Ange Postecoglou on Spurs 1-0 FA Cup defeat by Man City
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00:00 How much frustration is there over the manner of that defeat?
00:07 I guess that aspect is disappointing that it happened so late, because it doesn't give
00:11 you a chance to recover from it.
00:14 Look, we fought hard to stay in the game, but to be honest that's all we did, we just
00:21 stayed in the game and it wasn't enough tonight to get us over the line.
00:27 Your reaction to the news earlier on about the European Club which gave you a shock?
00:40 Yeah, look, probably not the time to ask me about it mate, to be honest.
00:44 Do you think the referee was in off the net?
00:52 Well, look, I mean, the referee's had a good look at it, the VAR assumes had a good look
00:55 at it and they decided otherwise, so we have to accept that.
00:58 Do you think they were kind of flat in the attacking plays, not just supporting opposition
01:03 or just struggling to get the ball?
01:05 I think it's a little bit of both.
01:06 Look, they're a top team, they're the benchmark and we're not there yet and we're under no
01:11 illusions about that.
01:12 But I just felt, I thought the second half was okay, first half I just thought we were
01:15 a little bit too passive in a lot of our play and allowed them to get a bit of a rhythm
01:19 in the game and it's not what you want against them.
01:22 So, yeah, it's very hard to kind of arrest that mid-game and obviously I thought we started
01:28 the second half a lot better and a bit more conviction about our play but ultimately,
01:34 like I said, we were just working as hard as possible to stay in the game and yeah,
01:41 that wasn't going to be enough tonight.
01:43 Is there a couple of times they've just worked and stayed in the game and it is hard against
01:50 them, what could have been different?
01:53 Well, as I said before, it was about just having a bit more sort of belief and conviction
01:58 in ourselves in that first 45 minutes because, you know, once they get into a bit of a rhythm
02:03 that, like I said, it's very hard then to wrestle back off them.
02:08 But I thought we did for, like I said, the second half, first 15, 20 minutes and we created
02:12 a couple of good moments for ourselves.
02:15 I thought we defended well.
02:16 You know, something like Vic had a million saves to make and kind of that created a lot
02:20 against us.
02:22 So it's disappointing to concede so late.
02:24 But having said that, it's not what we're about, you know, and like I said, we worked
02:30 hard enough but it seemed we were just working sort of at maximum to stay in the game rather
02:36 than sort of get over the top of them.
02:38 How much of a challenge is it for you to manage a club such as Liverpool, who seem to be the
02:42 protagonists of the front foot?
02:44 It's not like that's the town control, but they're so good at doing the hard work that
02:48 you've said to train.
02:51 Well, it's fair to say they've got, what, eight, nine years on us.
02:55 You know, I mean, like, I kind of hope that people have a little bit of perspective about
03:01 the team we're trying to be.
03:02 It doesn't happen in six months.
03:03 I don't even think City did it in six months.
03:06 So, you know, we've just got to...
03:08 But that doesn't mean that you shy away from the challenge of it or you don't get disappointed
03:12 by it or don't feel like you could have tackled it in a different way.
03:20 It's not an excuse, but the reality of it is they're well down the line in being the
03:23 team they are and we're still very much in the early stages.
03:27 And, you know, you kind of need to use that as your benchmark moving forward.
03:34 Yeah, so mid-game, how difficult is that?
03:38 Yeah, it's very difficult because, I mean, you've seen it with us.
03:41 You know, the thing about us this year is we've started games really well just about
03:45 every game and that's given us a real sort of momentum against all opposition, doesn't
03:52 matter home or away.
03:53 And it's very hard for teams to call that back.
03:56 It was the opposite tonight.
03:57 We didn't get into the game as we wanted to.
04:00 And I said in mid-game it's very hard to change that.
04:04 Like I said, the second half I thought the first 15, 20 minutes we'd be more aggressive
04:07 with our pressure and we forced them into some mistakes.
04:10 We created a couple of good moments.
04:12 Brendan had a decent chance.
04:14 But, again, that only happened for sort of sporadically in moments.
04:19 It wasn't sustained.
04:20 And for it to be sustained, you need to put pressure on the opposition from sort of the
04:25 first minute.
04:26 And we didn't do that today.
04:28 Was it a close decision to start the season?
04:33 No, not really.
04:34 I mean, I think knowing the nature of the game it was going to be today.
04:38 Look, he's trained well the last week and a half but he's missed a lot of football.
04:43 And we were hoping to obviously get him some minutes tonight, which he did.
04:49 And he should be right to go from now on.
04:52 We've got another two games next week.
04:54 So we're going to need him and others to sort of pitch in.
05:00 So, yes, it wasn't really much of a dilemma about whether starting or not.
05:06 I felt just coming off the bench today was going to be better for us as a team more than
05:10 anything else.
05:11 OK, thank you.
05:12 Thanks, guys.
05:13 Thank you.
05:14 Thank you.
05:15 Thank you.
05:16 Thank you.