Tottenham Hotspur relegation: Ange Postecoglou identifies "slippery slope" issue haunting struggling Spurs stars

Former Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou believes the current squad is suffering from a catastrophic lack of confidence rather than a lack of quality.

Spurs' season reached a new nadir on Tuesday night as a devastating 5-2 Champions League defeat to Atletico Madrid marked a sixth consecutive loss across all competitions.

Interim head coach Igor Tudor has failed to record a single point since taking charge, and reports suggest a growing rift between the Croatian manager and a squad reportedly increasingly unhappy with his confrontational attitude and methods.

The crisis deepened in Madrid, where the visitors conceded four goals in a disastrous opening 22 minutes, leading to the humiliating early withdrawal of goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky.

Postecoglou sends pointed message to Spurs board amid historic slide

According to comments made on TNT Sports, via The Standard, Postecoglou the team's collapse is an upshot of their confidence going down the drain.

"It's hard for me to comment from the outside," said Postecoglou."But for me it's just about instilling some belief into [them].

Show them the kind of players that they are. Not that they can be, that they are. They've already shown [it]."

Postecoglou suggested that the heavy-handed approach currently being employed has only served to increase the pressure on a group that is clearly underperforming.

The Australian then noted that the club have seemingly lost sight of their long-term direction and recruitment strategy.

"The football club, I said it a couple of weeks ago, wasn’t behaving to me like a big football club in terms of the kind of players it was attracting," said ex-Spurs boss Postecoglou.

"But it is a big football club, we saw that last year, there was a couple of hundred thousand people in London going nuts there and I felt it, how big a club it is."

Relegation fears intensify as Tudor's future hangs by a thread

While the club remain on the favourable side of the Champions League draw, they are already at risk of exiting Europe and their domestic form has plummeted to a 50-year low, matching a winless league run not seen since 1975.

If Tudor is moved on before the end of the campaign, the board are reportedly considering a variety of profiles, including ex-player Ryan Mason, veteran Harry Redknapp and former Everton boss Sean Dyche, while erstwhile boss Glenn Hoddle has thrown his name into the mix.

Spurs are currently 16th in the Premier League table, positioned one point above the relegation zone, and they are at risk of slipping into the bottom three this weekend if they lose more points against Liverpool at Anfield.

Postecoglou remains adamant that the supporters' frustrations can only be healed by a return to the proactive identity the club displayed last term, but warned that the club's situation in the Premier League leaves no room for further errors.

"In the Premier League, it’s a slippery slope once you take your eye off the ball with certain things," the Australian stated.

"But all that is not important right now. What’s important now is where they are in the league, they need to maintain their Premier League status which is obviously paramount to what they want to build."