“The last time I interacted with the fans there was 200,000 on the streets of London,” said Ange Postecoglou, who’s a man in “pain” at seeing Tottenham go from bad to worse since he was dismissed in June.

Successor Thomas Frank was sacked a month ago and replaced by renowned ‘firefighter’ Igor Tudor, who’s doing a marvellous job of torching his own reputation and that of Tottenham Hotspur football club.

He’s lost all three of his Premier League games in charge to leave them just one point above the relegation zone, and led Spurs to a 5-2 defeat to Atletico Madridin the first leg of their Champions League last 16 clash on Tuesday.

Tudor has been roundly criticisedfor dropping Guglielmo Vicario in favour of Antonin Kinsky, who made two errors leading to goals in 17 minutes before being hooked by the no-nonsense Croat.

READ MORE: Kinsky ‘storms’ down tunnel and Tudor doomed, but there is some good news for Spurs…

But rather than revel in Tottenham’s demise since he was sacked after guiding them to Europa League glory last term, Postecoglou is really upset at having to see some of the 200,000 fans he last saw partying on the streets with him enduring a tough time. It’s more a ‘regret trip’ than a guilt trip, but he’s in “pain” too, guys.

Speaking on TNT Sports, Postecoglou was asked if he was the least surprised person to witness Tottenham’s struggles. He replied: “No, I wouldn’t say that.

“I am still invested in the club because I have an attachment to those players, I worked with them for two years. The last time I interacted with the fans there was 200,000 on the streets of London.

“It pains me to see it. It definitely looks like the players are fairly lost at the moment. There’s obvious pressure there. It’s a real difficult time.

“It all manifested itself with what happened last night. It’s almost the worst-case scenario: you playing a side away from home, Atletico, who never drop below a performance level of two. They’re always at a really strong level. It was a horror start for them.”

Postecoglou insists Tudor must “install some belief into the players” as the Atletico defeat illustrated the “desperation” of his former side.

“There is no way that anyone would say, objectively, these players are performing at the level they are capable of,” Postecoglou added. “You’ve just got to try and ease the pressure on them somehow.

“Even last night, I thought it was a tremendous opportunity for them because they’ve done really well in the Champions League, they’re on the good side of the draw. Atletico away is tough but you’ve still got to take them back to Tottenham but it just felt like the pressure was there.

“I’m sure they would have trained on the pitch the night before but the amount of times they were slipping over, I think that’s still pressure. There’s just a real desperation in everything they do.

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“Mentally, you’re desperate and that manifests itself in a physical way. You’re lunging for things, you’re rushing things.

“It’s hard for me to comment from the outside. For me it’s just about instilling some belief into the players. Show them the kind of players that they are, not that they can be.”

Asked if he would consider returning to Tottenham to save them from their current predicament, Postecoglou chuckled and replied: “No comment.”

He sure smiles a lot for a man in “pain”.

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