Ange Postecoglou had plenty of questions to answer at his press conference after Tottenham's 4-0 defeat at Liverpool in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg and we've got the full transcript below.
Liverpool scored just after the half-hour mark when a Mohamed Salah cross bounced through to the back post where the unmarked Cody Gakpo half-volleyed home. The home side were then handed a penalty early in the second half after Tottenham goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky brought down Darwin Nunez in the box and Salah smashed home the resulting spot kick into the top left corner.
A third Liverpool goal arrived on 75 minutes when they found space through the middle and a sweeping move ended with Dominik Szoboszlai tapping home. Virgil van Dijk headed in from a corner to complete the scoring.
Our Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to Postecoglou after the match, including about a poor performance, a new injury for Richarlison and the debuts of Kevin Danso and Mathys Tel. Here is the full transcript with every word the Spurs head coach said in his post-match press conference.
Not one shot on target, did the players meet your expectations?
Look, it's fair to say we didn't get to the levels we need to tonight. It was always going to be a big challenge for us. They're obviously a very good side and in a great moment with all their players in very good form, very settled. But for us to give ourselves an opportunity, we had to be a lot more aggressive with and without the ball and we weren't. We allowed them to control the game and dictate where it was played. In the end, they were too good for us.
How damaging was that result for the season?
It's disappointing. It was a great opportunity for us to get to a final. We didn't give ourselves a chance to take the opportunity which is probably more disappointing. Ultimately it's an opportunity for further learning and for us to atone for that by making amends with a strong performance on Sunday.
What was wrong with Richarlison?
It looks like his calf. It didn't look too good after the game, so probably one to add to the list.
What did you make of the two debutants?
Yeah they did OK. Kevin was really positive, as was Mathys. It's hard, you know, throwing guys in after their first training sessions, it's not ideal. That's part of our dilemma at the moment of trying to get some fluency and consistency but also knowing we have to keep tinkering with the starting line up to account for everything going on. But I thought they acquitted themselves well.
Your whole ethos is for your players is to be brave, how disappointing is it that on such a big night they weren't?
Yeah it is disappointing. It’s not the fact that we have come here and lost. It’s a difficult place to come to and they are in a great moment right now. It would be difficult for anyone to come here. I would have liked us to play more like who we are than we did tonight. There is a lesson in there for us for sure that if we kind of veer away from that it almost becomes impossible for us.
Can you be judged fairly with so many injuries?
I don’t worry about being judged or who is judging. I think ultimately my responsibility is to try to get the players I have to perform to the best of their abilities and to tackle the problems we have got at the moment and everyone knows the challenges we’ve got.
It’s disappointing tonight because we had an opportunity to get to a final and they don’t come around too often so to let that slip as I said is disappointing but probably more disappointing is we didn’t play in the manner we wanted to and we know we can which may have given us an opportunity to get through. There are some learnings in there for us and we will take them away.
Jamie Redknapp said on TV 'I cannot remember a team going down in my lifetime with less of a fight' — is that fair?
You’re asking me, ask Jamie. He has obviously made the comment. I know people get really excited by things like that. People are on TV to give opinions and that’s what they do. That’s their job. My job is not to scan the TV or the commentary on our games. My job is to manage this football club and whatever people think or don’t think is kind of irrelevant. It doesn’t really matter. It doesn’t really put any sort of emphasis on who we are and what we are trying to do. At the end of the day everybody is allowed to have an opinion. Everyone is allowed to express that opinion. My view is I don’t really need to respond to that or be affected by that because I don’t care. Whether it’s Jamie Redknapp or anyone else. I don’t care. It doesn’t worry me. It doesn’t bother me.
How good are Liverpool, are they the best team you've come across in your two seasons in England?
I don't really assess opposition teams [like that]. They're a good side and they're in a great moment. They're flying in all competition, all their players are in great physical condition, their top players are in the peak of their powers and they're in a great spot. They're a compelling side. They are where they are because of their form and consistency.
Despite all the injuries, did the players really feel it was there for them tonight?
I think they understood the opportunity for sure. When the reality of it out there hits you, it's a bit different to maybe what you envisioned in your head. We'll learn from tonight but the major lesson to learn is that we can't go into games like this looking to protect or try to get results in other ways than what's got us to this point. I'm sure the players will learn from that, I'm sure they're disappointed by that. As much as we've missed an opportunity to get to a final, what probably hurting even more is that we didn't really give ourselves a chance with our performance tonight.
Is that why you said when you set the team up or is that just the way the game ended up being?
We set the team up and our intent was to go out and play the same way we play every week. We were trying to put pressure on them and unsettle them but it never really materialised. We didn't really have conviction when we had the ball either which allowed them to get control of the game. So a whole manner of things that we didn't really do that would have given us at least an opportunity to get past this stage.
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