Take the emotion out of it. It is easier said than done. Tottenham Hotspur are not in the business of hoarding silverware and there will be a temptation to stick with Ange Postecoglou if they beat Manchester United in the Europa League final. The pressure on Daniel Levy to give Postecoglou another chance would be intense. It is not hard to see which way a chair with a history of populist moves would go.
Yet there is rarely much to gain from the impulsiveness of judging a manager on the basis of a one-off game that could be won on penalties or with a lucky late goal. The obvious cautionary tale is provided by United keeping Erik ten Hag after last season’s triumph in the FA Cup, only for the Dutchman to be sacked five months later. Serious clubs are supposed to be clinical. The mistake is often to look for wider meaning in a weird and illogical cup run.
