Ange Postecoglou may have cut a calm and down-to-earth figure after the game, but deep down he will have been relieved to have left Coventry with one of his routes to silverware still intact.
The Tottenham Hotspur manager praised his side’s “character and spirit − that hasn’t been there this season” – against a Sky Blues side that deserved better than this.
But the truth is that the Australian coach got away with one here. Pre-match comments that he always wins a trophy in his second year at at a club looked, for 88 minutes, as though they would come back to haunt him. His decision to make eight changes from the weekend, after speaking of the importance of bringing silverware to the club, also raised eyebrows.
When Brandon Thomas-Asante, a £2 million summer signing from West Bromwich Albion, swept in Norman Bassette’s 63rd-minute cross to give the Championship side a richly deserved lead, Tottenham were looking at being on the wrong end of a cup shock. It would have been no surprise if Coventry had extended that lead as well. The performance had shades of their FA Cup run from last season, when they beat Wolverhampton Wanderers and were a wafer-thin VAR decision away from beating Manchester United in the semi-finals.
But the real positive for Postecoglou was that Spurs did not fade in the closing stages. Goals from two of his substiutes, Djed Spence − his first for Tottenham – and Brennan Johnson’s stoppage-time strike spared the manager’s blushes. For Johnson, it was the ideal response after he had been forced to delete his social media accounts following online abuse after Sunday.
But the Coventry manager, Mark Robins, called it correctly, the arrival of James Maddison as a second-half substitute allowed Tottenham to finally look like a Premier League side. Sections of the club’s travelling support also showed signs of turning on Postecoglou. There were jeers at half-time, and boos rang out when midfielder Lucas Bergvall was taken off. Postecoglou admitted that his side “‘hung in there”.
“We wanted to stay in the game, and at the end we showed some spirit and character which is probably what’s been missing over the first four games,” he said. “In the last ten minutes, we got some real belief in that moving forwards. It wasn’t an easy night, credit to Coventry who were outstanding. But we gave players some significant game time.”
Postecoglou also had encouraging words for Johnson, who scored his first goal of the season after collecting a Rodrigo Bentancur pass after coming on as an 18th-minute substitute for the injured Wilson Odobert.
“With Brennan, he comes in and works hard at this game, attackers always get measured against certain things, I told him that if he can come through this spell he can make a significant contribution.”
When asked about the fans’ reaction to taking Bergvall off, Postecoglou added: “I don’t make substitutions by poll, mate. I’m sure the fans have their own opinions. But that’s his first game for a while, I didn’t want to us pushing guys over the edge. I took Destiny [Udogie] off the at half-time as well. They’re going to play a lot of football for us.”
Postecoglou addressed the fact he made eight changes. “I’ve always done what I think is the right thing for us in terms of what we’re trying to achieve. There are no guarantees in whatever you do in critical times, but I’ve always backed my decisions. If it doesn’t work out, I can live with that. I’m not going to jeopardise what we’ve got here by doing something that makes me look like I’m in a safer position. But I don’t think there are any quick fixes or easy turnarounds. If we can add relentlessness and drive to win games, then it’ll certainly help us.”
There was no way back for Coventry as soon as Spence latched on to a Dejan Kulusevski ball and rolled home the equaliser.
“Coventry played without fear,” added Postecoglou. “They were excellent, you can see why they had a big cup run last year. We had to dig deep to stay in the game, we didn’t dominate it.”
That was scant consolation for Robins, whose opening remark afterwards was ‘I’m trying not to swear’. He added: “Life presents you with chances, and we don’t seem to be able to take those chances. You can say the same about the Manchester United game last season.
“The game was there for us, and there’s the disappointment. If you’re Tottenham, you’re probably relieved to go through at our expense. The comeback shouldn’t have happened, it was a mix of poor decision-making and tiredness.
“But Ange is a good manager with top players, I like the way he plays football. They drag you out. But people want things yesterday, and it’s ridiculous really. We have to remember we’ve come from League Two – so that puts a bit of perspective on it.”