Ange Postecoglou arrived in England with a fantastic management record, a witty sense of humor and an exciting box with tactical tricks.
For 18 months on things, however, look very bleak for the sympathetic Aussie.
Tottenham stares inexplicably at a relegation fight as the end of the January transfer window approaches, one only one Premier League win since the beginning of December.
The Postecoglou team has been destroyed throughout the season through injury, where many fans blame Daniel Levy a lack of support from chairman Daniel Levy for worsening the problem.
And after the last defeat of relegation-threatened Leicester who was himself on a seven-game run, it is by far the darkest moment of the career of Postecoglou in England.
The man himself is the most clear example that so far characterizes the besieged season of Spurs.
Beyond the days that Postecoglou would make jokes with reporters, so that they make way for questions in press conferences and Death Stares aimed at fans.
In the early days of his reign, Spurs won for fun and seemed to be in a title race, even with the loss of record goalkeeper Harry Kane.
After a 2-0 win against Bournemouth, Postecoglou joked: “I just copied Pep”, after his reverse full-backs were emphasized.
It was even so good that the former Celtic boss won a hat trick from the monthly prizes manager for his first three months to lead.
But after ten unbeaten matches, Spurs and their daring High Line finally got loose against Chelsea while they went to nine men in a 4-1 dribing.
Yet Postecoglou, 59, almost no anti -aircraft weather for the heavy defeat and was widely praised instead.
The team was actually beaten off the field to recognize their efforts.
His press conference was a sign of the things that would come as he said: “If we go to five men, size, we will have a crack. It is who we are his size.”
That Chelsea game made way for four more games without a victory before Spurs found their feet again.
And despite a largely positive campaign, in which Spurs could never be accused of no crack, their season ended in a sour tone.
A 4-0 defeat against Newcastle in April – the toughest of his reign so far – saw him double in his tactics and said, “It is part of our growth, sometimes the growth is painful.”
Four defeats in six before the end of the season – albeit in an extremely tough series of competitions – added to the pain.
What was clear from the first season was that reinforcements were needed, bad.
Injuries had taken their toll from the team and without recruitment in the right areas they were doomed to just have a false dawn. And so it is proven.
Four players arrived in the summer, but only Dominic Solanke was older than 20 years. Good signing sessions for the future for sure, but what about the present?
That lack of vision has come back to bite Spurs, with Daniel Levy and transfer chief Johan Lange taking a large part of fans's fault.
Nevertheless, the Postecoglou on the front line was tried to extinguish fires and continue with these deaths.
After Tottenham's 1-0 defeat against Arsenal in September, Postecoglou stated courageously that he always wins trophies in his second season.
Hit-and-Miss versions have since been followed, where Spurs succeeds in beating Man City 4-0, but then loses at home against Ipswich and being beaten by Liverpool with 6-3.
However, December is where the mental tension really started to show after the results took a big dive.
With dissatisfaction of fans on the UP, Postecoglou stated that he “had no interest” or fans supported him so that they supported the team.
Postecoglou was seen that fans confronted after he had lost from Bournemouth and said that he “didn't like what was said” before he called the exchange “some direct feedback”.
The silver lining of the month came with a 5-0 win over Bournemouth, after which Postecoglou said that a manager was more difficult than the prime minister, while he joked that he has an “election” every weekend.
But things took a U-turn when he threatened to stop answering questions from a BBC journalist after questioning his tactics.
He said: “I'm just going to stop answering these questions. If people can't see it obvious, I will not point out. Make sure what you want, yes we give goals.
“If you want to demand the fact, we miss a keeper, two center backs and a left back and that has not merged with what we do … I don't know what to say anymore.”
A controversial VAR decision in playing Newcastle in January did not improve his mood, and said he was the “Irfiest I once been” because his match lost 2-1.
According to Faye Carruthers on the Seaman Podcast, the answers to questions from multiple points of sale would be really sturdy and a bit disrespectful for reporters “.
The defeats for Arsenal and Everton followed, where the latter saw him break after a reporter asked if it was a “famous story” to see the defeat.
Postecoglou had said: “Known story? Yes okay. Great way to start an interview.”
But despite everything that has been thrown his way, Postecoglou still has his witty sense of humor, at least pre-game and in a Gallows humor feeling.
In anticipation of the Europa League collision of Tottenham with Hoffenheim, the translator of Postecoglou had a cough fit, where he joked: “We also lost the translator, even my translator was injured.”
A 3-2 victory followed, but it did nothing to resolve their form of competition, and the 2-1 defeat on Sunday against Leicester ended with Spurs that was pronounced off the field.
While Postecoglou walked through the tunnel, one fan could be heard: “We are going with you.”
Postecoglou then returned and stared at the fan before a club officer heralded him and marked the last flash point in his Spurs career.
Tottenham has confirmed that the interior manager will take their press conference on Thursday for their Europa League collision against Elfsborg.
It is clear that he still has the burning fire to try to fight by this horror run and try to fulfill his promise to win a trophy for the club.
But how long he will be given by Levy is still too viewed, with every loss that the scales are increasingly coming to its apparently inevitable exit.
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