Ange Postecoglou delivers stinging response to Sky Sports pundits' Tottenham attacks

Ange Postecoglou has hit back at Jamie Redknapp and his fellow Sky Sports pundits for their “pile on” after their withering criticism of Tottenham’s defeat at Liverpool. “Why would I care where they think we're at?” said the Aussie boss. Spurs lost 4-0 in the Carabao Cup semi-final second and did not register a shot on goal at Anfield. Seeking a first trophy since 2008, they only managed eight touches in the opposition box in an insipid display.

Former Spurs midfielder Redknapp blasted: “I cannot remember a team in my lifetime go down with less of a fight than they did tonight. The midfield never showed any courage to get on the ball. Just horrendous. I couldn’t believe that level of performance.”. And fellow ex-Tottenham star Michael Dawson added: “They didn't show any character. In possession, out of possession, the desire to keep the ball out of the back of the net.”.

After returning from the north-west in the early hours of Friday morning, the Aussie boss fronted up in his press conference before Sunday’s FA Cup tie at Aston Villa at 10.30am at the Tottenham training ground. And despite his lack of sleep, Postecoglou came out fighting to defend his players. "There's plenty about them. I get the pile-on at the moment, it's really easy for people to stick their boots in. And question the players and all that kind of stuff. That's not something I question. We were disappointed last night, it didn't go the way we wanted to, didn't really perform at the levels we wanted to.

"That's doesn't define this group of players by any stretch, in my eyes. We'll go out there on Sunday and put in more of a performance that reflects where we're at. I have a great deal of belief in this group of players, and what they're going through, and how they're dealing with it. They were disappointed last night. We're all disappointed. But we'll learn from it. And we'll move on.". Asked about the criticism, Postecoglou added: “It doesn't really affect me, what I do, what I think. We're an easy mark at the moment, I get that. Obviously making a semi-final is an absolute disaster because we didn't play well last night. I assume not making the semi-final would have put us in a better place. But that's the way people are seeing us at the moment.

What's gone wrong for Spurs this season? Share your thoughts in the comments below. "Do we use it to prove people wrong? No, because I don't know which people I'm meant to be proving wrong. I said last night, it's irrelevant to me what other people's opinions are. People are on the TV and the radio and in the newspapers to give opinions and I respect that. They're allowed to do that but I don’t have any obligation to listen to any of it.

“To get fuelled by the comments of people I’ve never even met, I don’t know how you live your life, but I certainly don't live my life that way. That's with all respect that they're there to give an opinion. It's not like I want to be successful here so I can go to these people and say to them 'oh, look, you were wrong'. I don't even know them. Why would I care where they think we're at? They're a million miles away from us, but they're allowed to have their opinion.

“We're an easy mark at the moment, and look after last night, there are times you've just got to take it, keep your council and atone for it in the way that only really matters and that is with playing the football I know we can.”. Redknapp stated there were still eight internationals in the Spurs team at Anfield as he slammed the senior players. “I don’t put any responsibility on the senior players last night. As a collective we just didn’t tackle the challenge we had last night in the manner we needed to. That’s not (on) the senior players. The senior players are carrying us through this in many respects because I don’t know how many players were playing their first game at Anfield last night.

"So, all these kind of things you try to prepare the group for but it is fair to say we didn’t handle the situation well, but that’s not on the senior players. I have got no issue with the senior players and we don’t have many out there to be honest. Certainly they are trying as hard as they can and from my perspective, my role is to try to support and provide the guidance so we can make amends for a poor performance.”.

Postecoglou was asked how long it will take to bridge the gap with Premier League leaders Liverpool. “I know that this is all kind of reactive to last night and I get it,” he said. “Everyone saw there was a big gap between us and Liverpool, but Vicario, Romero, Destiny, van de Ven, Solanke, Wilson Odobert, I could go on and on. "We had 10 missing last night, senior players but you take seven or eight key players out of any team and you are playing the best team in the world who are at their best, I don’t think you make judgements in these moments. I get that it dulls the senses after a while when you say the same thing after week after week and it sounds like it is what it is, but that’s the reality of our situation.