The difference is that, unlike eight years ago, he wants to keep fighting. He is trying to destroy the cloistering, self-perpetuating atmosphere of negativity at this football club, and will keep trying until he is told to stop. Australians will buy the idea that, if given a cleaner run at it next season, he will turn things around at Tottenham; we know him, and we trust his track record.

Nobody else will buy it, though, and you can’t blame them. The results haven’t been there, nor the performances. The sentiment is so strongly against him now that anything bad is his fault, and anything good is an accident. They need to see a reason to put their faith in him, and it’s been too long.

That’s why Friday morning’s (AEST) 1-1 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt was, in equal measure, a delight and a nightmare. This was probably Spurs’ best display in many weeks, save for the early goal they conceded. The confidence and verve was back. The belief was there. There was both a plan, and the legs to carry it out. But it went unrewarded.

Spurs hit the woodwork twice while forcing a top-drawer save out of Frankfurt’s reserve goalkeeper Kaua Santos – all inside an irresistible three-minute spell in the second half. They nearly pinched it at the end through Micky van de Ven but, again, Kaua denied them. When they play like this, the idea of sacking Postecoglou feels like madness.

Post-match, Postecoglou touched on another thing that has eluded Spurs this season. Luck. “I’m resigned to the fact that the football gods have got their eyes elsewhere this year,” he said. “They’re obviously busy with other clubs and other managers so whatever we get we’re going to have to do it without them this year.”

That’s not just ‘cope’, as the kids say. It’s true. Postecoglou has had a lot of luck throughout his coaching career, and maybe it’s run out. Thirteen of Tottenham’s 16 defeats have been by one-goal margins. There are obviously bigger factors at play, and some of them fall squarely at Postecoglou’s feet, but it’s undeniable that at crucial moments – the timing of injuries, the decisions of referees/VAR, unrealised chances on goal – things also haven’t fallen their way.

This was the home leg of their Europa League quarter-final, and they probably needed to take a lead into the second leg next week to feel good about themselves – so it’ll be another anxiety-filled week of catastrophising by the Spurs community, which Postecoglou and his players must rise above.

Eintracht Frankfurt, winners of the Europa League in 2022 when Socceroo Ajdin Hrustic scored in the decisive penalty shootout against Rangers, are clearly no mugs, but they are also very beatable. Even at their home, the 58,000-seat Deutsche Bank Park, which is said to generate one of German football’s most hostile atmospheres.

Loading

Though Frankfurt have lost just one of their last seven games in Europe, and only three times this season, the evidence from the first leg suggests that if the good version of Spurs turn up, they can absolutely win this tie.

The possible return of Dejan Kulusevski, the only Tottenham star currently sidelined with injury, will boost their hopes.

“Nothing is going to come to us easy,” Postecoglou said. “We’re going to have to go there and fight now to get what I thought we deserved tonight and that’s what we’ll try to do.”