Tottenham Hotspur snatched a 2-1 win at Coventry City on Wednesday evening in the Carabao Cup third round and we've got every word Ange Postecoglou said after the game.
Postecoglou made eight changes to his team for their trip to the Coventry Building Society Arena and Tottenham were flat for much of the game and didn't manage a single shot on goal until the second half. Coventry caused them problems and scored after the hour mark when Norman Bassette got down the right and whipped the ball across to Brandon Thomas-Asante to slot home.
Spurs did find a late equaliser when substitute Dejan Kulusevski held up the ball well and knocked it into his path of the sprinting Djed Spence and he touched the ball home on the slide in the 87th minute. Tottenham were not done though and Brennan Johnson scored a second in added time. Rodrigo Bentancur played a perfect pass into his path and the Wales international ran through and lifted his shot over the sprawling goalkeeper and into the net.
Our Spurs correspondent Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to Postecoglou after the game and here's every single word the Australian head coach said in response in his press conference.
With a game like that do you look at the character to come back and win or the flat performance before that, or all of the above?
Yeah, I don't know, flat performance is a bit harsh. I thought I was a typical cup game. I thought Coventry were really good. They put some real energy into the game, and we couldn't really get a grip on it. So we had to hang in there. We had to work really, really hard just to stay in the game and obviously going a goal behind makes it even more challenging.
But like you said at the end there we showed some real spirit and character, which is probably what's been missing in the first four games. We've had the performance, but we haven't had that relentlessness to to get a result. You sense that in the last 10 minutes, we got real belief out of that, and hopefully that's a good sign moving forward.
How pleased were you for both Djed Spence and Brennan Johnson to be the ones to turn the game around?
Yeah both were really good. They made an impact when they came on. Look, it was it wasn't an easy night for us, as I said, credit to Coventry. But, you know, a lot of guys getting first starts, but I really think there's some positives in there with Archie and Lucas and these guys getting some significant game time for us.
And Djed, and as you said with Brennan, you know I spoke about it yesterday that he comes in, works hard at his game and when you're an attacking player, you're always kind of getting measured against certain things. I said, if he can get through this period and just be positive and and play like he can, he can be a significant contributor to us and credit to him. He got a good goal tonight.
How are Wilson Odobert and Timo Werner?
Hard to say, Wilson looked fairly significant, so we'll just wait and see. Timo, again not really sure if it was just fatigue but yeah, a bit unfortunate for both of those. Obviously, both play in a similar position as well. We're hoping it's something too significant.
What was the thinking behind taking off Lucas, it was a substitution the fans weren't too happy with?
I don't make substitutions by poll, mate. So, I'm sure the fans have got their own opinions, but yeah, Lucas, like I said that's his first sort of significant game time for quite a while. What I didn't want was us pushing guys over the edge today, that's why we took Destiny off at halftime as well.
We already had a couple of injuries, and I had some pretty good players on the bench that I thought could make an impact, but it doesn't take away from Lucas's performance. I thought he was outstanding tonight. They they're going to play a lot of football for us and hopefully getting through tonight, whether it's 90 minutes for Archie or you know, 60, 70 for Lucas, will put them in a good space.
Can you talk us through the strategy of making eight changes because instantly fans are going be wondering about that with a cup run on the line?
Yeah I know, but what I've always tried to do is what I think is the right thing. The best thing for us, in terms of what we're trying to achieve, and you know that there's no guarantees with anything you do in football. But what I've always done is back my decisions in critical times to always do what I feel is best. And if it doesn't work out, I can live with that. But I'm certainly not going to jeopardise what we're trying to build here by doing something that's going make me look like I'm in a safer position.
So we're always going to play these guys because we've got Europe starting next week. The last thing I want to do is is throw guys in out of necessity. We need to get game time and tonight, some key players for us got some good minutes that mean that when we do need to make changes moving forward, they've already played and they're ready to go.
Can a win like this kick start the season?
Look, I have been at pains to say I don't think there are quick fixes or easy turnarounds in things but I thought tonight we showed a lot of what we had last year. Last year we showed a lot of character and spirit to win games of football. We hung in games, got a lot of late winners and I felt the first four games the performances were probably lacking that a bit. So, the fact we did it tonight and in the manner we did, hopefully it shows lads if we can perform at the levels we have been in the league, add that little bit of relentlessness and drive to win games then it will certainly help us.
Is Destiny okay?
Yeah, it was always the plan for him to play 45 tonight. He missed a lot of pre-season so it is a balancing act with him to get us some game time because he is not 100 per cent fit. Tonight it was always the plan to play him 45 and play Djed 45.
How did you think Coventry played?
Yeah, I thought they were outstanding. They turned it into a real cup tie, they played without fear, played with real energy and their support was excellent getting behind them. It felt like a real cup tie when you come away from home. Credit to Mark and his team, you can see why they had a big cup run last year. They played with fear and positivity so credit to them.
If you hadn't got late goals, do you think you would have been unlucky? Do you think you were the better team for the first 75 minutes?
No, I don't think I've said that so far. If you need further clarification, I said we hung in there so that suggests we dug deep to stay in the game and didn't dominate it. I don't fall into the lucky or unlucky because if we've been lucky today, it probably means we've been unlucky in the other games and you know what? Who cares, it doesn't matter. It's a game of football and we found a way to win tonight.
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