Everything Spurs do is seen as negative - Postecoglou

Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou says he is battling a "negative agenda" against the club where even good days are seen from a "glass half-empty" perspective.

Spurs are a lowly 14th after 31 games in the Premier League as they toil in an injury-hit season, and under-pressure Postecoglou says he detects an outside view that he is "gone anyway" even if they win the Europa League.

They face Eintracht Frankfurt in their European quarter-final on Thursday.

The competition offers Spurs their final hope of silverware this campaign as Postecoglou, 59, looks to maintain his record of "always winning" trophies in his second season at a club.

Tottenham beat Southampton 3-1 on Sunday, but the post-match narrative was around on-loan Bayern Munich striker Mathys Tel taking a stoppage-time penalty rather than letting Brennan Johnson attempt to complete a hat-trick.

"I just think we're in that position now where even the good stuff we do is going to be turned into a glass half-empty rhetoric," said Postecoglou.

"The one slight against this club is that it hasn't been a winner. The winners' mentality in the last minute is to score. We scored and somehow, in this alternate universe, everything Tottenham does is negative."

Postecoglou joined Tottenham in June 2023 after winning two successive league titles with Celtic in Scotland, achieving a domestic treble in the 2022-23 season.

He led Tottenham to fifth place in the Premier League last season, as their wait continued for a first major trophy since winning the League Cup in 2008.

However, Australian Postecoglou is aware that even ending that drought with a European triumph may not be enough to convince some observers he is the right person to manage the club beyond this season.

"I just think you can't win the argument of convincing people. Even if we win [the Europa League], I am gone anyway. That's just the general sentiment of the people," he said.

"If you try to use that as a motivation, you are not going to win anyway. It's got to be something more in it for us.

"For us, what's most important is that we have been through a tough time but we are still in a position to make an impact."