Alan Hutton: Pressure starting to tell on Postecoglou (Interview for NewBettingSites.uk)

Former Tottenham defender Alan Hutton has told NewBettingSites.uk that he believes Ange Postecoglou let pressure get the better of him during Spurs’ loss to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last week.

Postecoglou was seen cupping his ear to the away support before his side’s equaliser was ultimately chalked off by VAR and Hutton believes his behaviour on the sidelines was a show of the pressure that has been building on the Australian in recent months.

Speaking to NewBettingSites.uk, Hutton said: “Ange Postecoglou’s behaviour on the sideline against Chelsea wasn’t ideal. It’s not something you’d want to see your players doing, even less so your manager. I don’t think it’s a great look.

“The Tottenham fans are obviously frustrated, but he will be as well. He wants the team to be performing better, winning more games, finishing higher up in the Premier League and competing for trophies. In that moment, he was feeling the pressure and he just let go and let it out. Unfortunately for him, that is now what everybody, including the Tottenham fans, is talking about.

“He’s had a run-in with the fans before when they lost away at Fulham, so the pressure is building. That pressure told at Stamford Bridge and he just couldn’t keep it in. It’s certainly not an ideal scenario for him.”

Postecoglou may be worried he’s lost the fans

Hutton also suggested Postecoglou may feel he has lost the backing of the fans, but is hoping the Spurs boss can turn things around.

“Postecoglou is possibly worried that he feels he’s lost the Tottenham fans,” said Hutton. “We all know that when fans are unhappy and they start to voice their opinions, it only tends to go one way. Having met Ange a few times, I have to say I really like him. He’s open, honest and he comes across well. I just feel this situation has been building for so long now and he felt as though he had to do something.

“I don’t doubt that behind the scenes he’s working really hard to turn it around. He’ll be doing everything he possibly can to get them back up the table, but it just hasn’t quite come off for him this season.

“I hope he can turn it around because I genuinely like him and I want him to succeed at Spurs. However, when the situation gets to the stage it’s at now, where they’ve had another poor season and the fans are starting to make their voices heard, it can be very difficult to pull it back.

“Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is not normally slow to make a change if he feels he needs to, so it will be interesting to see what happens at the end of the season. As much as I want to see Ange be successful at the club, I just feel he’s in a sticky situation at the moment.”

Spurs may start to lose key players

Formers Spurs defender Hutton warned that Postecoglou’s side could be at risk of losing some of their key players this summer, highlighting their starting centre-backs as two players they cannot afford to let go of ahead of next season.

“When you haven’t got European football and you’re not high up in the Premier League, keeping hold of your best players is going to be a problem,” he said. “They want to play in European competitions and compete for trophies. Other teams will be monitoring Tottenham’s situation and looking at some of their players.

“It also becomes very difficult to try and improve the squad. Spurs are a huge club with an amazing stadium and training ground, but it’ll still be tough to bring in top players if they can’t offer European football. It could be a tough summer for them to sign any top players, and I’m sure other teams will be keeping an eye on their star players as well.

“Two players they can’t afford to lose are Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero. We’ve seen how leaky they’ve been at the back when those two have been unavailable at times this season. They’re both key players and if I’m honest, they need to sign another centre-half to cover for them.

“The key for them is to try and keep as many of their top players as possible. They need to keep hold of the likes of Van de Ven, Romero and Dejan Kulusevski, and then add to them. If you want to go to the next level, you need to build around your best players.”