Tottenham boss makes brutally honest admission after Fulham lesson

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou says his dressing room is bitterly disappointed after their loss to Fulham in the Carabao Cup but admits they must learn the lessons.

Spurs were knocked out through spot kicks despite Richarlison finally scoring his first goal of the campaign. This was the first real setback for manager Postecoglou who had enjoyed a stellar start to life as Spurs boss having won two and drawn one of his first three league games, including a home win against Manchester United.

The Tottenham boss was the first to admit they will have to be better going forward. He said: “Obviously disappointed with the outcome, getting knocked out of the cup.

“We weren’t at our fluent best particularly early on which was not surprising considering the amount of changes I made. A lot of the boys tonight, it was their first start of the season.

“We lacked cohesion and fluency. But I really liked the way we hung in there. There are many different ways to grow as a team and we showed some real character tonight.

“To hang in there and we had our moments in the second half to maybe go and win it. We weren’t able to get over the line and lost on penalties.”

Tottenham have not won a trophy since 2008 and many fans viewed the Carabao Cup as one they could get early on to try and build up a mindset and instil a culture of winning in the team.

But Postecoglou insisted his players just did show up in a game that has left him scratching his head: “If we’d lost 4-0 or got blown away, maybe they’d be a different discussion to be had but if we’d won on penalties would my view be different right now? No. They’d be exactly the same.

“It’s not measured by the outcome, it’s measured by the whole experience of seeing the guys out there and how much they’re understanding our football. There were some good moments and some moments we have to improve on.”