Ange Postecoglou’s position at Tottenham is under increasing pressure – Getty Images/Dan Mullan
After this defeat, Ange Postecoglou will feel like he was fed to the Wolves. Tottenham Hotspur’s capitulation, the ridiculousness of how they conceded all four goals, with stupid errors, carelessness and disorganisation, points to what feels inevitable now: their head coach is on his way out.
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As preparation for Thursday’s crucial second leg of their Europa League quarter-final away to Eintracht Frankfurt, with the score at 1-1, this was as poor as it gets beyond also suffering a spate of injuries. Even so there was plenty of hurt and damage done.
Spurs looked like they were going through the motions which, given their plight, giving how Postecoglou is fighting for his job, was extraordinary.
The manner of all four goals was damning. To say they were sloppy does not come close to describing how defensively inept Spurs were. There were individual errors and not least from goalkeeper Gugliermo Vicario. They would be better when he was back, from injury, we were told. Not on this evidence.
But it is also on Postecoglou even if there must be sympathy for how the players are letting him down. And so Vicario punched out an inswinging free-kick – not far enough, but he made contact – only for it to drop to Rayan Ait-Nouri who struck a first-time shot that bounced into the net away from Vicario’s grasp. But why was Ait-Nouri unmarked on the edge of the penalty area? That was a failure of discipline.
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And the second? Wow, what a mess.
A cross from Ait-Nouri looped up off Brennan Johnson with Marshall Munetsi left unmarked to flick it on – even though the ball was in the air for some time. No-one reacted. It ran past Jorgen Strand Larsen with Vicario diving needlessly to push it against Djed Spence before it bounced over the goal-line.
Djed Spence had no chance with his own goal – Getty Images /Dan Istitene
No wonder Postecoglou looked at the monitor in his dug-out in apparent disbelief.
In the first half, it could have been more. Strand Larsen missed a sitter, while sat down, after another Vicario blunder and Matt Doherty mis-timed a header when picked out at the far post.
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Wolves – one of only five teams below Spurs in the Premier League table – conceded when captain Nelson Semedo failed to deal with Johnson’s low cross, allowing Mathys Tell to sidefoot home just before the hour. But there would be no comeback.
Instead, it was in keeping with just how hapless Spurs are at present that they soon after gifted Wolves another goal as captain Cristan Romero, with the ball under control and a simple backpass to Vicario his option, somehow allowed Ait-Nouri to steal possession away from him. The wing-back crossed low and it was a tap-in for Strand Larsen for his fifth goal in four games.
Spurs pulled another goal back. From a corner, Ben Davies headed back across goal, Romero headed it goalwards with Jose Sa tipping it onto the crossbar. The rebound fell to substitute Richarlison and he headed in. There was no celebration from Postecoglou, although he did react soon after when another substitute, Lucas Bergvall, was easily dispossessed by Matheus Cunha, who was too quick for Davies and ran on to sidefoot past Vicario.
What an indictment.
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Cunha, free from suspension, and a day after his unwise – and quickly deleted – Instagram post suggesting he wanted out of the club had been reintroduced as a substitute. It capped a fine afternoon for Wolves and another terrible one for Spurs.
