Ange Postecoglou spoke to the media at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after our 2-0 loss against Palace in the Premier League on Sunday.
Here's what he had to say...
Ange on Dejan Kulusevski's fitness...
"He should be okay, just talking to him after. The medical team are not too concerned with him, more of a knock than anything else, so we're hoping he should be okay."
Ange on if Deki's injury impacted the players ahead of the UEL Final...
"It's hard to say. I still felt we weren't anywhere near the level we needed to be today. It's not helpful when you lose another player, it's the fine line we're trying to navigate at the moment. That aside, it was a disappointing performance and nowhere near the level it should be."
Ange on if making eight changes has an effect...
"That explains some of it but not all of it. I still felt we should have been better than we were today. So I can't totally discount the performance today on the fact I've made a number of changes. We should have still been able to perform better than what we did."
Ange on if he planned to use Dominic Solanke or Richarlison from the bench...
"No, we weren't going to. The last time we played on an artificial against Tamworth, the game after we got two calf injuries out of it. Guys like Brennan, maybe Richy and Madders, so we were never going to risk those guys today."
Ange on if there was a 'lack of desire'...
"I just think some of it is psychological in terms of not being able to cope with what's before us at the moment. With elite sport, if you're a little bit off it you pay the price. We're trying to navigate this fine line of being prepared for a really big game, but also needing to perform at levels you need to in the Premier League, because it's unforgiving."
Ange on playing Wilson Odobert in the '10' role...
"It was a needs must basis today, I put him in there, he's played there before, because I didn't want to expose any of the other guys from the other night, so he had to play in there. Aside from all that, it's still about performance. Guys had an opportunity today to put their name forward and put some pressure on the guys who played the other night. Fair to say there wasn't any compelling evidence of that. That's what I'm trying to push with these guys, that sometimes in football you've just got to take the opportunities there before you. They're never going to be perfect. We made eight changes but there is an opportunity there and you've just got to take it when presented to you and I'm disappointed more didn't step forward today."
Ange on Dane Scarlett...
"Dane's had an operation, he was carrying a groin injury all year and we decided to get the operation done so he's ready for pre-season."
Ange on starting Toni Kinsky and resting Guglielmo Vicario...
"Even with Vic, he's having to perform every game. I just felt it was a good time for him... because it was quite an emotional night the other night and fair to say all the lads are probably still feeling the effects of it physically and mentally, including him. Toni's training well and I was keen to give him another crack at it. He's not eligible in Europe so it was more about giving Vic a breather before the big final push."
Ange on if the players know there are '8/9 set players likely to play the final'...
"That's the problem, because how do you know? Like we lost Lucas the day before a game. You've got to be ready for your opportunity. They may think that this team's already set, but if there's nothing else we've learnt this year it's that nothing goes to plan, so I'm not thinking about the starting line-up now for the final because we've still got another game and 10 days to navigate, so if there is that attitude in there then it's the wrong attitude because you're missing an opportunity. Like I said when Lucas went down, we had to throw Biss in there, so you have to be ready."
Ange on Heung-Min Son's return...
"Yes, good to get him some match minutes and hopefully we can get him some more match minutes against Villa on Friday and it'd be good to get him back and involved and available."
Ange on the 'extremes' of reaching a final, and league form...
"Yes, look and I get it, people are banging the drum about this record with defeats, but if people don’t see there is a correlation between the two, I am not going to sit here and, it’s not exactly Pythagoras theorem. It’s quite simple to understand we would have had much better results if we didn’t have to navigate this. So, either you understand or you don’t and beat us over the head, I get it. I am not happy with the way we performed today, so that’s what I look at. I think we could have performed better and irrespective of the result you can still lose a game of football and our performance level wasn't anywhere near where it should be. That's my responsibility to address."
Ange on United's form...
"No, I said before, I couldn’t care less about Man U. They have their own journey. It is about us and what we’re trying to create here. It is too easy to accept a performance that is not up to the level because of other factors. I think irrespective of other factors, you should still be able to perform at a certain level and we didn’t reach that level today. That’s disappointing."
Ange on squad depth...
"I just think we haven’t been able to cope with what’s been presented to us this year. A lot of that is because of the injury situation we had, particularly earlier in the year. It’s not just about getting players back, I’ve had to manage guys like Micky, Romero and Destiny. There is every possibility they could have played more than they’ve played, but we’ve had to manage it and we haven’t been able to cope with it. We have got a lot of young players in the squad who we have exposed to a lot of football and fair to say a few of them are looking tired I think because we’re into our 60th or 61st game and because of the injury situation we had, we’ve paid a price for that in the league. So, that is the story as it’s been told."