WHEN Ange Postecoglou first came to Tottenham, he was a breath of fresh air.
But lately his injury-hit side has rocked the boat in certain matches, leaving some fans wondering if his radical ideas have become old-fashioned yet.
The challenge now is for the Aussie to prove that is not the case, amid a heavy fixture list and the worst injury crisis he says he has ever experienced in 26 years of management.
His walking wounded are on a dismal run of one win in their last eight matches.
Despite that victory, Manchester City's 4-0 defeat at the Etihad last month was one of their best ever in the Premier League.
That historic triumph proved exactly what is possible under the 59-year-old when everything clicks.
But as many supporters have pointed out, it counts for little when it is preceded by a 2-1 home defeat to Ipswich and followed 12 days later by a weak loss at Bournemouth.
The pressure is building and starting to show, with Postecoglou unusually inviting one of his players out publicly this week.
He branded Timo Werner's performance in Thursday's 1-1 draw against Rangers as “unacceptable”.
Werner had been terrible against the Scottish giants and was substituted at half-time for Dejan Kulusevski, who went on to save a precious point at Ibrox.
The man is a Champions League winner, a German international with a lot of experience: Postecoglou was not wrong in his assessment of Werner's contribution.
Yet it still felt important to hear the Spurs boss back up one of his charges at a press conference.
In particular, as 24 hours earlier, he had said that he never does this when explaining why Cristian Romero was wrong to express his grievances towards Daniel Levy and the Spurs hierarchy in the media.
Postecoglou refuted suggestions that he had criticized Werner during Friday's press conference at Spurs, calling it simply “an assessment of his performance”.
One person's explosion may be another person's constructive feedback.
But for those who have been following Postecoglou's week-to-week journey at Spurs, their ears certainly perked up when he said one about his touchy-feely loanee.
Postecoglou continued his defense of his Werner rant with words that succinctly summed up Spurs' situation, specifically: “We are in a fight here.”
Kulusevski had similar battle-themed rhetoric in a flash interview after Rangers, noting: “Football is war. You have to be 100 percent prepared. If you don't, you will be eaten alive.”
Injury crisis
Postecoglou has not yet come close to becoming the twelfth manager to be gobbled up by Spurs under Levy's reign.
After Sunday's 4-3 home defeat to Chelsea – where Spurs threw away a 2-0 lead – Postecoglou was said to have retained the backing of the club, who understood a crippling injury list was playing a role.
Guglielmo Vicario, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Ben Davies, Wilson Odobert, Mikey Moore and Richarlison are all currently injured.
While midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur has been handed a seven-match ban for racist comments about teammate Son Heung-min.
Postecoglou certainly has the support of the players, as Romero made clear last week, with the Argentinian focused on the board.
Supporters appear more divided, with some unconvinced that Postecoglou's approach will deliver the “glorious” success he has promised.
Daniel Levy support
Some even shouted abuse at him at full-time from the stands of Bournemouth's Vitality Stadium a week ago after a dull 1-0 defeat on the south coast.
Others believe the ex-Celtic boss needs the right backing – in addition to signing teenagers for the future, which was largely the club's transfer policy in the summer apart from the £65m acquisition of Dominic Solanke and loaning Werner again.
Chairman Levy's resolve over Postecoglou – who he claimed had “brought our Tottenham back” thanks to his electrifying style last September – will be tested if the next few games go pear-shaped.
Southampton, the scene of Antonio Conte's infamous press conference tirade where he torched the players, the owners and the club, is next Sunday.
Most clubs are licking their lips before playing Russell Martin's cellar boys, who have just five points this season and are eight points short of safety.
But on their day they still play good football, as Liverpool recently discovered until Mohamed Salah did what he does.
Possible salvation
And with out-of-form Spurs regularly giving up chances at the best of times under Postecoglou's attack-oriented system, three points feel far from guaranteed for the north Londoners.
That will be followed on Thursday by an absolutely massive Carabao Cup quarter-final at home to Ruben Amorim's Manchester United.
The trophies could be Postecoglou's saving grace this term and allow him to make good on his unnecessary, prescient statement in September that “I always win things in my second year” in a job.
But side with Amorim and alarm bells will certainly be ringing by the time top-flight Liverpool come to N17 next Sunday.
Every game for Postecoglou this season has felt crucial because of how wildly inconsistent they have been. But it really feels like crunch time now.
The key could turn out to be how much heat comes to Levy through the supporters.
Protests against ENIC, the club's majority shareholders, have taken place before and another is planned for the match against Liverpool on December 22.
Historically, Spurs managers have not done well when the man who appointed them has been in the line of fire.
If results do not improve, expect this to increase and Postecoglou to be in jeopardy.
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