Ange Postecoglou spent more time acknowledging Tottenham's travelling fans than almost anyone else after their FA Cup defeat. The team's hopes of ending their silverware drought took another blow as they lost 2-1 at Aston Villa, furthering extending their poor run of results in all competitions. Tottenham's season has fallen off a cliff with Postecoglou continually questioned about his future. But the Australian, now into his second season, took his time as he applauded and recognised the away fans at Villa. Only Mathys Tel, who scored on his first start, spent longer by the away end than the manager.
Despite frustration mounting in north London fans are not universally against Postecoglou, who has had to work with a huge injury list, with the anger being directed more towards Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy. After the loss Postecoglou said: “People can judge me and say I have done a bad job, that is fine. But what I am saying is you can’t be critical of the players’ performance. What this group has given over these last two and a half months has been outstanding.
“We had 11 first-team players missing today. We started with four teenagers, a 21-year-old goalkeeper coming to one of the best teams in the country, away from home. After playing the best team in the country on Thursday night. If you want to get rid of me, fine. But I think this group of players will be an outstanding team, I have got no doubt about that.”. Tottenham's loss means their only hope of landing a trophy this term is the Europa League. Postecoglou made plenty of headlines when he defiantly vowed earlier in the campaign that he always wins an honour in his second season.
The Australian's side are into the last 16 in Europe and will have to wait and see who they'll face once the first knockout phase is over. The Tottenham boss was also pleased that his depleted squad will get the chance to enjoy a pause. "Nothing really changes," he added. "We have a couple of weeks now where we don't have midweek games. This group has done an unbelievable job for two and a half months. I can't praise them enough, playing twice a week since November. They'll get the chance to reset now and finish the season strong.
"Europe is still very important to us, we're still in a great spot there, and we'll hope to get some players back over the next two weeks.". Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
