Ange Postecoglou held his press conference after Tottenham lost 2-0 at Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday and here's every single word the Spurs boss said.
The first half brought little in the way of action at either end of the pitch but Postecoglou made two changes for the second period with Son Heung-min and Lucas Bergvall replacing the poor Yves Bissouma and Brennan Johnson. Spurs looked to be taking control of the game and had the better chances, with Dominic Solanke sending one over from five yards and a big penalty shout when Lucas Bergvall was tripped in the Fulham box.
However, Fulham scored on 78 minutes. Spurs substitute Wilson Odobert lost the ball among a cluster of Fulham players and it was played into the box where it was eventually worked to Rodrigo Muniz to hit a low shot inside the left-hand post. Fulham doubled their advantage when Ben Davies had a torrid time with a bouncing ball and former Spurs man Ryan Sessegnon curled a right-footed effort into the far corner of the net.
Our Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to Postecoglou after the game. Here's a full transcript from the press conference at Craven Cottage.
It felt like your team were getting control of the game only to throw it away?
It was a tight game and we knew it would be — it always is here. It’s a tight ground and you know when you go that it is not going to be open. First half defensively we were pretty solid and they didn’t really create anything. We weren’t great with the ball and didn’t create much ourselves but I thought second half started really positively and had a couple of really good chances to get in front. We were definitely in much better control. Like we have done a lot of times this year we concede a soft goal. That just gives the opposition everything to gain from and get momentum out of it and the game gets away from us.
You took Yves Bissouma and Brennan Johnson off at half-time for the second Premier League game in a row, what are you not getting from them?
I felt we needed more going forward and I thought we started the second half a lot more positively. I felt it was going to be a kind of a game where there wasn’t going to be a lot of openings but even within that in the first half I thought we could have been a lot more positive with our play on the ball. I think that happened in the second half but again, irrespective of that, if you concede soft goals like we do then you make the game really difficult.
It's now 11 points to ninth. Is it a challenge to motivate players for league games?
No, I don't think so. I hope not. Obviously I made a lot of changes today because when we get back this is going to be our sort of schedule. We have already seen we can’t do that with 11 players. We need to make sure we have as many up and running and in good condition. I thought Mathys, Archie, Bentancur, Bissouma, Brennan they needed to play today to make sure we are topping them up. We had to rest a couple as well but I said to the players I’m not going to allow anyone to think about Europa and nothing else. We can’t let this league season go the way it has. We have lost way too many games. Unacceptable. Today was another day where it's not like the opposition have blown us off the park. We should have got something out of the game. We have had too many games this year where the opportunity to get something out of the game was there and we haven’t done that. I don’t want there to be an acceptance of us just losing games like that.
Do you fear that has become a habit?
I don’t know if it has become a habit but I think if you accept it just becomes a lot more easier to not deal with adversity and I don’t want us to be that kind of team. I thought we showed last week against Bournemouth we knuckled down and got something out of the game and we didn’t allow it to get away from us. We won the last two away games. We showed some resilience but today for 75 minutes I thought we were kind of where we wanted to be and the fact we have come out of that game with nothing is disappointing.
With what Ryan Sessegnon has been through, and you'll have seen a bit of that, is that a good story even if it was against you?
It is, it's a great story but you're asking the guy in me who's feeling the pain of defeat now. I couldn't be happier for Sess but that's his story.
Bissouma has come off now three times at half-time in the past five matches, what's he not doing?
I just feel Biss can sometimes let the game drift by him. He needs to be a little bit more dominant in the way he gets on the ball. At times I think the game gets away from him and today we needed more in that position. I needed him to play though, because he hasn't played a lot. At the same time you've got to perform. It's fair to say, Biss and a few others are probably lacking a bit of confidence. That's affecting him but we're at the point of the season now where we need guys to get out there and put those things to one side and perform.
Are you struggling to get through to him?
It's not about getting through to him or a lack of effort. I just think with players sometimes they go through these spells and he needs to find a way to break through that and we need to find a way to get that out of him.
What did you make of the penalty incident with Lucas Bergvall?
I'll leave that to the officials but I will say that we don't carry on like a lot of other clubs and I think that hurts us for sure. I don't think there's ever any noise around us and decisions. We get one slightly in our favour and there's national headlines for a week. Things go against us and there's not even a sentence on it.
It's 15 league defeats now, what can you say to the fans?
I get their disappointment. It's unacceptable to see 15 league defeats. It's nowhere near good enough, nowhere near the level we need to be and I understand the supporters' frustrations with that. Today wasn't so much about performance, it was just another day when we let a game get away from us that we shouldn't have. We weren't played off the park and I felt that up until the point they scored, we were the team that was getting on top. We had a couple of good chances to go 1-0 up and that would have put the pressure on them but it's happened too many times this year. We've given the opposition a lift into the game by conceding soft goals.
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