Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has been speaking to the media following the 2-2 draw with Wolves on Sunday and we've got every word the Australian said in his press conference after the game.
Wolves scored first early in the encounter when Hwang Hee-chan fired into the bottom corner in plenty of space on the edge of the Spurs box from a short free-kick. However, Postecoglou's men were level within minutes when Rodrigo Bentancur powered home a header from Pedro Porro's corner.
Just before the break Brennan Johnson was brought down in the box, only for skipper Son Heung-min's spot kick to be saved by Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa. Tottenham still went into the interval ahead though when Bentancur started a move between Johnson and Dejan Kulusevski that ended with the Wales international firing home clinically.
Spurs tired as the game wore on and after missing a string of opportunities from breaks up the pitch paid the price five minutes from time when Wolves substitute Jorgen Strand Larsen ran in behind the defence and hit a powerful finish past Fraser Forster and into the roof of the net.
Our Spurs correspondent Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to Postecoglou after the game. Here's the full transcript from the press conference at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
A frustrating way to end the game, was that goal conceded through tiredness or switching off, or a bit of both?
It's a disappointing outcome. Obviously we went a goal down but after that I felt we controlled the game. It wasn't easy always to get openings but we did look pretty threatening every time we did get forward. We scored a couple of goals, we obviously missed the penalty and then second half, I just thought we had some really big moments to kill the game off.
They weren't really creating much, I mean I think Fraser had one save to make with his feet, that was about it. You felt we kind of needed that third goal and obviously they score at the end and you're kind of left with a disappointing outcome, but it's not through the want of trying. It's obvious, you know, the lads are fairly fatigued, especially in that front third, we're not as sharp as we can be, which is understandable because we're asking a lot of a sort of small core group of players and, as I said, it's not for the want of trying and they're trying to get the outcomes for us.
Yet another injury, this time for Destiny Udogie, was it his hamstring?
Yeah, I think it was a hamstring. Again like I said, we've been relying on a core group of players because we just haven't had the ability to rotate so at some point it was going to catch up with us. Unfortunately it caught up with Destiny.
How did Radu Dragusin get on because he obviously was a major doubt and how much of a risk was it to play him?
Well we had no choice, if Radu doesn't play, I don't know who plays. He wasn't 100%, but he felt he could get through with his ankle and again, I think the players are all giving everything they can at the moment. It's just unfortunately we can't give them what they really need and that is some recovery and rest because we've got so many players out, but Radu wanted to play today and you know while he wasn't 100%, we had no choice to put him out there.
Do you feel like you're taking risks you wouldn't normally have to take it as a manager because players have been injured in certain positions?
I mean like I said, there's no choice, but it's not a risk. I mean it's it's a judgment call, you know. It's not like it's a muscle injury, it's a knock on his ankle, but yeah, we're making decisions. We've got no choice unless I throw another 18 or 17-year-old out there, well, that's the only fit players we have at the moment.
What will you do for this week, are you going to give some of the players extended time off?
Yeah, it was always planned. We kind of knew this is the first week where we don't have a midweek game, so I think the whole group probably needs a couple of days just to get away from everything and recover, because it's been fairly intense for a real small core group of players, particularly over the last four or five weeks and I think it'll do them good to have a couple of days to themselves with their families and give them a chance to recover mentally as much as physically.
What about you?
Yeah, I'll just keep going, mate. We've got work to do and try to get some help for these players and our role is to try and give them everything we can, the support we can to perform at their best.
Is that pretty much your message to the players that they're giving everything they can, because conceding a goal like that is pretty deflating?
Yeah, they're very disappointed, but it's not through the want of trying. I can see how hard they're trying and if we were at our sharpest today, we would have got that third goal and maybe a fourth. I mean we were inches away at times from getting the goal we needed and I just think it's just we're just lacking a little bit of that dynamic movement that we need because, you know, you look at those players, Dom and I don't know where Deki gets the energy from and even Brennan and even Sonny and a lot of these guys, they're finding some form of energy to still be out there trying, but you know we're certainly not as sharp as we can be.
Rodrigo Bentancur picked up his fifth yellow card which means he's out but that challenge felt rather unnecessary?
Again that comes down to the players being so desperate to turn things around. It was an unfortunate moment, didn't really need to happen and I'd much rather he didn't make that tackle and was available for the next game. The players are obviously hurting, they want to turn this around and it's not for the want of trying.
Does it feel like it never rains but it pours right now?
It is what it is. It's fair to say we're dealing with a fair bit and it doesn't feel we're getting a smooth run at anything in terms of getting players back and allowing us to freshen up the team. As soon as we get one back, we lose one. We've just got to get through it. There's still a hell of a lot for us to play for. With what's on the horizon we have to give the players all the support we can to perform at their best.
Is the league season still there to get something from?
I think so. Because it's still fairly tight. I just feel that at some point we'll get a relatively healthy squad and when we do that we'll be able to perform at a high level consistently and we've already shown this year we can beat anyone. There's a chance there you can go on a run. But at the moment that's secondary to the first bit, we have to try to get some support for the players - both mentally and physically and in terms of numbers to give them the opportunity to play at their best.
The players will be hurting, are you as well?
Of course I am. It hurts me because I'm responsible ultimately. I'm the person in charge. So of course it hurts. When I see how hard they are trying, it hurts even more because you want them to get a reward and I think today they deserved a reward for their efforts even though they were dipping into their reserves of energy, which I don't even know where they got from. I wanted them to get a reward for their efforts. So of course it hurts. It hurts immensely. At the same time it's my responsibility for where we're at right now and it's my responsibility to try to get us out of it.
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