Tottenham midfielder James Maddison insists the team are “100 per cent behind” boss Ange Postecoglou despite their “unacceptable” Premier League season.
Spurs sit a lowly 16th in the Premier League table after suffering a 19th league defeat of the season on Sunday, following a heavy 5-1 loss at newly-crowned champions Liverpool.
But despite their domestic form, Tottenham still have a chance to win the Europa League, which would end their 17-year trophy drought and give them a place in next season’s Champions League.
Highlights from the Premier League match between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur
There has been intense speculation surrounding the future of Postecoglou, who is presiding over potentially Spurs’ worst-ever Premier League season, with some reports claiming the 59-year-old will lose his job even if he lifts the Europa League trophy.
But Maddison has given his full support for the under-pressure Australian ahead of Thursday’s Europa League semi-final first leg against Norwegian champions Bodo/Glimt.
He said: “We’re behind the manager, 100 per cent. I think he’s a great man.
“He’s the first person to tell you, I’ve heard it myself, that we’ve had a poor season, especially in the league. We’ve been very good in Europe, but the league season’s probably been unacceptable, and we can all take a collective responsibility for that.
Speaking on Back Pages Tonight, The Athletic’s David Ornstein said it was ‘increasingly likely’ that Postecoglou will leave Spurs in the summer
“But he’s my manager, he’s my gaffer, I respect him an awful amount.
“The narrative is something that we players try and keep away from because it’s not healthy to read into what you lot are talking about – the manager’s position. I just know that I come into work every day and see the lads listening, taking on the messages, how he wants to play and trying to do what’s best for this club.
“We’re in a very good position in Europe, where we can still have a special season under his management. So, I’ll continue to do that until the day he isn’t here. He’s my manager and I respect him an awful amount, so that will continue.”
‘Season can still be so special’
Tottenham host Bodo/Glimt on Thursday before the second leg in Norway above the Arctic Circle on May 8, with the chance to reach the Europa League final in Bilbao on May 21.
It gives Postecoglou the chance to earn Spurs’ first silverware since 2008 and their first European trophy in 41 years.
Asked whether the team owes the fans Europa League glory amid a dismal domestic campaign, Maddison replied: “We definitely want to reward them for the support that they give us by creating something special because the league hasn’t been good enough, definitely. But it hurts us as well. Let’s not create the narrative that it’s just us players out there. Definitely, we take responsibility for that. But it hurts me a lot that we’re having a poor season.
Maddison speaks ahead of Tottenham’s Europa League semi-final first leg with Bodo/Glimt
“But this is why we’re so motivated for this competition because this season can still be so special. You lot talk about it all the time about Tottenham being without silverware for however many years it is. We’re in the last four, and we’ve got a great opportunity to do that in a competition that we’ve been pretty solid in this year.
“We want to reward them because we feel the support. At the end of games when we’ve lost again, you go over because you want to thank them for the support. I know they don’t want to hear it. Even at this press conference and the interview on Sunday [after the Liverpool defeat], they’re not really that bothered because words are just words.
“But it hurts and we’re trying to put it right. I think that’s the main thing. The hunger is there. It doesn’t always work, that’s just life. It doesn’t always work how you want it to.
“This is a unique situation that we’re in in the last four in Europe where we can go and reward them for their support because they do travel everywhere. We are very grateful for that. Even in the league position we’re in and we’ve got nothing to play for, they’re still selling out Liverpool away. We do appreciate that and they’re supporting us, but it hurts as well.
Spurs boss Postecoglou is under pressure
“I guess the message I was trying to get across is that we’re not satisfied as well. We’re in this together.”
He added: “I don’t feel personally responsible because it’s a collective. It’s everyone. No one at the whole club, from the top to the bottom, internally should be satisfied with where we are, so it definitely hurts.
“The hurt you’re talking about, I guess it’s a tough one because, like I just said, we have to do interviews. You spoke about Liverpool on Sunday. I’m going to do the interview where we’ve lost 5-1. It’s a little bit embarrassing. I’m a bit embarrassed myself. I have to go and talk. I know no one really wants to hear what I’ve got to say because they want to see the reaction. That’s the chance we’ve got to do on Thursday night, which is the beauty of the quick turnaround, because we can go and put it right on Thursday if we get a good result.
“Then in seven days’ time, we’ve got another massive game. If we get through that, we’re in a European final. There’s positives there, but I guess we’ve got to go and do it, and we’ve got to show them that we’re just as hungry as they are to win something.”
Norwegian enigmas Bodo/Glimt aim to crack another code vs Spurs
Sky Sports’ Declan Olley:
Underestimate Bodo/Glimt at your peril, Tottenham.
Just ask Porto, Besiktas, Olympiakos and Lazio this season. Roma and Celtic, who were managed then by Spurs boss Postecoglou, were also victims four years ago.
The most recent giant-killing of Lazio, though, was particularly historic as Bodo/Glimt became the first Norwegian side to reach a European semi-final.
Now the Eliteserien champions, located above the Arctic Circle, are aiming to freeze out Spurs, whose stadium is astonishingly bigger than Bodo’s population of 55,000.
“We walk into this game with confidence that whoever we meet, we believe we’re able to compete,” says Bodo/Glimt’s sporting director Havard Sakariassen.
“I hope that we don’t focus on the occasion and that we play the game and dare to be ourselves.
“I truly strongly believe we have all the tools to be brave enough to go out in London and just be Bodo/Glimt. Just play the game, and then we will see.
“Of course, the experience that we have gained over the last years makes us more confident in situations like this.”
Read more about Tottenham’s Europa League semi-final opponents, Bodo/Glimt, here.
This news was originally published on this post .
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