Ange Postecoglou has sympathised with Ruben Amorim following Tottenham Hotspur's 1-0 win over Manchester United. James Maddison fired the Lilywhites to glory on Sunday evening, securing three crucial points in the race for European football.
The 28-year-old midfielder, who had missed the last five games across all competitions with a calf injury, put Spurs ahead inside the opening quarter of an hour. The Red Devils had numerous opportunities to equalise, with Alejandro Garnacho blazing a particularly good chance over the bar.
Tottenham held on, winning back-to-back games in the Premier League for just the second time this season. Speaking to reporters after the game, Postecoglou was asked if he had any sympathy for Amorim, who only managed to name a single senior player on the bench due to injuries.
"If I check my office, I don’t have any sympathy cards from other managers, so that hasn’t happened," said the Spurs boss. "There’s definitely a few. I could see Ruben there, players out of position, kids on the bench.
"Well, welcome to my world. But that's for one game. Now do that for two months. Do that for two months. Any club. Do that for two months. I thought Man United were good today, considering all that, and we had our days when we were good, we beat Liverpool in this spell. Do that for two months."
In his post-match press conference, Amorim insisted he'll stick to his beliefs despite the challenges of losing so many players. The United boss said: "You start with one idea. We were asking about a long week for so long. And we worked our principles but day after day, you lose players that change your approach to the game.
"I could not play the same way with Joshua [Zirkzee] as I can with Amad. Sometimes you want Bruno [Fernandes] to reach the ball in the build-up because he's really good switching the play. But then you want Bruno also to press and it's really hard.
"And when you are changing all the time to get the players to react to the base, it's really hard. 4-4-2 in the low block is harder to play against this team than what we did today, that's my opinion.
"They are so open and stretch the team. What you see guys and what you discuss every week, I also see. I have a lot of problems, my job is so, so hard here. But I stick with my beliefs."
Then, when quizzed on the absentees, Amorim suggested some big names could return to action at the weekend. The United boss said: "It [the injury and illness situation this week] doesn’t matter, it’s in the past.
"We want to recover the players, I think we can recover some players for the next game [against Everton]. From this moment until the end of the season, it’s going to be like that so we have to be together to finish the season and then start over."