Tottenham -midfielder James Maddison insists that the team “100 percent behind” Baas Ange Postecoglou is standing despite their “unacceptable” Premier League season.
Spurs is a low 16th in the Premier League table after a 19th league defeat of the season on Sunday, after a heavy 5-1 loss with newly crowned champions Liverpool.
But despite their domestic form, Tottenham still has the chance to win the Europa League, which would end their 17-year-old trophy-dried and would give them a place in the Champions League of next season.
There has been an intense speculation around the future of Postecoglou, who presents the worst Premier League season of potential Spurs, with some reports claiming that the 59-year-old will lose his job, even if he lifts the Europa League trophy.
But Maddison gave his full support to the oppressed Australian prior to the Semi-Final first leg on Thursday on Thursday against the Norwegian champions Bodo/Glimt.
He said: “We are behind the manager, 100 percent. I think he is a great man.
“He is the first person to tell you, I have heard it that we have had a bad season, especially in the competition. We have been very good in Europe, but the competition season is probably unacceptable and we can all take a collective responsibility for that.
“But he is my manager, he is my Gaffer, I respect him a terrible amount.
“The story is something we try to keep players away, because it is not healthy to read what you have a lot about – the position of the manager. I just know that I get to work every day and see the boys listen, take the messages, how he wants to play and try to do what is best for this club.
“We are in a very good position in Europe, where we can still have a special season under his management. So I will continue to do so until the day he is not here. He is my manager and I respect him a terrible amount, so that will continue.”
'Season can still be so special'
Tottenham -Gastheer Bodo/shines on Thursday before the second stage in Norway above the Arctic Circle on 8 May, with the chance to reach the Europa League final in Bilbao on 21 May.
It gives Postecoglou the chance to earn the first silverware from Spurs since 2008 and their first European trophy in 41 years.
Asked if the team the Fans Europa League is owing in the midst of a gloomy domestic campaign, Maddison replied: “We certainly want to reward them for the support they give us by creating something special because the competition has not been good enough, for sure. But it also hurts us.
“But that is why we are so motivated for this competition, because this season can still be so special. You always talk about Tottenham without silverware for so many years. We are in the last four, and we have a great opportunity to do that in a competition that we have been pretty solid this year.
“We want to reward them because we feel the support. At the end of the games when we are lost again, you go because you want to thank them for the support. I know they don't want to hear it. Even during this press conference and the interview on Sunday [after the Liverpool defeat]They are not really difficult because words are just words.
“But it hurts and we try to say it well. I think that's the most important thing. Hunger is there. It doesn't always work, that's just life. It doesn't always work how you want it.
“This is a unique situation in which we are in the last four in Europe, where we can go and they can reward for their support because they travel everywhere. We are very grateful for that. Even in the competition position in which we have nothing, they still sell Liverpool away. We appreciate that and they support us and they support us too, but it also hurts.
“I think the message I tried to convey is that we are not satisfied either. We are in this together.”
He added: “I do not feel personally responsible because it is a collective. It is everyone. Nobody at the entire club, from top to bottom, should be satisfied with where we are, so it certainly hurts.
“The pain you are talking about, I think it is a difficult thing because, as I just said, we have to do interviews. You talked about Liverpool on Sunday. I am going to do the interview where we have lost 5-1. It is a bit ashamed. Turnaround, because we can go on Thursday and post it if we get a good result.
“Then we have another huge game in seven days. If we get through that, we are in a European final. There are positive points there, but I think we should do it, and we have to show them that we are just as hungry as they win something.”
Norwegian Eenmas Bodo/Glimt is aimed at cracking another code versus traces
Sky Sports' Declan Olley:
Understand Bodo/shines on your danger, Tottenham.
Just ask Porto, Besiktas, Olympiakos and Lazio this season. Roma and Celtic, who were then managed by Spurs Boss Postecoglou, were also victims four years ago.
However, the most recent gigantic dead from Lazio was mainly historic because Bodo/Glimt became the first Norwegian side to reach a European semi -final.
Now the Eliteserien champions, located above the polar circle, want to freeze traces, whose stadium is amazingly larger than Bodo's population of 55,000.
“We are trusting this game that we meet, we believe that we can compete,” says Bodo/Glimt's sports director Havard Sakariassen.
“I hope we don't concentrate on the occasion and that we play the game and dare to be ourselves.
“I really believe that 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 we have gained in recent years makes us more confidence in situations such as this.”
Read more about Tottenham's Europa League semi-final opponents, Bodo/Glimt, here.