Why Daniel Levy has been so reluctant to pull the trigger on Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou

Tottenham are 14th in the Premier League table behind London rivals West Ham United, who sacked Julen Lopetegui this month, and have lost the same number of matches as third-placed Ipswich Town.

Tomorrow’s opponents Everton have also recently changed managers and are deep in relegation trouble, yet victory over Tottenham at Goodison Park would only put them four points behind Postecoglou’s side.

Postecoglou has been in charge for 19 months, around four months less than the average tenure of a permanent Tottenham manager under Levy, even if Mauricio Pochettino’s five-plus years are excluded, and the Australian is already past his Spurs sell-by date.

The message after the north London derby defeat to Arsenal was that Postecoglou retains the support of the Tottenham board.

There has been no suggestion that the Everton game has become a do-or-die scenario for the 59-year-old, although outsiders are convinced he must be closing in on the play-offs. So how has Postecoglou survived for so long and why has Levy been so reluctant to make a change after rarely hanging around in the past?

Tottenham’s crippling injury list has undoubtedly played a big role, but the real reason may lie a little deeper. After three managerial appointments that blew up in his face in Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte, Levy decided it was time to do things differently.

In came chief football manager Scott Munn and technical director Johan Lange, and out went a number of backroom employees.

The cut has been brutal at times and not universally popular over nearly two years, but it has been made in an attempt to change the culture at Tottenham and align the departments.

There is still work to be done, and some who prefer to deflect blame remain close to Levy. But there is now recognition at a high level that a club that hasn’t won a trophy since 2008 cannot keep doing the same things and that changing managers every 18 months or so will only perpetuate the vicious cycle walk.

That’s not to say Spurs won’t be forced to replace Postecoglou at some point, but his survival so far is very much part of an attempt to commit to something and try to find something lasting. What better way to prove that the culture has indeed changed than for Levy to stand by her man?

If Tottenham can get through this period with Postecoglou still in place – and that looks a big if at the moment – then there is an insistence that the club, staff and players will be much stronger for it.

A loud message would also be sent to the squad that the head coach is no longer the first man to be blamed.

Former Spurs managers have spoken publicly and privately about the power players have previously wielded at the club.

Levy backed the squad over Pochettino when things started to go wrong and cultivated a culture where Danny Rose warned Mourinho he would go to the chairman when he didn’t get his way in a discussion caught on Amazon cameras.

Conte publicly excoriated Tottenham’s players in what turned out to be his exit speech, but Spurs are now trying to prove that Postecoglou will not be undermined and that the squad can no longer sit back and wait for the manager to be sacked when they don’t perform . or step out of the queue.

There is an acknowledgment internally that some of his more experienced players have failed Postecoglou so far this season. While youngsters like Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall have impressed, captains Son Heung-min, James Maddison, Yves Bissouma, Pedro Porro and Timo Werner have been a long way from their best, while Rodrigo Bentancur served a seven-match ban for racism and then immediately received a yellow card, causing him to be suspended again.

Postecoglou laid into some of his senior stars after the Europa League draw with Rangers and publicly labeled Werner’s performance “unacceptable”. But there has been no sense that he has lost their faith – certainly not the majority – and it is high time that a few stood up for him.

Players are gradually starting to return from injury, which will undoubtedly increase the pressure on Postecoglou to turn the results around – especially with Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero back.

The unanswered question is how much time has Postecoglou been given? The second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Liverpool, which Spurs lead, has been portrayed by some outside the club as crucial for the former Celtic manager, who boasted he always wins a trophy in his second season.

But in reality, the Europa League games against Hoffenheim and Elfsborg could become even more important as the competition offers a backdoor route to next season’s Champions League.

Two wins in their remaining league stage games in the Europa League would almost certainly secure a top-eight finish and a route straight into the last 16.

With Champions League qualification through the Premier League already looking almost impossible, maintaining a realistic chance of winning the Europa League would help Postecoglou’s prospects of keeping his job.

But at some point his side will have to start climbing the domestic table and the next two games against Everton and Leicester City give them a chance to do so. Failure to win both could see Levy revert to type – regardless of Tottenham’s culture shift.