Tottenham: Ange Postecoglou points to 'major lesson' for players after meek exit against Liverpool
Tottenham: Ange Postecoglou points to 'major lesson' for players after meek exit against Liverpool
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Ange Postecoglou says his Tottenham "did not give themselves a chance" of reaching the Carabao Cup Final in a meek 4-0 defeat at Liverpool on Thursday night. Leading 1-0 from the semi-final first leg, Spurs were blown away at Anfield as goals from Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and Virgil van Dijk set up a showpiece for Arne Slot's side against Newcastle at Wembley next month. Postecoglou accused his side of trying to protect their lead and says they lacked conviction and aggression on the night.
"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," Postecoglou said afterwards. "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.
"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.
"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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