Postecoglou ‘dealt fresh blow’ after announcement ahead of Tottenham v Frankfurt
Ange Postecoglou’s future as Tottenham manager is still under serious pressure after yet another Premier League loss on Sunday.
The Lilywhites have had a disastrous season and now sit 15th in the Premier League table with only the Europa League left to save their season.
Spurs make the trip to Frankfurt on Thursday (17 April) for the second leg of their quarter-final tie.
The home game finished 1-1, meaning there is plenty of work to be done on both sides to progress through to the semi-finals.
Frankfurt v Tottenham referee announced
Tottenham did fairly well in the first leg of the game, but failing to turn that into a real advantage could come back to bite them away from home.
| Team | Possession | Shots | Shots on target |
| Tottenham | 57% | 10 | 6 |
| Frankfurt | 43% | 4 | 2 |
Postecoglou made several changes to his line-up to take on Wolves in Premier League action at the weekend, although a 4-2 defeat does mean his side comes into this next game without any momentum.
Furthermore, while he may have rested some players, the squad was still full of strength and experience, making the result even more worrying.
Frankfurt, on the other hand, come into this game on the back of a 3-0 home victory at the weekend, which will no doubt have provided a boost.
Things have gone from bad to worse for Spurs now, too, after the announcement that Davide Massa has been appointed as the referee for the game against Frankfurt.
The referee has only overseen one Tottenham game before, back in 2021, when Tottenham suffered a defeat against Dinamo Zagreb in the Europa League round-of-16.
Although they had won the first leg of the game 2-0, they suffered a 3-0 loss on the road after extra time.
Having a referee in charge who oversaw that terrible loss can be considered a bad omen for both Postecoglou and Tottenham.
Postecoglou needs Tottenham win
The pressure on Postecoglou at Tottenham has been building for quite some time now and, given the Europa League is the only thing left to play for, the boss’ future rests on success in Europe.
At this stage, there have even been suggestions that winning the Europa League would not be enough to keep the Australian in North London past the end of the season.
The Lilywhites are being linked with a host of other managers, including Andoni Iraola and Marco Silva, with Daniel Levy having some big decisions to make in the final weeks of the campaign.
The conditions for Postecoglou to save his future are not yet known, but if he wants a chance at staying in his role, progression to the semi-finals in Europe is a non-negotiable.