Ange Postecoglou described the first semi-final of his Tottenham Hotspur career as “progress” for his injury-ravaged side, even if they were made to sweat by Manchester United in a hectic 4-3 victory. “It’s one thing me praising them,” he said. “But they need the reward of winning, and how it makes them feel, so they can go to the well again.”
Spurs will play Liverpool over two legs in the last four of the Carabao Cup, with the first leg in north London taking place in the first week of January and the second at Anfield in the first week of February. The winner will face Arsenal or Newcastle in the final at Wembley, and Postecoglou will hope that his injury worries have eased by the time those fixtures come around.
Ten senior players were missing for this quarter-final, Timo Werner the latest to go down with illness on the day of the game, but Postecoglou was brimming with praise for his makeshift side.
“Four goals with the bare bones of a squad is a massive credit to the players,” he said. “We got tired in the second half, but I’m still so proud of the players’ efforts.”
Tottenham’s task was complicated in the second half by two uncharacteristic errors from the goalkeeper Fraser Forster, gifting United a route back into the game at 3-2. But true to form, Postecoglou was in no mood to dissolve the possession-based principles upon which he has built his coaching philosophy.
“Fair to say in 26 years there’s been a few of them [errors],” he said. “But I’ve always felt the pros well outweigh the cons. I don’t think we’d be the team we are if we didn’t maintain the conviction around our beliefs.”
The United head coach, Ruben Amorim, defended the decision to leave Marcus Rashford out of his match-day squad again. “If I feel that I do the right thing for the team, it’s never a mistake,” he said. “The guys who came on the pitch [Amad Diallo and Alejandro Garnacho] changed the game.”
Amorim also claimed that his team were more in control of the game than the scoreline suggested. “We disconnected for eight minutes in the second half and that cost us the game,” he said. “We suffer a goal, and then we needed to have long possession to calm down the game. But I saw a team that knows what we want to do.”
