The Times

A coach under pressure, in charge of a team sitting 15th in the league, fretting about a relegation fight after winning only one of their past ten games. Not only Tottenham Hotspur but Hoffenheim too, their opponents in the Europa League on Thursday and perhaps the only side in the competition to have endured a worse start to the year than Spurs.

Hoffenheim were even three down at half-time last week, just as Tottenham were against Everton on Sunday, even if the level of opponent gave Christian Ilzer’s side something of an alibi. It was Bayern Munich who hammered them 5-0, with Harry Kane making it three in a game the local newspaper, RNZ, described as im Debakel. Hoffenheim have also been knocked out

Ange Postecoglou retains the support of the Tottenham Hotspur hierarchy, with the club not looking to change their head coach at this point.

Spurs fell to a 3-2 defeat by Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday — having been 3-0 down after a dismal first half — to extend their poor run to only one win in ten Premier League games. They are 15th in the table, their lowest position after 22 games since 2009, only eight points above the relegation zone and 14 points off the top four.

Postecoglou faces a crucial ten days, with Spurs playing three sides they would usually be expected to beat. Hoffenheim, their Europa League opponents in Germany on Thursday, are fourth-bottom of the Bundesliga, while they round off

Ange Postecoglou admitted he must prove he is good enough to arrest Tottenham Hotspur’s alarming tailspin and rescue “something significant” from their season, as scrutiny on him increased after another demoralising defeat.

Tottenham slipped to their 12th league loss of the campaign and still languish in 15th place in the Premier League after the 3-2 defeat by Everton at Goodison Park.

The visiting side trailed 3-0 at the interval and Postecoglou accepted responsibility for a lamentable performance in the first half that left his side with a “mountain to climb”, as David Moyes savoured a first win since returning to Everton as manager for a second time.

Rodrigo Bentancur has said he is “all good” in an Instagram post after being taken to hospital having fallen awkwardly and stayed down for eight minutes during Tottenham Hotspur’s Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg victory over Liverpool on Wednesday night.

Tottenham confirmed at half-time that Bentancur was “conscious, talking and will go to hospital for further checks”. He had stooped to meet a Spurs corner with his head in the sixth minute but the Uruguay midfielder appeared to lose the flight of the ball as he fell to the ground.

Players close to Bentancur immediately signalled to medics that he needed urgent attention while Pedro Porro quickly knelt down next to his team-mate and appeared to put his finger in his mouth. Bentancur was given oxygen

Tottenham Hotspur’s injury crisis has been compounded by an illness running through the squad before their game against Newcastle United on Saturday.

Tottenham will already be without nine players for the match at home to Newcastle, including their first-choice goalkeeper and three of their four central defenders, who are all injured.

Postecoglou gave players Monday and Tuesday off this week after the draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday to help them recover, but those plans have been derailed after Postecoglou said “a few” had been struggling with illness over the past few days.

“We had a bit of an illness bug running through the squad,” Postecoglou said. “A few have missed training but that’s all right, we’ll be OK.”

Postecoglou’s squad has been stretched to

After just one point from three games over the festive period, and with his side 11th in the Premier League table, Ange Postecoglou is under pressure as Tottenham Hotspur manager. On Saturday, they face in-form Newcastle United at home and their following top-flight game is the North London derby on January 15. We asked four Tottenham-supporting Times staff members what they think of their head coach and what the rest of the season could look like…

Glenn Ebrey

Yes. It is unfair to judge him on the basis of the past couple of months — any team in the Premier League, Liverpool included, would struggle without their first-choice centre backs and goalkeeper for a prolonged period, plus several other injuries which have exposed the depth

James Maddison and Brennan Johnson headed to the darts to let off steam but Tottenham Hotspur will need more than a night at Alexandra Palace to give their nose-diving season a lift.

Ange Postecoglou gave his squad Monday and Tuesday off after Wolverhampton Wanderers’ late equaliser made it one win in seven league games for Spurs on Sunday, with the plan always to use this rare period without a midweek fixture to try to recuperate. “The whole group probably needs a couple of days just to get away from everything and recover, because it’s been fairly intense for a real small core group of players,” Postecoglou said.

Dominic Solanke, Dejan Kulusevski, Archie Gray and Radu Dragusin have all been used relentlessly over the Christmas period

Ange Postecoglou has suggested he could enjoy the last laugh as a “genius” if he sticks to his guns in the face of critics ridiculing his adventurous playing style at Tottenham Hotspur.

The head coach believes that the steps he is taking with his players will eventually pay off as they learn through their experiences, giving him a full-strength squad that can be easily rotated between matches.

However, in another blow for Postecoglou, Tottenham could be without a fit centre back for Sunday’s home match against Wolverhampton Wanderers and have been investigating why their players have suffered recurrences of muscular issues. The immediate concern is a run of four defeats and 19 goals conceded in nine matches across competitions since a 4-0 win over Manchester

Nottingham Forest and their fans are dreaming about a return to European football after their win against Tottenham Hotspur sent them up to third in the league.

A year ago, as Nuno Espírito Santo took over at a struggling Forest side, the Christmas wish for many of their supporters would have been purely to stay in the top flight. Now, 12 months on and they are chanting about the possibility of a Champions League adventure after Anthony Elanga’s first-half goal gave them all three points at the City Ground.

There is a long way to go yet, but with one game left until the official halfway point of this campaign and Forest only four points off second, why shouldn’t their supporters dream about a return

“I get the idea that people think I should just flip a switch and change and somehow that will miraculously make us a better team. I’m just going to continue, stay focused on trying to build this team to be the team we want.”

Postecoglou also has admitted Tottenham will need new signings in January even when players return from injury. Spurs have only won twice in the eight games that have followed their 4-0 win over Manchester City.

Injuries have particularly hurt, with Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Guglielmo Vicario all absent for the heavy defeat by Liverpool, a game in which the 18-year-old Archie Gray started at centre back for the third time in a week.

“Absolutely,” the head coach said when asked if reinforcements would be required next month. “Some of them will be internal. We’re at different stages of getting players back from injury. We’ve got a couple of long term ones in Vicario and Wilson [Odobert], but the rest hopefully at some point in January they’ll come back.

“That will help us in terms of numbers and dealing with the schedule, because the schedule is not going to change. We’re in the Carabao Cup semi-final, we’re still in Europe and the FA Cup starts. We’re still in all the competitions, so it’s not going to get any easier. We’re going to need some of those players hopefully to come back and contribute.”

Asked whether Tottenham will be able to recruit players in the transfer window, he added: “Yeah, I guess if the right players are there. Again it’s about making sure it’s something that’s going to help us continue to build on what we’re doing.”

Tottenham are eight points off the top four and they will spend Christmas day 11th in the table. Postecoglou said he was unhappy about the team’s position when asked about whether he felt pressure about their standing. “People aren’t throwing platitudes at me so that’s fair enough,” he said. “Again from my perspective, all I can do is navigate us through a difficult period and try and make sure we do get to a position where hopefully we have a healthier squad.

“If you’re saying that [position in the table] means I’m not doing a good job and I maybe somehow should be uncomfortable, well that’s for others to judge.”

Meanwhile, Arne Slot, the Liverpool head coach, said he felt the victory rivalled his side’s best away performance, their 3-0 win over Manchester United in September. While the Dutchman was pleased to top the table at Christmas — Liverpool have opened up a four-point gap over Chelsea with a game in hand — he was unhappy to have conceded three goals.

“Until 60 to 65 minutes, I really, really, really enjoyed what I saw,” he said. “If we would have gone into the dressing room with a 2-1 lead [at half-time], that would not have done justice to all the chances we had.

“That was why I was quite happy with the fact we scored 3-1, 4-1, 5-1, an incredible display.

“But then you also saw that no matter how much quality players have, they think they don’t have to run anymore. In this league, especially against Tottenham because they are so good with the ball as well, they immediately start to create and they scored two goals.

“I was happy when the sixth one went in, to be fair.”