Why Tottenham should sack Ange Postecoglou immediately after Bournemouth defeat

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Tottenham were on cloud nine just a little over a week ago after winning 4-0 against Manchester City.

However, Tottenham have come plummeting back down to earth over the past few days as they’ve picked up just one point in two games against Fulham and Bournemouth.

Those results leave Tottenham tenth in the table.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
8	Aston VillaAston Villa	14	6	4	4	22	23	-1	22
9	B’mouthBournemouth	14	6	3	5	21	19	2	21
10	TottenhamTottenham	14	6	2	6	28	15	13	20
11	BrentfordBrentford	14	6	2	6	27	26	1	20

Ange Postecoglou hasn’t been under any pressure at Tottenham this season, but maybe he should be.

Indeed, Spurs are only five points ahead of West Ham, who, with all due respect, have much lower ambitions, and West Ham are actively considering sacking Julen Lopetegui.

Meanwhile, Tottenham are just one point ahead of Manchester United, a team that have already sacked their manager this season.

For one reason or another, Postecoglou is being allowed to get away with mediocrity at Spurs, and, when you look back at Daniel Levy’s previous decisions, it’s hard to understand why he’s being cut so much slack.

• READ MORE: What Son Heung-min was spotted doing to his Tottenham teammates immediately after losing to Bournemouth

Ange Postecoglou compared to previous Tottenham managers

Postecoglou has Tottenham sat in 10^th right now, and whether you like it or not, that represents a serious backwards step for Spurs.

Indeed, Even Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte and Nuno Espirito Santo didn’t have Spurs as low as 10^th when they were sacked by the club.

Postecoglou’s win percentage is right there alongside some of Spurs’ worst-performing managers of the past decade, and when you look at the numbers this season, they’re even more worrying as Tottenham have won just 43% of their league games so far.

In fact, if you discount that incredible run during Postecoglou’s first three months in charge of Spurs, the stats are downright terrible.

Postecoglou has been averaging 1.5 points per game over the past 12 months, if you extrapolate that over a full season, that’s 57 points from 38 games – which would’ve had Spurs finishing ninth last term.

Nuno Espirito Santo had Tottenham top of the Premier League after a handful of games. Nuno quickly ran out of credit at Spurs, but, for some reason, Postecoglou is being given a lot more patience. That patience that is, in all honesty, unearned, and Thursday’s loss to Bournemouth should be the last straw.

This isn’t an Antonio Conte or Jose Mourinho who have proven they can win at the top level, Postecoglou’s greatest career achievement is a Scottish League title, a league that Steven Gerrard bulldozed before moving to Aston Villa where he seriously struggled.

Tottenham spending under Ange Postecoglou

Of course, you have to view everything in context when you’re looking at how a manager has performed.

To be fair to Postecoglou, he didn’t have an easy start at Tottenham. Harry Kane was sold the day before his first league game in charge at the club, and that is incredibly difficult to recover from.

Or is it?

Of course, losing Kane is a blow, but it’s no greater a blow than we’ve seen other Premier League sides recover from in the past, and perhaps the greatest example of this is Eden Hazard at Chelsea.

Much like Kane at Spurs, Hazard was by far and away Chelsea’s best player, and his contribution was comparable to Kane’s at Tottenham.

Hazard contributed to 31 of Chelsea’s 63 league goals in his final season at the club, a whopping 49% of the Blues’ goals.

Meanwhile Kane contributed to 33 of Tottenham’s 68 league goals in his final season at Spurs, also 49% of all goals.

However, what happened next for both teams is very different.

Indeed, Chelsea would be given a transfer embargo, but, somehow, under Frank Lampard, they still managed to finish fourth the next season.

Things fell off slightly the year after, but that culminated in a Champions League win under Thomas Tuchel.

Other teams have also bounced back after losing star players. Manchester United were Premier League champions within two years after losing Cristiano Ronaldo, while even Leicester City finished fifth two years running after losing Riyad Mahrez.

Meanwhile, Tottenham have spent over £300m under Postecoglou since Kane left, and they’re still 10^th in the table.

Spurs have spent more under Postecoglou than they ever did under Mourinho, Conte or Nuno. However, despite the fact results are worse, Postecoglou remains in a job, and, more staggeringly, Postecoglou still receives praise for the job he is doing.

£300m spent, 10^th in the league and no sign of change or semblance of consistency. If this were any other manager who wasn’t playing what is perceived to be the right brand of football, Daniel Levy would’ve pulled the trigger already, but, for now, Postecoglou is seemingly safe.