Kulusevski hit out at the club’s failure to assemble squad ready to compete on all fronts
Unacceptable: Dejan Kulusevski was left furious by Tottenham’s defeat to Nottingham Forest
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Dan Kilpatrick @ Dan_KP2 minutes ago
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Dejan Kulusevski has slammed Tottenham's latest league defeat to Nottingham Forest as "not good enough" and says the team must "respect" every game and perform "like it's your last".
Kulusevski was particularly frustrated as Spurs fell 2-0 down for the second weekend running after failing to deal with balls into the box and says every member of the side must "take responsibility" for dealing with crosses.
Elliot Anderson’s deflected strike gave Forest a fifth-minute lead and Chris Wood scored a header, minutes after having a goal disallowed for a tight offside.
Spurs missed a host of chances before Richarlison halved the deficit in the 87th-minute but they could not find a leveller, as Ange Postecoglou's side crashed down to earth with an 18th league defeat of the season after Thursday's impressive win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League quarter-final.
Kulusevski says Spurs were not prepared to compete on multiple fronts this season, underlined by their winter injury pile-up.
"[The top clubs have] been doing it many years," Kulusevski said, when asked why Spurs were struggling for consistency.
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"They know exactly what they're doing. They're bringing in a lot of players that are ready to play both competitions. And they are prepared for it.
Tottenham’s defeat to Nottingham Forest was their 18th in the Premier League this season
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"This year we cannot say that we're prepared for it because we had so many injuries and we did a lot of things wrong from the beginning of the season and we're paying for it right now.
"After big nights like Thursday, you always go down. That's why teams who are in more competitions are paying [a price]. We're not handling it right, we're not handling it well. Because after 16 minutes we'd conceded three goals, with the offside goal.
"Then it's hard to win football games. It's not good enough. Then we played some good football but if you're not doing everything right, you will not win games.
"I can't speak for everyone, I'm talking about me. I know that after a big night like that, you come back at five in the morning and you're going to feel disastrous.
"So you've got to find things to do to pick yourself up. It [comes] with experience. I felt great today and that's good.
"The manager said the first 15 minutes cost us the game with the corners and free-kicks.
"[It's] not good enough. We've got to improve. We've got to improve from crosses. I know we defended good on Thursday but we concede too many crosses and everybody must take responsibility and ask themselves why we concede so many crosses."
Asked what he meant when he said Spurs "did a lot of things wrong" early in the season, Kulusevski said: "We had a lot of injuries. Injuries don't happen for a [sic] reason. That's what we did wrong."
Tottenham’s season will once again be on the line when they face Bodo/Glimt
AP
Spurs face a daunting visit to champions-elect Liverpool on Sunday, when the Reds can clinch the title, before the first leg of their Europa League semi-final against Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt.
"[The semi-final] is very important," continued Kulusevski. "I can't say nothing about it. But like I said, you've got to respect the game, you've got to play every game like it's your last game.
"And that's what we've got to do. We've got to play against Liverpool, do our best, and then the Europa League, like I've always said from the start of the season, we have to win it.
"We have the quality to do it. Like you saw on Thursday, when we play in the Europa League, the build up to the game is real."
Kulusevski's return to the XI for the first time since February 22 was a positive for Spurs, with the Swede now recovered from a niggling foot injury.
"I felt great honestly," he said. "I'm so angry about the result but I've got to see the bigger picture: I'm back, I'm healthy and we've got important games coming up, so I've got to stay focussed.
"I took [my time out] so well because I had to accept it and I had more time to be with my daughter and wife, and do other things in life. I still worked extremely hard because I know that when you come back, it can be hard. But I did all the work necessary to feel good right now. I did everything right."
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