Ange Postecoglou has delivered his most passionate defence yet of the injury crisis his Tottenham side has faced this season after Spurs exited the FA Cup in a 2-1 loss to Aston Villa.
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Spurs are languishing in 14th place in the Premier League and, having also been eliminated from the League Cup just three days ago, the side now only has the Europa League left to play for.
The side’s 2024/25 campaign has been tortured by an unusually brutal injury toll that has regularly sat in the double digits, with many of those players first-team regulars.
With the pressure mounting on his position, Postecoglou said in a lengthy monologue that he didn’t mind facing scrutiny personally, but was fed-up with criticism of the team given how weakened it has been.
He also strongly suggested that there has been a double standard in the coverage of Spurs’ season compared to other big clubs.
“I’m not talking about me. People can judge me. They can say I’ve done a bad job, I’m not up to it or whatever,” he said. “That’s fine. What I’m saying is you can’t be critical of players or players’ performances at this time.
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“Because if you do, then do that with everyone else. Be as critical of other clubs when they’ve got nine or 10 or 11 players out. And none of them have. And have to play every week. And not for one game.”
“How did Liverpool go today?” he added, referencing the giant’s shock 1-0 loss to Plymouth Argyle, which sits bottom of the Championship table.
“And they just did that for one game. Do that for two and a half months. Any team. Do that for two and a half months in multiple competitions.”
Tottenham have lost five of their last eight games in all competitions, dealing a huge blow to Postecoglou’s boast earlier this season that he always wins a trophy in his second campaign.
He said he can wear the criticism, but continued to defend his players while suggesting that there is an “agenda” against his team.
“There’s got to be a better appreciation for what a very small group of players have been doing for the last two and a half months,” he said.
“It can’t be that people think that’s an excuse. That’s just not anywhere near close to objective analysis. That’s just agenda-driven stuff.
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“If it’s to get rid of me that’s fine. Good on ya. Go for it a million times.
“But in terms of this group of players, what they’ve given over the past two and half months has been outstanding, it’s a credit to them, I can’t speak highly enough of them.”
Spurs are through to the Europa League last 16, but whether Postecoglou will still be in charge when they return to European action remains to be seen.
Denied the services of Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, James Maddison and Brennan Johnson among others due to injury, the former Celtic boss is adamant his players still back him.
“They’ll get the chance to reset now and finish the season strong,” he said.
“Europe is still very important to us, we’re still in a great spot there, and we’ll hope to get some players back over the next two weeks.”
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