Tottenham vs Manchester United: Europa League final is win or bust for Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou in Bilbao | Football News

“I always win things in my second year.”

Eight months on, Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou remains on course to deliver on his bold promise.

His claim came after September’s 1-0 home defeat to north London rivals Arsenal – one of the 21 club-record losses in the Premier League this season.

Friday’s 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa leaves them a dismal 17th in the table, while it was the 25th time they had been beaten in all competitions this season – the joint-highest in a single campaign in their history (level with 1991/92).

But bizarrely, this season might still be deemed a success.

The Europa League final against Manchester United in Bilbao offers Postecoglou the chance to not only make good on his silverware guarantee but end Tottenham’s 17-year trophy drought and secure Champions League qualification.

That achievement juxtaposed with Spurs’ worst Premier League campaign would present the club’s hierarchy with a real conundrum over Postecoglou’s future.

“It would give [Tottenham chairman] Daniel Levy probably one of the biggest decisions of his life, because would you keep him? Or would you sack him?”, ex-Tottenham midfielder Jamie Redknapp told Sky Sports.

“Part of you is looking at the Premier League form and going, ‘How can I keep him?’ because it’s been diabolical.

“But if he wins a European trophy – and these Spurs fans have been crying out for a trophy for so long – I think it would make it really difficult to sack him from that perspective.

“If they win a cup, that’s like hero status.”

Van de Ven: Everybody’s stayed behind Ange

But such is Postecoglou’s knife-edge predicament, he could so easily become a villain.

The noise around the 59-year-old, though, has been shut out by his players on their road to the final.

Spurs defender Micky van de Ven told Sky Sports: “Everybody in the media were doubting us, and were doubting the manager, but inside here everybody kept believing, everybody knew the quality we had, and everybody stayed behind the gaffer.

“I think that’s made us a really tight group, and hopefully we can end this season strongly and perfectly with lifting a trophy.”

Redknapp believes Europa League glory would make up for their abysmal Premier League season.

“There’s an argument to say they’d rather win a cup than finish fifth, and I agree with that,” he said.

“And we all go, ‘It’s wrong’ but I don’t look back and say ‘Remember that year we came fifth, it was brilliant’, you look back and think, ‘I won a trophy’ – that’s the best time of your life.

“For Tottenham, this is an opportunity to change the narrative and the history of the club.

“If they win a cup this year, we will forget about that league position, it will be irrelevant because all the celebration will be off the back of that.”

‘Photos of us on the stadium walls if we win’

Glory in Bilbao would be Spurs’ first European silverware in 41 years – and the prospect of such an historic achievement is not lost on goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.

He told Sky Sports: “I don’t know how many times during a career this [a European final] can happen, so it’s a big opportunity for us players and for everyone involved in this football club, for the fans.

“We have this desire to bring the trophy here because for us it would mean we’d be in the history of this football club, we’d be on the photos of the wall inside the stadium, so it’s something we’ll look forward to try to do.”

The club’s all-time top goalscorer, Harry Kane, is already on those walls despite not winning silverware at the club. But he recently broke his trophy duck at Bayern Munich, tasting Bundesliga success.

There have also been trophy droughts ended by several clubs across Europe this season – Crystal Palace won the FA Cup to secure their first ever major trophy, Newcastle’s Carabao Cup success ended 56 years without silverware, and Bologna lifted the Coppa Italia to end their 51-year wait.

Tottenham can now become the next club to end their trophy hoodoo.

Van de Ven said: “Everybody talks about Spurs winning trophies or not, but you say that’s a ‘Spursy’ thing. It’s also a big thing to change that, but the most important part is that we are the guys that can change everything for this club and the long drought for no trophy.”

Can Spurs avoid another final-hurdle failure?

The Dutchman’s mention of the ‘Spursy’ tag will send shivers up the spine of Tottenham fans.

There have been several near misses since that 2008 Carling Cup win: three League Cup final defeats, a runners-up Premier League finish and a Champions League final loss in 2019.

For Sky Sports’ Roy Keane, these agonising final-hurdle failures are what give his former club Manchester United the edge in Spain.

“I think the history of Man Utd carries a little bit of weight,” he said. “If you look at the league performances, then there’s not much between them, they’ve both been desperate, but I just think come the crunch, United’s history in finals and even winning a few cups in the last few years you’d like to think they have a bit more knowledge around the big game more than Spurs.

“I’m not sitting here confident Man Utd are going to win, but I think that might just edge it for them.”

Defeat to Man Utd would feel even more ‘Spursy’ considering their strong recent record against the Red Devils.

Postecoglou’s side have beaten them three times this season, while Tottenham are undefeated in their last six games in all competitions against Man Utd.

“This is the past. We cannot look back at the past,” insisted Vicario.

So what type of final is the Italian expecting at the San Mames?

“It’s about a game of details, of moments,” he said. “It will be a very tight game, so it’s about understanding and trying to not make mistakes, because the team that has the right mindset and the right discipline to make less mistakes than the other will lift this trophy.

“It’s a game to be focused for 90 minutes or 120 minutes, whatever it takes to lift the trophy.”

Redknapp has called it a “50/50” game as Postecoglou’s high-wire act all comes to its conclusion on Wednesday night.

It really is Bilbao or bust for the Australian.

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