Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has revealed why there was a big gap between his Spurs side and Arne Slot’s Liverpool in their Carabao Cup semi-final defeat.
Spurs suffer yet another Anfield defeat
A trip to Anfield is never an easy one for any side in football and Tottenham Hotspur know this very much as they have not managed a win there in the last 14 years.
Thursday night was no different as the Lilywhites succumbed to a humbling 4-0 defeat in the semi-final of the Carabao Cup.
It was a night the Lilywhites needed to get at least a draw to book a place in the final of the League Cup, however, Arne Slot’s men showed their class as they ran riot in the end.
Ange Postecoglou speaks about the gap between Spurs and Liverpool
Speaking in a pre-match press conference ahead of their FA Cup tie, the Tottenham boss has opened up on the difficult situation his team finds itself and the gap in quality between his team and Liverpool. He believes a lot of that gap in class comes down to the 10 missing players.
He told football.london: “I know that this is all kind of reactive to last night. Vicario, Romero, Van de Ven, Solanke, Wilson Odobert, Udogie, Maddison, Brennan Johnson, I could go on and on.
“We had 10 missing players last night. If you take seven or eight key players out of a team it has an impact. I know constantly saying it dulls people to it but it’s true. The main thing I would take from last night’s game was the way we went about it.”
Coming into the game, the Australian manager was dealing with an injury crisis. Indeed, he was without a number of his first-team regulars and was forced to hand out debuts to Kevin Danso who played from the start, and Mathys Tel, who came in before half-time after Richarlison picked up an injury.
Spurs need a win at Villa Park on Sunday
Ultimately the result was less than ideal for the north London club who have now missed a golden opportunity to end their 17-year trophy drought.
Their attention will now turn to the FA Cup this weekend where Aston Villa awaits them at Villa Park. Failure to beat the West Midlands side will see Tottenham crash out of yet another cup competition.
As they head into the clash, there is no reprieve for the Tottenham boss, who is still contending with an injury crisis. The hope is that his stretched squad, manage to conjure a victory.