Carragher fears for Postecoglou future as he’s warned Tottenham style is ‘starting to wear a little thin’

Jamie Carragher is growing increasingly concerned for Ange Postecoglou’s chances of remaining in the Tottenham hotseat by describing Sunday’s 4-3 loss to Chelsea as a “nightmare” and admitting his excuses are “starting to wear a little thin” – though the under-fire Spurs manager has hit back with a strong response of his own.

Tottenham were cruising early on against the Blues on Sunday when goals from Dominik Solanke and Dejan Kulusevski put them 2-0 to the good after just 11 minutes. But with Jadon Sancho then pulling a goal back, a spectacular second-half collapse saw Chelsea run out 4-3 winners to thrust Enzo Maresca’s side into the heat of the title battle and leave Tottenham in a dire situation.

It now means Spurs have won just one of their last seven games, while the capitulation to the Blues was their seventh in the Premier League already this season – to leave them seven points adrift of the top four – Postecoglou‘s target for the season – and down in 11th place.

Carragher quickly expressed his concerns about Postecoglou’s future at full-time, revealing he ‘does not expect Postecoglou to be here next season’.

Now his opinions from his in-game commentary have also come to the surface, with the Sky Sports pundit suggesting his excuses will no longer work with the Tottenham fans.

“A match that sums up the Big Ange reign! They’ve seen this movie before, it’s starting to wear a little bit thin,” Carragher said on Sky Sports‘ commentary of the match after Cole Palmer had scored his second penalty to make it 4-2.

“I’ve said before how naive this Tottenham side is: they want to play pure football, but it’s just not working. What started out as a really good day for Tottenham has turned into an absolute nightmare.”

Carragher continued: “This is a real bad one for Ange Postecoglou. I don’t know how he explains this one… whatever he says I doubt it’s going to go down well with the Tottenham supporters.

“They’re so close to being a good side but it’s just not happening for them.”

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Postecoglou responds to Carragher’s comments and Merson weighs in

With Carragher also hitting out at the Spurs boss over his failure to adapt his tactics and change his approach, the 59-year-old insists he is not prepared to alter the style that has served him so well in his career so far.

And he insists his high-pressing style remains the right way to go about things.

“It was good enough to get us ahead in the game so I am not sure why we should change our approach,” Postecoglou told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“It was a game of big moments. If we score at 2-2 and go 3-2 ahead then the pressure is on them and they have to open up like we did when we conceded. But like I said, disappointing that we let them get the advantage in a self-inflicted way.”

He added: “Their penalties were poor on our behalf. We didn’t need to make those challenges and it was hard for us to claw it back. I think sometimes when you are in this position we are, you are desperate to do the right thing. You probably need a calmer approach. The guys are desperate to do the right thing and unfortunately, it cost us.”

Paul Merson, though, also expressed his concerns for Postecoglou’s future and suggested he may be out of his depth.

“I don’t mean to sound disrespectful but I’m watching the game, Spurs are 2-0 up against Chelsea and it’s like they are playing against Kilmarnock or St Mirren and he’s the Celtic manager and got the best players,” he said on Sky Sports.

“They haven’t got the best players at Tottenham, so they have to change it. You can’t go, you have a shot, we have a shot and we can destroy you like they have over the years. You’ve got to be cute and say, ‘we’re 2-0 up here, let’s counter-attack’.”

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Meanwhile, with pressure building all the time on Postecoglou, a report over the weekend claims Spurs have already started to look at possible replacements – and Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna is seemingly figuring highly at the very top of their wishlist.

McKenna rejected the chance to replace Mauricio Pochettino at Chelsea over the summer, signing a new contract at Portman Road instead, and his links to Spurs make him a fairly obvious candidate.

Elsewhere, speculation over the future of Tottenham captain Son Heung-min has also risen again over the weekend. Linked with a move to Manchester United last week, the 32-year-old, who looked visibly distraught at full-time on Sunday, has reportedly now offered himself to Barcelona.

On the incoming front, Tottenham are said to be readying an offer to land Inter Milan’s Davide Frattesi who could be sold by the Italian champions owing to financial pressures.

Postecoglou’s record at Tottenham compared