Ange Postecoglou reveals why he rotated his Tottenham squad so heavily vs Fulham

Ange Postecoglou has spoken about whether Tottenham have become accustomed to losing in the Premier League and has revealed whether it is a little more difficult to motivate the players now that Spurs have nothing but pride to play for in the league.

It is fair to say that the preoccupation of everyone at Hotspur Way as well as the Spurs fans is now on the Europa League after the Lilywhites made it into the final eight of the competition.

Winning the tournament will undoubtedly change the outlook on Tottenham’s season, finally breaking their extended trophy drought and helping them secure entry into the Champions League.

In stark contrast, there is little to play for in the Premier League for the Lilywhites as they are mired in mid-table mediocrity, sitting 13 points behind sixth-placed Newcastle.

Ange Postecoglou on Tottenham’s losing habit

Unsurprisingly, Postecoglou rotated his squad at Craven Cottage following their exertions against Alkmaar on Thursday, and what he got from the players was a lacklustre display which was lacking in purpose and attacking intent.

The Tottenham head coach confessed that he does not want to accept this kind of performance as that would set the wrong culture at the club.

When asked if losing has become a habit for his side, Postecoglou told Football.London: “I don’t know if it has become a habit but I think if you accept it just becomes a lot easier to not deal with adversity and I don’t want us to be that kind of team.

“I thought we showed last week against Bournemouth we knuckled down and got something out of the game and we didn’t allow it to get away from us.

“We won the last two away games. We showed some resilience but today for 75 minutes I thought we were kind of where we wanted to be and the fact we have come out of that game with nothing is disappointing.”

Postecoglou asked about the challenge of motivating his players

With Tottenham’s primary focus being on doing something special in the Europa League, there is the danger of the side taking the eye off the ball in the Premier League.

However, Postecoglou insists that he is not going to allow the squad to focus only on the Europa League, insisting that his side simply cannot allow their league campaign to peter out.

When asked if it is difficult motivating the players for league games since Spurs are sitting 11 points away from ninth place, the 59-year-old responded: “No, I don’t think so. I hope not. Obviously, I made a lot of changes today because when we get back this is going to be our sort of schedule. We have already seen we can’t do that with 11 players.

“We need to make sure we have as many up and running and in good condition. I thought Mathys, Archie, Bentancur, Bissouma, and Brennan, they needed to play today to make sure we are topping them up.

“We had to rest a couple as well but I said to the players I’m not going to allow anyone to think about Europa and nothing else. We can’t let this league season go the way it has. We have lost way too many games. Unacceptable.

“Today was another day where it’s not like the opposition have blown us off the park. We should have got something out of the game. We have had too many games this year where the opportunity to get something out of the game was there and we haven’t done that. I don’t want there to be an acceptance of us just losing games like that.”

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