Pressure on the Australian coach ramped up after Spurs were knocked out of the FA Cup by a 2-1 loss to Aston Villa on Sunday (09.02.25) but he insists that no other team would be able to deal with the spate of injuries that his team have suffered in recent months.

Postecoglou said: "I’m not talking about me. People can judge me. They can say I’ve done a bad job, I’m not up to it or whatever.

"That’s fine. What I’m saying is you can’t be critical of players or players’ performances at this time because if you do, then do that with everyone else. Be as critical of other clubs when they’ve got nine or 10 or 11 players out. And none of them have. And have to play every week. And not for one game."

The manager pointed to Liverpool's shock exit at the hands of Plymouth as evidence for what can happen when teams are without a number of regulars.

Postecoglou said: "How did Liverpool go today? And they just did that for one game. Do that for two and a half months. Any team. Do that for two and a half months in multiple competitions.

"I don’t care about me. People will judge me. But you can’t judge this group of players on what’s happened."

He continued: "Me, that’s not of interest to me. My responsibility at this football club is this group of players and this team, to get them to play in the manner I want them to and bring us success.

"Whether people think I can do that or not, that’s for others to judge. But there’s got to be a better appreciation for what a very small group of players have been doing for the last two and a half months.

"It can’t be that people think that’s an excuse. That’s just not anywhere near close to objective analysis. That’s just agenda-driven stuff.

"If it’s to get rid of me that’s fine. Good on ya. Go for it a million times. But in terms of this group of players, what they’ve given over the past two and half months has been outstanding, it’s a credit to them, I can’t speak highly enough of them."