Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou hit back at critics after his team rebounded from consecutive cup defeats with a 1-0 Premier League victory over Manchester United.
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02-25, 2025The Australian coach has been under significant pressure, with his team languishing lower in the league standings due to injury woes and having been knocked out of both the League Cup and FA Cup in the past week. Prior to the match, fans voiced their discontent with chairman Daniel Levy's running of the club, highlighting Tottenham Hotspur's predicament, but James Maddison's winning goal eased the atmosphere, securing Spurs' first league double over Manchester United since the 1989-90 season.
"Everyone loves a good car crash about to happen. I'm sure there's plenty of people who hoped we would see that. I know how hard these guys work," Postecoglou told Sky Sports after the team won their first home league game since November 3. "Our training has been outstanding, and I had confidence we'd put in a strong performance. The focus remains on trying to win games. Behind the scenes, we do things our way. We are looking at ways we can get better."
Postecoglou pointed out that a severe injury list this season has deprived him of a large portion of his first-team squad. Tottenham are still missing defenders like Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, as well as forwards like Dominic Solanke, but the return of Maddison and Italian goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario to the starting lineup provided a boost for Tottenham Hotspur. With Brennan Johnson, Destiny Udogie, and Will Osula returning to the bench after recovering, Postecoglou may finally be seeing light at the end of the tunnel.
"It does make a massive difference. Players like Vic and Maddison, they contribute straight away, you can see their quality and their presence," Postecoglou said. "It might take them a game or two to get up to full speed, but the fact that we have them, yeah, it's a massive boost for us. They are all good players. We can certainly play better, but when we get some of our players up to full fitness, we can start to grow."
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim is also facing similar difficulties, having to name eight youth players on the bench due to injuries, illness, and the loaning out of Marcus Rashford (Aston Villa) and Antony (Real Betis). Postecoglou expressed his sympathy, but noted that nobody had cut him any slack for Tottenham's injuries. "If I check my office, I haven't received any sympathy cards from other coaches," he said. "There is definitely sympathy there. I can see Ruben today, he has had to put a team out there with players playing out of position, kids on the bench. Well, welcome to my world, but it's just a game and it has been like that for two months now."
The victory lifts Tottenham above Manchester United into 12th place with 30 points from 25 games, one point ahead of their 15th-placed visitors.
