Ange Postecoglou remained defiant on Wednesday with his Tottenham job on the line despite news that Son Heung-min will miss Spurs’ crunch Europa League return leg at Eintracht Frankfurt with a foot injury.
Postecoglou comes into Friday’s (AEST) match under pressure after Spurs’ struggles in the league, with many believing that he will be sacked if the club fails to win the Europa League as compensation.
The Australian said he “couldn’t care less” about personal criticism in his latest strong display of defiance.
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Asked if he is concerned about the pressure, he said: “No, not at all mate. Because I don’t define my career and me as a person by what people think about me.
“I never have. Never will. If you don’t think I’m a good coach today, you won’t think I’m a good coach tomorrow, even if we win. One game ain’t going to make a difference to that. You either think I’m capable of doing the job now or you don’t.
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“That’s where I sit with these things. If people think that us winning tomorrow all of a sudden makes me a better manager than what I am today or us losing tomorrow somehow makes me a worse manager, I guess that’s their burden, not mine.
“I don’t think that way and I don’t think most people think that way. Or I’d like to think they don’t, in terms of their own sort of self-esteem and who they are as people. I couldn’t care less.
“What I’m sitting here doing is thinking we’ve got a great opportunity to get to the final four of a major tournament. I’m not going to let that slip by without fighting tooth and nail for it irrespective of what may come the day after.”
Meanwhile, Postecoglou’s fight for survival has been made harder by the fact that Son did not make the trip to Germany, having missed Saturday’s Premier League match at Wolverhampton.
“He’s been battling with his foot problem for a few weeks now and managed (to play) through it,” the Australian said.
“He trained the last few days, he tried to train yesterday and it wasn’t right so we made the decision to leave him at home to allow him to recuperate”.
Son has three goals and one assist in nine Europa League games this season.
After a 1-1 draw in London, where Spurs’ Pedro Porro cancelled out Hugo Ekitike’s early strike, whoever wins at the Waldstadion on Thursday will make the final four.
Frankfurt coach Dino Toppmoeller said Tottenham’s latest league setback, a 4-2 loss to lowly Wolverhampton on Sunday, plays “absolutely no role because their only focus is the Europa League”.
Toppmoeller also shot down suggestions his side, sitting third in the Bundesliga, were favourites against a Spurs team in 15th place in the Premier League.
“It doesn’t matter whether any team is the favourite or not,” he said. Frankfurt captain and goalkeeper Kevin Trapp has failed to recover from injury in time to play, with Kaua Santos set to continue to deputise for the German between the sticks.
Frankfurt won the Europa League in 2022, defeating Rangers on penalties in Seville and the topic came up in Wednesday’s press conference.
Asked about the potential for a penalty shootout, always a topic in meetings between English and German opposition, Toppmoeller was bullish.
“I have absolutely no fear of a shootout, because I have total confidence in the boys. And if it comes to penalties, we’ll win on penalties.”
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