Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou points to Liverpool defeat as he launches passionate defence of Spurs record
Tottenham Hotspur were knocked out of the FA Cup by Aston Villa on Sunday night
Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou pointed to Liverpool’s FA Cup defeat at Plymouth Argyle as he passionately defended his record this season.
Spurs were beaten 2-1 by Aston Villa on Sunday evening as they exited the FA Cup at the fourth round stage. Jacob Ramsey scored after the first minute before Morgan Rogers added what proved to be a decisive second just after the hour. New signing Mathys Tel made it 2-1 with his first goal for the club in the first minute of stoppage time.
It was not enough to inspire a late comeback as Tottenham followed up their 4-0 loss to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg with defeat at Villa Park. It leaves Spurs with the Europa League as their final chance to lift silverware this season.
Spurs have faced a host of injury problems this campaign, especially in defence with Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Guglielmo Vicario spending long periods out with injury.
Postecoglou uses Liverpool in defence of results
After the loss to Villa, Postecoglou pointed to Liverpool’s surprise 1-0 loss to Plymouth to highlight the impact of missing players. Liverpool boss Arne Slot left a number of first-team regulars out of his squad altogether, with the Championship side scoring a second-half penalty to advance.
He said: "I was saying in there, take a back four of Vicario, Dragusin, Romero, van de Ven, Udogie, Maddison, Johnson, Solanke, Odobert, Werner... take them out of any team... How did Liverpool go today? And they just did that for one game. Do that for two-and-a-half months. Any team. Do that for two-and-a-half months in multiple competitions. I don't care about me. People will judge me, but you can't judge this group of players on what's happened.
“They've given everything. Like I said, two 18-year-olds, a 19-year-old, a 17-year-old, a 21-year-old goalkeeper starting against one of the best teams in the country at home. They've had a week off, they didn't play Thursday night against Liverpool. We did. Same group of players. Not a change. You can't measure this group of players om that and their performance where they're at. It's too easy for people to be critical of them. I just have huge admiration and respect for them.”
Postecoglou hints at injury returns
The Spurs boss hinted that some players would be returning ahead of Sunday’s clash with Manchester United. He added: “We kind of knew this game was going to be the finishing line because we knew what was coming ahead in terms of midweeks off and getting some players back. They tried their hardest and that's all you can ask. What I'm saying is you can't be critical of players or players' performances at this time. Because if you do, then do that with everyone else.
“Be as critical of other clubs when they've got 9 or 10 or 11 players out. And none of them have. and have to play every week. And not for one game. I'm not just saying we had to do this today. We've been doing this since the middle of November and you can't judge performances of these players and critique them on what they've done. All they've done is given all they can and that's all you can ask for. Me, that's not of interest to me.
“My responsibility at this football club is this group of players and this team, to get them to play in the manner I want them to and bring us success. Whether people think I can do that or not, that's for others to judge. But there's got to be a better appreciation for what a very small group of players have been doing for the last two and a half months. It can't be that people think that's an excuse. That's just not anywhere near close to objective analysis. That's just agenda driven stuff. If it's to get rid of me that's fine. Good on you. Go for it a million times. But in terms of this group of players, what they've given over the past two and half months has been outstanding, it's a credit to him, I can't speak highly enough of them."