Ange Postecoglou rues missed opportunity after Spurs fall to Liverpool 4-0

Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou stated that his team was completely overwhelmed in their 4-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield in the League Cup semi-final second leg.

Liverpool secured their place in the final with a 4-1 aggregate victory, setting up a clash with Newcastle United for the title and a return to Wembley Stadium.

Postecoglou conceded that Liverpool "deserved to win," telling Sky Sports, "They were the better team, we didn't handle the game well, they were too strong for us. We let them into the game and we weren't proactive enough, we didn't start the game in the right manner and it's hard to claw it back."

The loss may further fuel speculation about Postecoglou's future direction. Retired England defender Jamie Carragher suggested that Tottenham lacks a clear direction under Postecoglou's leadership. Carragher commented on Sky Sports, "Ange Postecoglou is a manager still trying to find a way, but what he's trying right now isn't working. They've lost 20 of their last 45 games going back to last season, that's a really poor record. It's not just this season, although Tottenham had a great start in his first season, topping the table after the first 10 games, their performance has been disappointing since then."

Tottenham had a 1-0 lead on aggregate after winning the first leg at home last month. However, Liverpool leveled the aggregate score at 1-1 on Friday Australian Eastern time when Cody Gakpo scored with a right-footed shot in the 34th minute after a pass from Mohamed Salah. Salah then extended the lead in the 51st minute with a penalty after Tottenham goalkeeper Anthony Kinski fouled Darwin Nunez. Dominik Szoboszlai scored the third goal, and Virgil van Dijk sealed the victory with a header in the 80th minute. Postecoglou stated, "We knew for the first 20 minutes of the game we had to be solid in our decision-making, but it was disappointing to let them score the second goal." He also added that the players were "very disappointed" and "we had a great opportunity, but unfortunately we didn't take it."