Tottenham suffered defeat at home to Leicester, who had lost their previous seven games, as more pressure was piled on manager Ange Postecoglou.
Richarlison put Spurs ahead after 33 minutes on his first league start of the season, but Leicester shocked the home crowd with two goals in the first five minutes of the second half to turn the game around.
While Tottenham pushed for an equaliser, there were protests against chairman Daniel Levy, boos for Postecoglou and a general unease among the Tottenham fans as their side sit 15th in the table, with 24 points from 23 games. Spurs have now dropped 21 points from winning positions this season.
Here, Jay Harris and Nick Miller break down the talking points.
What does this mean for Postecoglou?
Most of the fan frustration on Sunday afternoon was aimed towards the chairman Levy but it feels like Postecoglou is rapidly running out of time to turn this situation around.
In the last eight days, Tottenham have lost to two teams fighting to avoid relegation and conceded five goals in the process. They have lost 13 out of 23 games in the top flight this season which means they are hovering above the relegation zone
It did not help that James Maddison missed this game through injury but Spurs have to perform much better. Maybe Postecoglou can feel aggrieved that his players did not score more in the first half. Son Heung-min impressed up against James Justin and had one effort saved by Jakub Stolarczyk while another hit the crossbar. Pedro Porro hit the woodwork in the second half from a deflected free kick. The margins are not going in their favour.
Vardy scores for Leicester (Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
Over the last couple of months, Tottenham’s progress in the cup competitions has been a tonic to their woes in the league. They are into the fourth round of the FA Cup, have a slender advantage over Liverpool in the Carabao Cup semi-final and should progress directly to the Europa League round of 16.
They face Liverpool on February 6 and three days later take on Aston Villa away in the FA Cup. Those two matches feel like one of the only things keeping Postecoglou in charge at the moment because this miserable form in the league cannot continue for any longer.
Jay Harris
What went wrong at start of second half?
Spurs have not kept a clean sheet in the Premier League since they beat Southampton 5-0 over a month ago and Hoffenheim, who are fighting to avoid relegation from the German top flight, demonstrated on Thursday evening in the Europa League that Tottenham’s defence will fall apart at the slightest bit of pressure.
Leicester had lost seven games in a row before they faced Spurs on Sunday. They were 1-0 down at the break and, even with all their absentees, Spurs should have secured all three points. Instead, they wasted all their hard work with an error-strewn start to the second half that allowed Leicester to turn the game around.
Well, it’s not an ideal start to the second half for Tottenham. pic.twitter.com/VuauTQ1Cl4
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) January 26, 2025
It all started when Rodrigo Bentancur clattered into a tackle on Victor Kristiansen on the right wing. Bentancur was out of position and Boubakary Soumare drove into the space. He slipped the ball to Bobby De Cordova-Reid and Antonin Kinsky missed his cross. Jamie Vardy then scrambled the ball over the line.
The second goal was arguably even worse. Pedro Porro misplaced a pass and De Cordova-Reid pounced on it. He played it to Bilal El Khannouss who dribbled to the edge of the box completely unopposed. Spurs’ defenders were basically encouraging him to shoot. The Morocco international obliged and curled a shot into the bottom corner.
Spurs are low on confidence and missing their best players but these were basic mistakes that allowed a team with even less confidence than themselves to win. If you think this sounds like a familiar story, it is because Tottenham did exactly the same thing against Everton last weekend.
Jay Harris
Is Levy feeling the heat?
(Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)
Arguably football fans’ protests are more valuable and hold more weight when they aren’t governed by events on the pitch.
If you’re unhappy with broader issues at your club, it’s important to make the point and not be distracted by whether the team is winning, as counterintuitive as that might seem. That way, you don’t seem as fickle, and the people you’re aiming your protest at can’t hide behind the short-term salve of a couple of wins.
With that in mind, the Tottenham fans who expressed their displeasure towards Daniel Levy should be commended for doing so even when their team was winning, and not just when things turned against Leicester.
The “We want Levy out” chants were very audible in the first half, combined with banners in the stands expressing their displeasure at the man with whom they have emphatically lost patience: the common factor in a quarter of a century of disappointment and underachievement. One of those banners read “24 years, 16 managers, 1 trophy: time for a change.”
After the break, as the game itself started going the other way, the anger only escalated, the chants graduating to “Daniel Levy, get out of our club”. The problem is that Levy is among the more stubborn men in football, so the chances of him bowing to their wishes any time soon seem remote.
The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is a toxic place to be at the moment, and unless something extraordinary happens in the coming months, it’s hard to see how it will change.
Nick Miller
What did Ange Postecoglou say?
We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
What next for Tottenham?
Thursday, January 30: Elfsborg (H), Europa League, 8pm GMT, 3pm ET
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(Top photo: Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images)
