Tottenham sacked Ange Postecoglou five months ago. So why are Spurs fans all talking about him again?

It has been just over five months since Ange Postecoglou was sacked by Tottenham Hotspur, yet his name still lingers in conversations each time the team fails to perform.

Postecoglou has not had the best of runs since departing Spurs in June, with his tenure at Nottingham Forest this season coming to an end after 39 days in the role.

While the Australian’s luck has not been the best in England, his successor at Tottenham, Thomas Frank, has also hit a roadblock in his first season at Spurs.

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Six weeks into the season, he was flavour of the month as Tottenham rose to fourth in the league, with just one loss, two draws and three wins to their name.

But it was only a matter of weeks until things took a sour turn, with the team falling to ninth on the table by match week 12, prompting critics to swing into action.

A horror 4-1 defeat in the North London derby did not help Frank’s case to win over his critics, with Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal running riot at the Emirates.

Thomas Frank seen on the sidelines at the Emirates Stadium. Getty

To add further salt to the wounds of Frank, a missed chance to secure the talent of Eberechi Eze over the summer transfer window came back to bite Tottenham.

Frank was asked about facing the $135m AUD Arsenal recruit in the build-up to the game and simply responded, laughing, “Who’s Eze?”

Eze did not use his words to reply, instead banging in a hat-trick to silence the Spurs boss.

Richarlison was the only Spurs player to find the back of the net, with his goal marking the first shot on goal by the visiting team after 55 minutes of play.

Only two shots were sent towards Arsenal keeper David Raya after Richarlison’s goal.

“Arsenal didn’t even get out of third gear,” Ferdinand, who played in six North London derbies with Spurs between 1997 and 2003, said on Sky Sports post-match.

“It wasn’t a five-star performance from Arsenal because they didn’t have to.”

Eberechi Eze sets up to slot his third goal against Spurs.  Getty

That result only reignited debate around the success of the transition from Ange-ball to Frank-ball, with some still questioning if the Australian’s departure was the right choice.

Frank will be thankful that after his latest loss he did not hear a “you’re getting sacked in the morning” chant after losing to Arsenal. Yet, he can’t escape fans bringing up Postecoglou’s success against the club’s fierce cross-town rivals.

The North London derby has not seen Spurs produce the best of results of late, but under Postecoglou, the game only ever ended in a draw or a one goal loss.

Meanwhile, Frank’s first time leading the team through the derby ended in a 4-1 loss.

“Despite a considerably worse team a year ago, Ange Postecoglou still had the balls to play front-footed ball at the Emirates. Now look at us,” one fan wrote on X.

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Ange Postecoglou, former manager of Tottenham Hotspur. Getty

Another wrote: “Give me Ange and his bravery and front foot football any day of the week over this. Any single day of the week.”

“I’ve seen worse Spurs sides put up a better fight against Arsenal,” Tottenham Hotspur content creator Expressions Oozing said on YouTube.

“We looked like we had no identity. These guys looked like they’ve had no training. There is no style of playing … that looked like a team that never had a chance of winning.

“There are so many negatives. That performance was a disgrace. This is unforgivable.”

Others declared Frank could now be considered a “downgrade from Ange Postecoglou” as the former Socceroos coach would have created a more dynamic game.

Still, no one will ever know what the result would have ultimately been under Postecoglou with a relatively full-strength Tottenham squad this time around.

Postecoglou’s time at Tottenham was marred by injuries to key players, many of whom have returned to help Frank’s squad achieve great success early in the season.

That being said, Frank has also had recent injuries to key players, with stars James Maddison, Dominic Solanke and Dejan Kulusevski all on the sidelines at the moment.

In the trio’s absence, the results have been relatively good for Tottenham, but some have noted that Postecoglou was statistically in a better position at this stage of the season.

Postecoglou had Spurs placed sixth overall, with a total of 27 goals scored and 13 conceded. Meanwhile. Frank’s squad sits ninth with 20 goals and 14 conceded.

Then again, there have been frequent reminders of the final result Postecoglou had at the season’s end in May: a European trophy and a 17th place league finish.

Ultimately it was that dreadful league position that loaded the gun for then CEO Daniel Levy to fire Postecoglou.

Tottenham Hotspur sit fourth on the table for most goals scored so far this season. Getty

So far under Frank there is no indication that Tottenham will be dragged into a relegation battle, so it is perhaps unfair to him to be answering the critics at this stage of his tenure.

“Some very sweeping statements being made about Thomas Frank,” The Athletic journalist Adam Crafton wrote on X on Monday morning.

“A little unfair. A mess of a team left by Ange, a poor window, executive turmoil and key creative players injured. Plus, everyone else is weird (and) inconsistent and they (Spurs) are still two points off Champions League positions.”

“Everyone should calm down. Thomas Frank is the right man for us,” a user wrote on X.

Another wrote: “Still better than getting hammered every weekend. Stick to Thomas Frank.”

There is no doubting that pressure will begin to mount on Frank and comparison to Postecoglou will continue, but the Spurs manager seems unfazed.

Some big challenges await in he next few weeks, so he can’t afford to be distracted by fan narratives.

Frank’s first challenge after the Arsenal disaster will be French giants PSG in the Champions League, before Tottenham face Fulham on Sunday in front of a home crowd.