Ange Postecoglou insists Tottenham will be an “outstanding team” once injured stars return. The north Londoners lost 2-1 against Aston Villa in the FA Cup, their second cup exit in four days.
A depleted Spurs side were knocked out of the competition just days after comfortably losing 4-0 against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup. Postecoglou said he had 11 senior players missing for the trip to Villa Park, with much of the team which faced Liverpool having to play against Villa.
The likes of James Maddison, Dominic Solanke, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Brennan Johnson and Timo Werner have all missed large parts of the season. They were absent for the defeat against Villa.
Postecoglou, whose side are 14th in the Premier League and have endured some horror results this term, says his team will be “outstanding” once everyone is fit.
The Australian said: “The team is just trying its best in extreme circumstances for three and a half months. If you don’t think that’s a factor, then I don’t know what to say.
“They are tired. If you think I can press again after playing Liverpool on Thursday night, it doesn’t happen. Liverpool rotated their players, I wish I can do the same to bring freshness to the team. Once we get the rest of the players back in, it will be an outstanding team.”
Postecoglou went on to launch a staunch defence of his players and asked for criticism to be aimed in his direction instead of at the team.
Asked if he fears being sacked, the 59-year-old candidly responded: “I’m not talking about me. People can judge me. They can say I’ve done a bad job, I’m not up to it or whatever. That’s fine. What I’m saying is you can’t be critical of players or players’ performances at this time.
“Because if you do, then do that with everyone else. Be as critical of other clubs when they’ve got 9 or 10 or 11 players out. And none of them have, and have to play every week. And not for one game. I’m not just saying we had to do this today.
“We’ve been doing this since the middle of November and you can’t judge performances of these players and critique them on what they’ve done. All they’ve done is given all they can and that’s all you can ask for. Me, that’s not of interest to me.
“My responsibility at this football club is this group of players and this team, to get them to play in the manner I want them to and bring us success. Whether people think I can do that or not, that’s for others to judge.
“But there’s got to be a better appreciation for what a very small group of players have been doing for the last two-and-a-half months. It can’t be that people think that’s an excuse. That’s not anywhere near close to objective analysis. That’s just agenda-driven stuff.
“If [the media’s opinion] is to get rid of me, that’s fine. Good on ya. Go for it a million times. But in terms of this group of players, what they’ve given over the past two and half months has been outstanding, it’s a credit to them, I can’t speak highly enough of them.”
Postecoglou expects to have several injured players return over the next 10 days. They face a tough Premier League test against Manchester United next Sunday.
