Ange Postecoglou dismissed questions over his future after Tottenham hit a new “low” with a 2-1 defeat to Leicester, but retains belief the club can still achieve something special this season.
Spurs slipped to a sixth defeat from their last seven matches in the Premier League to increase the pressure on Postecoglou, who was again without 10 first-team players.
A 3-2 loss at Everton ramped up the speculation around Postecoglou’s job, but he masterminded victory by the same score away to Hoffenheim on Thursday to keep the club on track to make the Europa League last-16, while next month will bring a Carabao Cup semi-final second leg at Liverpool.
Richarlison’s 33rd-minue header had Tottenham on course to return to winning ways in the division for the first time since December 15, but Jamie Vardy levelled for Leicester within a minute of the second period before Bilal El Khannouss fired in what proved the winner after 50 minutes.
Home fans turned on Spurs chairman Daniel Levy during the second period and while boos greeted full-time after this latest defeat leaves them 15th, Postecoglou feels his depleted squad continue to give everything during a period of 17 fixtures in two months amid a continuously growing injury crisis.
“I really believe in this group of players. Even today, what I asked of them, some of the performances were outstanding considering what they’ve been through. To me that’s all positive, but ultimately, the fact that we’ve lost another game of football, the focus is on that,” Postecoglou reflected.
“I have felt all along that the players are still very committed to what we’re doing. That’s important to me because I firmly believe in it.
“This is probably as low as we’ve been so far this year but I still think that in these last three months we can do something really special and I think these players believe that.
“Right now it’s very hard to visualise that when you think of the current circumstances we’re in. You just have to look at our absences today and they’ll all be back.
“Even missing Madders (James Maddison) today, he was so good the other night.
“All these little things that are not allowing us to get any momentum, I’m sure will change and when they change, I’m really confident we can make an impact.”
First-choice defenders Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven returned to training this week, while Spurs continue to chase additions in the transfer window.
Asked if he will be here to welcome back key personnel, Postecoglou admitted: “Who knows. I reckon there is probably a fair chunk that will say no.
“When you are the manager of a football club, you can be very vulnerable and isolated. I don’t feel that.
“I feel like this group of players, not for me, are giving everything for the club. I have a group of staff that is really committed. I focus on that.”
Ruud van Nistelrooy had faced speculation over his position following a run of seven straight league losses, but watched his team produce an excellent comeback to win in the division for the first time since December 3.
This victory moved Leicester out of the bottom three and Van Nistelrooy praised his squad.
He said: “We got 1-0 behind but we were playing well and I said that before in previous games. I saw today a team that was 1-0 behind, but we weren’t affected mentally.
“At half-time the players were calm. They knew the game-plan was going accordingly. We had chances and we wanted to start the second half really well, which they went out and did extremely well to be fair.”
