Southampton manager Russell Martin has jumped to the defence of a fighting Ange Postecoglou as pressure continues to mount on the Tottenham manager.
Having won just one of their last eight matches, the Australian manager's future at the helm has been called into question as fans call for answers to their team's poor slump.
Set to face Southampton on Monday (AEDT), another defeat will likely escalate the external noise and criticism of Postecoglou.
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Martin's men have claimed just five points in their last 15 games and sit at the bottom of the Premier League ladder.
But despite his concerns with his own team, the Southampton manager offered his "support" for his under fire Australian counterpart.
"I think it's really interesting because every manager that sits behind a team has some form of beliefs, some form of value system, and what they deem acceptable or what they want to see, what they want compromised on, what the non-negotiables are," Martin said.
Russell Martin, manager of Southampton.
Russell Martin, manager of Southampton. Getty
"But the ones who are criticised are the ones that a little bit different from the norm.
"If we all believed the same thing I think it'd be pretty boring but it'd be less open to criticism."
Martin labelled Spurs as "brave and aggressive" but noted that Postecoglou's success has been struck with the ongoing challenge of "unfortunate injuries."
"They've been really unfortunate with injuries - it's so similar to Graham Potter when he was at Chelsea," he said.
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"Everything he got praise for and credit for at Brighton, he then got criticised for at Chelsea. He went from being calm, studious, really brave in his approach at Brighton to managing a team with different expectations.
"Then all of a sudden he didn't show enough passion on the sidelines and was too emotionally consistent and all this nonsense.
"It's exactly the same with Ange."
Ange Postecoglou, Manager of Tottenham Hotspur, looks on as Lucas Bergvall, Archie Gray, Timo Werner and Dejan Kulusevski of Tottenham Hotspur prepare to come as substitutes.
Ange Postecoglou stands with his team as they prepare to substitute on. Getty
Postecoglou's time at Celtic was cited by Martin as an example of what the Aussie is capable of creating when given time to develop of a team.
In his three-year tenure with the Scottish giants, Postecoglou won two leagues, two League Cups and a Scottish Cup.
"There was so much praise for being so aggressive, brave, relentless restarts, energy ... he did a great job," Martin said.
"When results are good no one questions the style or his conviction or belief system. But the minute it starts faltering, it's always down to that.
"If you believe in something and it's taken you a certain way in life and on a certain pathway and journey, to deviate too far from that I think is crazy.
"I have respect for every single person that does the job because it's incredibly tough."