Ange Postecoglou slams Tottenham fringe players for failing to take their chance
Ange Postecoglou has revealed that his message to the Tottenham players who started against Crystal Palace was clear but admitted that they failed to do what was asked of them and put pressure on those in the starting eleven ahead of the big Europa League final.
As expected, Postecoglou rotated his Tottenham squad following their exertions in Norway last Thursday, making eight changes to the starting eleven.
The impact of the changes was felt considerably as the Eagles were in control of proceedings for large parts of the encounter and emerged with a comfortable 2-0 win.
While Postecoglou will be pleased that there are no additional injury scares from that game, with Dejan Kulusevski’s issue not thought to be serious, the Tottenham boss has revealed that one aspect left him extremely disappointed.
Ange Postecoglou says Tottenham players did not step forward on Sunday
With just one game left to go before the Europa League final, one would expect the Tottenham players to be fighting for a chance to feature in that big game in Bilbao
However, Postecoglou has now revealed that despite his best effort to push the players to take the big opportunity in front of them, none of them managed to show anything compelling on Sunday.
The Tottenham manager said in his post-match press conference (via Football.London): “It’s still about performance. Guys had an opportunity today to put their name forward and put some pressure on the guys who played the other night.
“Fair to say there wasn’t any compelling evidence of that. That’s what I’m trying to push with these guys, that sometimes in football, you’ve just got to take the opportunities there before you.
“They’re never going to be perfect. We made eight changes, but there is an opportunity there, and you’ve just got to take it when presented to you, and I’m disappointed more didn’t step forward today.”
Postecoglou says spots are still up for grabs for Europa League final
The contrasting performances we have seen from Spurs in the Europa League and Premier League of late have made Postecoglou’s decision for the final fairly straightforward.
When the 59-year-old was asked if it feels like the players know there are eight or nine set Tottenham players likely to play in the final, he responded: “That’s the problem, because how do you know? Like, we lost Lucas the day before a game. You’ve got to be ready for your opportunity.
“They may think that this team’s already set, but if there’s nothing else we’ve learnt this year, it’s that nothing goes to plan, so I’m not thinking about the starting line-up now for the final because we’ve still got another game and 10 days to navigate.
“If there is that attitude in there, then it’s the wrong attitude because you’re missing an opportunity. Like I said when Lucas went down, we had to throw Biss in there, so you have to be ready.”
When asked if Tottenham’s squad players still have a chance to give him food for thought ahead of the final, Postecoglou responded: “Well they missed one today, so I mean there aren’t gonna be too many, so you know, there’s their opportunity.”
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