after Rodrigo Bentancur’s suspension – also impressed before he was taken off with a suspected injury five minutes from full time. But the return of Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven – who hadn’t started a game together since 8 December against Chelsea when both picked up injuries that have severely disrupted Tottenham’s season – at last gave Postecoglou the security he has been missing at the back. It was no coincidence that they conceded minutes after Van de Ven was replaced by Archie Gray on the hour mark in what looked like a pre-planned move. “That disrupted us a bit,” admitted Postecoglou.

Ajax’s elimination against Eintracht earlier in the evening meant that AZ were the last Dutch side left in European competition when the game kicked off, although they had never won an away match against English opposition in 10 previous attempts. They defended well for more than 25 minutes but that all changed when Wouter Goes found himself under pressure from Son on the edge of his own area. Son’s block ricocheted into Dominic Solanke’s path and he showed great awareness to tee up Odobert for a curling finish that belied the fact that his last goal came for Burnley in a 4-1 victory over Luton in August. Postecoglou pumped his fist in celebration in a rare show of emotion.

AZ were finding it much more difficult to penetrate the Tottenham defence than in the first leg but there was a reminder of the hosts’ tendency to shoot themselves in the foot when they gifted possession to Zico Buurmeester on the edge of their area and he dragged his shot wide of Guglielmo Vicario’s post.

The Tottenham goalkeeper had another lucky escape at the start of the second half when he had to perform a Cruyff turn inside his own area to elude Troy Parrott after taking too long on the ball. But the home crowd’s nerves turned to delight when Pedro Porro won possession to feed Son and he exchanged passes with Maddison, who finished with aplomb. This time, Postecoglou raised two arms in the air to celebrate, although his heart must have been in his mouth when Romero blocked Parrott’s goalbound shot moments later.

It was Van de Ven’s turn to be the saviour next after Romero gave the ball to AZ from a free-kick, the Dutchman keeping pace with Ernest Poku to divert his shot for a corner. But disaster struck within three minutes after he had departed when Odobert appeared to have won back possession, only to divert the ball into the path of Koopmeiners via a touch from Bergvall and the AZ midfielder could barely believe his luck as he slammed the ball past Vicario.

Suddenly the visitors looked like they believed it could be their night, although Maddison and Odobert had other ideas. A last-ditch goalline clearance from Bissouma in injury-time drew one of the biggest roars of the evening as a relieved Postecoglou can start planning for their next challenge.

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Congratulations to Rangers … and to Spurs and Chelsea, the other stars of this MBM! Remember them, after all that Ibrox drama? Sure you do. Thanks for reading this report. Nighty night.

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Updated at 00.09 CET

James Tavernier speaks to TNT. “We did it the hard way … but we got to the next round … the special nights in European football that you can’t replace … we didn’t actually practice penalties this week!”

Jack Butland, exhausted but jubilant, adds: “When this club is going like this, we are something special … I wanted to put something on for the fans, to get it done … you can’t top it … we fully believed we would get the job done … the boys dug deep and this is the reward you get … we deserve this!”

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Ibrox en fête! The Light Blues celebrate in the wild style. Having lost their first-leg lead, how well they did to dig in during the final stages of normal time, then extra time, to force penalty kicks. Barry Ferguson races across the pitch to join in the fun; Jose Mourinho, drained, throws consoling arms around a few of his men. They’ll travel to the Basque Country for a quarter-final showdown with Athletic Bilbao!

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PENALTIES: Rangers 3-2 Fenerbahçe; Rangers into the quarter-finals!

Wow! Rangers don’t half enjoy this competition!

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Updated at 23.53 CET

PENALTIES: Rangers 3-2 Fenerbahçe. Yandaş has to score now. Bedlam in Ibrox. Yandaş crumbles, hoicking wildly over the bar, and Rangers are through! Bedlam in Ibrox now all right!

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PENALTIES: Rangers 3-2 Fenerbahçe. Lawrence hammers home that advantage by battering an unstoppable one down the middle!

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PENALTIES: Rangers 2-2 Fenerbahçe. Fred shuffles on his run-up and aims for the bottom left. Butland reads correctly and sticks up a strong hand. Advantage Rangers again!

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PENALTIES: Rangers 2-2 Fenerbahçe. Barry Ferguson can’t look as Hagi makes his way upfield. Eğribayat takes his time over a swig of water. Hagi aims for the bottom right, but it’s not tucked into the corner, and the keeper turns the ball onto the bottom of the post and away. Level after three kicks apiece!

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PENALTIES: Rangers 2-2 Fenerbahçe. Djiku, who scored in the first leg, scores his penalty here. Bottom right, having sent Butland the wrong way. Calm as you like.

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PENALTIES: Rangers 2-1 Fenerbahçe. Černý takes a long run up and batters hard and handsome down the middle. The keeper no chance!

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PENALTIES: Rangers 1-1 Fenerbahçe. Džeko marks his 151st European appearance by whistling his pen into the left-hand side of the goal. Butland guessed correctly, but it was a futile effort.

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PENALTIES: Rangers 1-0 Fenerbahçe. Tavernier grimaces before taking his kick. Then blows hard. Then whips into the bottom left. Eğribayat went the right way, but it was too powerful, too precise.

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PENALTIES: Rangers 0-0 Fenerbahçe. Tadić up first. Butland takes his sweet time to get into position. Tadić whacks straight down the middle … and Butland, despite diving, kicks clear!

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Updated at 23.46 CET

The pens will be taken in front of the Rangers fans, the Copland Road end, far away from the away supporters. Fenerbahçe to take the first kick.

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Pre-penalty postbag. “At least Rangers will have a full, eh, two days to recover physically and mentally before their next game at, eh, Celtic Park on Sunday, while their bitter rivals have had a free week and are 16 points clear at the top. I’m sure that will be of some comfort to Barry Ferguson, whatever happens tonight” – Simon McMahon

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EXTRA TIME, FULL TIME: Rangers 0-2 Fenerbahçe (agg 3-3)

Penalties it is, then! No double-hitting, lads, please. Not again.

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ET 30 min +2: Fenerbahçe get the ball forward in pursuit of a dramatic winner. Souttar clears twice in short order. Then Kostić drives into the box from the left and goes over. Tavernier slides in from behind to win the ball, and though Fener are collectively livid again, it’s the correct decision to deny their request.

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ET 30 min: There will be three additional minutes. Some bampot in the stand flings an object at Eğribayat. Thankfully it doesn’t hit the keeper, but dearie me.

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ET 29 min: Turns out it wasn’t Yandas who was booked, but his mate Kahveci for his part in the post-penalty-claim brouhaha.

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ET 28 min: Kahveci crosses deep from the left. Tadic volleys goalwards from the right-hand corner of the six-yard box. Butland parries well, then the flag goes up for offside.

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ET 27 min: Fener claim a penalty kick, Yandaş going over in the environs of Raskin. There’s no contact. Yandaş is insistent, though. He goes into the book, and so does his manager for taking the argument too far.

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ET 26 min: Yilmaz is booked for saying his piece about a garden-variety foul in the midfield.

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ET 24 min: Akçiçek is allowed to advance a long way down the inside-left channel, past a couple of tired challenges. Akçiçek reaches the edge of the box but he’s knackered too, and dribbles a weak shot towards the bottom left. Butland claims.

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ET 23 min: Černý tries to feed Igamane down the right, but the latter puts the brakes on. Igamane has been poor.

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ET 22 min: Now it’s Eğribayat’s turn for a muscle rub, as he goes over with cramp. He’s back up again soon enough.

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Updated at 23.32 CET

ET 21 min: Incidentally, Rangers nearly made a sub themselves during the extra-time break. It looked like Danilo was coming on for a knackered-looking Černý, but the latter made his feeling known after a quick muscle rub, and Barry Ferguson changed his mind. Danilo went back into the dugout and made some feelings of his own crystal clear, battering the walls of the dugout with angry fists.

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ET 19 min: Tavernier curls the free kick viciously towards the left-hand side of goal. It’s heading in, but Eğribayat claws it out. Fine play all round.

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ET 18 min: Hagi nearly successfully spins Djiku down the inside-left. Just before he enters the box, he’s clipped, and it’s a booking for the defender and a free kick to Rangers. Tavernier’s eyes light up.

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ET 17 min: Kostić crosses low and hard from the left. Souttar does well to block with opponents hovering, and the ball pings off one of them for a goal kick.

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The second half of extra time starts. Fenerbahçe get the ball rolling, having replaced their two-goal hero Sebastian Szymański and … hmm, I’ll get back to you … with İrfan Can Kahveci and Mert Hakan Yandaş.

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EXTRA TIME, HALF TIME: Rangers 0-2 Fenerbahçe (agg 3-3)

Just enough time left for Kostic to reach the byline on the left. He pulls back for En-Nesyri, who prepares to slam home from eight yards, only for Lawrence to nick the ball off his toe. The whistle goes, and the tension mounts.

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ET 15 min: There will be one additional minute to this first period of extra time.

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When Ange Postecoglou does not like a question, usually from a broadcast journalist, he lets them know in pretty short order, latent hostility to the fore. The one he fielded on Wednesday was always coming.

Tottenham’s season will be on the line on Thursday night when they face AZ Alkmaar at home in the second leg of the Europa League last 16, trailing 1-0 from the first. And after the season Spurs have had, Postecoglou’s second at the club, it is plain that he could really do with a result. So, Ange, win or bust for the season and also for you and your project. How do you feel about that?

“There are not many professions in the world where you have to come in and answer questions like that, is there?” the manager glowered. “No, there isn’t. I am going to be polite and say we’re focused on winning the game and need to put in a better performance than we did last Thursday [in the first leg].”

Postecoglou would immediately bring levity. When the English-speaking TalkSport representative began his question, Postecoglou scrambled for the Uefa-issue interpretation headset and put it on. It was a funny moment, as the reporter acknowledged. “Thank you,” Postecoglou replied. “Let’s keep our sense of humour.”

It was more like the tone Postecoglou wanted to set; relaxed and positive as he seeks the right mindset from his players. He had bemoaned the absence of it during the first leg in the Netherlands when there was no intensity, no intent with or without the ball. Why had it been that way? Postecoglou said he had analysed and reviewed the game but he did not give an answer.

What is clear is that there will be a lot of emotion inside Spurs’ stadium, with the supporters almost permanently on edge these days; a lot of pressure. Postecoglou was not about to run from that. It was standard, he suggested. It can be inspiring.

“There’s always pressure and, yes, it’s a big game but if we’re successful tomorrow night, it’ll be the same in the next round,” Postecoglou said. “When you’re in the later stages of European or any cup competition, you know every game is meaningful because it either means the end of the road or you progress. We need to embrace that.”

Postecoglou reported that Kevin Danso was out with a hamstring problem, the winter-window signing feeling it towards the end of the 2-2 Premier League draw at home against Bournemouth on Sunday. Muscle injuries have been perhaps the emblem of the season, particularly for defenders, and it has taken Danso seven games to succumb. “We will give him every chance to get back, he will be pushing for sure,” Postecoglou said, which did not sound good.

But the injuries are broadly clearing and Postecoglou stands to have his four main leaders – Son Heung-min, Cristian Romero, James Maddison and Guglielmo Vicario – on the field together for the first time since 19 October and the 4-1 home win against West Ham.

There is no doubt that the persistent fitness problems have provided Postecoglou with a get-out for the club’s underwhelming results, notwithstanding whether those issues are partly down to his high-intensity style of training and playing. Now is the time for the real Spurs to stand up.

“Tomorrow, the real Spurs will be judged just on winning,” Vicario said. “The good Spurs will be just the winning Spurs. We know exactly what the game means. It’s about getting in the best mindset. The best version of Spurs for tomorrow is togetherness from us on the pitch and the fans in the stands. With this mentality we can go through.”

What is the real Spurs under Postecoglou? It is essentially the version that was on show before they started to be worn thin by the injuries – confident, energetic, enterprising. Postecoglou believes absolutely in his approach; he is not for changing, rather reassembling the correct pieces and trying again. Are the answers still there? Or will the mental and physical scars that have built up stymie a revival?

“The manager has been very committed to his approach since day one when he joined,” Vicario said. “He delivered to us the same way to play the game because he truly believes in this. We can be successful in this way and we are fully behind him, fully trying to do the right things. When we are at 100% here in the brain and very, very committed to that I think we showed what we can do.”

Postecoglou always wins a trophy in his second full season at a club. He mentioned that in no uncertain terms in the early running of this one and it is a soundbite that has tracked him in unforgiving fashion. Not that Postecoglou regrets saying what he said. He was simply making a factual statement.

“If it doesn’t happen this year then I cannot say it any more if I’m asked next year. But what was I supposed to say? ‘I’ve always won in the second year everywhere I’ve been … here it won’t happen.’ Is that what people want to hear?

“I’m really comfortable and proud of the fact that everywhere I have been I have won things. I wouldn’t be sitting here if I hadn’t. Whether I win something in my second year here, time will tell.”

Credit Tottenham for their resilience. Credit their character for coming back into the game. Credit them for battling their way to a point that never really seemed plausible until Son Heung-min converted an 84th-minute penalty. But let nobody get carried away: this was a game that raised more questions for Spurs than it answered. It was not a performance that should reassure anybody.

The daffodils were out in front of the flats on the Seven Sisters Road. There was some warmth in the sun. Fans uncertainly cast off their thick winter coats. Finally, Tottenham’s injury crisis is beginning to ease. At last Ange Postecoglou has had some time to work with his squad. Spurs had won league games on three successive weekends. Even with a 1-0 defeat by Manchester City in their last league game, it might have been possible to believe that winter is over, that renewal has begun.

Then came Thursday and a miserable performance away to AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League. That it was only 1-0 at least offers some hope for Thursday’s second leg – and that Postecoglou can maintain his much-vaunted run of always winning a trophy in his second year at a club, but on that the entire season hangs. And nobody can be too bullish after another weirdly sloppy home display.

Cristian Romero has always been an erratic presence but even by his occasionally unreliable standards, the first four minutes were desperate. Twice his attempts to play out from the back got Tottenham into trouble, presenting chances to Evanilson and Justin Kluivert. Only a pair of fine saves from Guglielmo Vicario prevented Bournemouth taking an early lead. It is not just the Argentinian; the vast majority of Tottenham’s problems would disappear if they stopped giving the ball away needlessly in their own half.

That at least was not the source of Bournemouth’s 42nd-minute opener, although that the ball was given away in the opposition half is perhaps not an inconsequential variation on the theme. Milos Kerkez intercepted Pedro Porro’s pass, surged forward and crossed deep for Marcus Tavernier to score with a controlled volley at the back post. Kerkez immediately turned to his manager and, after they had pointed at each other in mutual admiration, exchanged a double high-five in celebration. The execution of some tactical master plan? Perhaps, although inducing Spurs to give the ball away felt more a case of waiting than anything complicated, the goal then resulting from the directness of the Hungarian’s run and the excellence of the cross.

Although a penalty shootout victory took Bournemouth past Wolves into the sixth round of the FA Cup last week, they have been a little out of sorts recently, losing three of their previous four league games, a run that had dropped them into the mass of sides just outside the expected Champions League qualification slots. With 10 games to go, everybody in the top half has a realistic chance of a top-five finish – a broad grouping that, notably, does not include Tottenham.

That’s why frustration is mounting at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the greatest lower mid-table arena in the world. Without Dejan Kulusevski, they look desperately short of creativity. Postecoglou picked a functional midfield of Yves Bissouma, Pape Matar Sarr and Rodrigo Bentancur but if the intention was to add an extra curtain of protection, it didn’t work and left Spursreliant on their wingers for creativity.

The introduction of Lucas Bergvall and Son half-time, then James Maddison on the hour, offered greater attacking threat but also made Spurs look terribly vulnerable to the counter. Although Son had a shot deflected against the base of a post and Sarr dragged inexplicably wide after neat work from Maddison, Kluivert had already had one goal ruled out for offside when a shift of body weight took Kevin Danso out of the game as he slipped in Evanilson to dink home Bournemouth’s second.

When Sarr did eventually score two minutes later, it was a mishit cross that looped in off the far post. Bergvall had hit a post seconds earlier and Kluivert then hit a post from another breakaway as the game collapsed into a reckless openness. Nobody embodied that more than Kepa Arrizabalaga, whose careless lunge at Son conceded the penalty that brought the equaliser.