Chris Sutton believes it would be 'outrageous' to brand Tottenham and Ange Postecoglou as failures if they miss out on the top four this season.

Spurs have slipped to fifth after a lukewarm run, despite being top of the table in late October after a swashbuckling start to the season. 

Defensive frailties compared to their top-six rivals - Spurs have conceded the most, 38 goals - threaten to derail their hunt for a Champions League spot. 

Ian Ladyman thinks a section of the fanbase would be frustrated at a missed opportunity but Sutton was ready to clash with any who suggested such a thing. 

'Failure? Failure is outrageous. Where did Tottenham finish last season? So how are we viewing progress?' he told It's All Kicking Off, Mail Sport's football podcast.

Chris Sutton called it 'outrageous' that people could consider Spurs missing out on the top four a 'failure'

'The thing with Tottenham - I'm not angry about it, I'm not aggravated about it - but are people quick to forget what he took over, who he lost, where Tottenham finished last season, the brand of football which they were playing, and then all of a sudden people have become used to this brand of football. 

'They're conceding goals on the counter, they're leaving themselves wide open, but this is what it is. And this is how Postecoglou plays. And putting all the things into the equation, I think Tottenham fans are really happy about where they are. 

'But there's no doubt, and I thought this would happen next season, that there will be Tottenham fans who are saying, "well, we've got to see games out better, we need to be more defensive minded."

'That was always going to come and there's an inevitability about it. But what do you want? Do you want your boring Contes? Do you want your boring Mourinhos or do you want your Postecoglou who's just going to go for it?'

After he won Premier League manager of the month three times in a row, some thought Postecoglou could even challenge for the title. 

As Ladyman and Sutton wrote in an exclusive interview piece with the Australian back in November: 'Few Spurs managers have so energised and lifted this great London football club like Postecoglou. Few, if any, have been able to tap so naturally in to its very soul.'

That galvanising effect has continued but Spurs have looked more vulnerable and missed captain Son Heung-min when he went to the Asian Cup. They are also glad to have James Maddison back after a two-month ankle injury. 

Defeat by Wolves in their most recent game was disappointing and they are now five points off Aston Villa, who are fourth.

That said, fifth place may still be enough to qualify for the Champions League this season due to the competition expanding to 36 teams. 

Sutton and Ladyman clashed over whether it was even appropriate to suggest Tottenham would have failed if Villa pull away.  

Ladyman said: 'I'm with you on it, but I do also think that in terms of the money that obviously the Champions League brings, that if they did finish fifth and Villa were good to get the fourth place - or even Manchester United, I suppose, on the very fringes of it, I don't think it will happen - then I just wondered whether it would be a little bit like...'

Sutton interrupted: 'What's progress, Ian? Serious point then. Failure would be...'

Ladyman said: 'No, of course they've made progress.'

Sutton hit back: 'Yeah, they have made progress. So how can making progress be a failure?'

Ladyman said: 'I just wonder if it would feel a little bit like one of those rounds of golf where you go out and play out your skin for the first 16 holes and then go eight, nine on 17 and 18 end up back where you normally are.'

'I'm happy with an 8 and a 9,' Sutton quipped. 

Ladyman said: 'It's just a question, that's all. We're not digging out Postecoglou. They've had a great season. I just think that it'd be interesting to see how they go between now and the end of the season because there's opportunities still.'

Sutton asked: 'Do you think Tottenham fans will think this a failure?'

Ladyman said: 'Football fans always moan, Chris. So yeah, there will be some Tottenham fans who think that it's a failure.

'But I'm not I don't mean failure as in, has it not been a good season. Fifth position for Tottenham is a good season. I mean from where they were, the way it started, the plaudits they were getting.

'There's a big opportunity with United on their a*** and Chelsea on their a*** and Newcastle on their a***.

'There's an opportunity for someone to take that fourth place and that opportunity may not be there next season because some of those clubs might return to eminence, that's all.'