Ange Postecoglou in difficult position with little to gain as Tottenham look to avoid Southampton banana skin

Evening Standard

·6 avril 2025

Ange Postecoglou in difficult position with little to gain as Tottenham look to avoid Southampton banana skin

Hosts heavy favourites against sorry Saints - but they were against Leicester and Ipswich too

Postecoglou is under pressure at Tottenham

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Action Images via Reuters

Tottenham's home game against Southampton on Sunday is a potential banana skin with no obvious upsides for Ange Postecoglou's struggling team.

Postecoglou has billed the game as a valuable chance for Spurs to build momentum ahead of the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final tie against Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday -- on which their season and probably his job depend -- but, Saints are such a sorry outfit that even thrashing them is unlikely to significantly change the mood music in north London.

You only have to look at the clubs' last meeting, a 5-0 Spurs win at St. Mary's on December 15, to appreciate the potential insignificance of a big Spurs win.

Postecoglou's side went into that game, which would prove Russel Martin's last as Saints boss, without a victory in three League fixtures and, afterwards, would not pick up another three points in the top-flight for eight more matches and the 2-0 win at Brentford in February.

Facing Southampton simply has to be considered an outlier in this season's Premier League, so it feels like there is relatively little for Spurs to gain on Sunday.

Conversely, there is plenty to lose. Slip up against a side who are competing to avoid being the worst team in the history of the Premier League and Spurs would go into the most important game of their season on the back of arguably a new low, with the confidence of the players and supporters through the floor.

It may even prompt serious consideration about Postecoglou's position if it looks like he can no longer command a tune from his players.

A shock defeat would also mean that Spurs would complete an unwanted hat-trick of losing at home to the three clubs who are almost certain to be relegated, having already been beaten in north London by Leicester and Ipswich this term.

There will be another protest against Daniel Levy and the Spurs board from supporters before the game, although the organisers, 'Change for Tottenham', have urged fans to back the team during the match.

That will be easier said than done if Spurs struggle to quickly make inroads against Ivan Juric's side -- who need two points from their remaining eight games to avoid Derby County's record low of 11 in 2007-08 -- while the reaction of fans to Postecoglou will be revealing after his clash with the away end in Thursday's 1-0 defeat at Chelsea.

Perhaps sensing the importance of playing some of his first-team players into some form and confidence, Postecoglou has said he will only make "a couple" of changes ahead of Frankfurt, with Micky van de Ven, James Maddison and Heung-min Son among the players set to be rested.

One of Pedro Porro, Djed Spence and Destiny Udogie will also sit out, but Postecoglou is otherwise expected to name a strong team for a game that is meaningless in the context of Spurs' season but the manager can scarcely afford not to win.