Ange Postecoglou appeared to take aim at Liverpool as he sifted through the wreckage of Tottenham’s latest defeat.
Both teams exited the FA Cup on Sunday, three days after they met in a one-sided Carabao Cup semi-final second leg at Anfield in which the Reds cruised to victory.
Spurs went down 2-1 to Aston Villa yesterday evening, a result partly mitigated by the north Londoners having to do without 11 first-team players through injury.
Postecoglou appears to take Liverpool swipe
In his post-match press conference, Postecoglou made reference to how a much-changed Liverpool side were humbled by Plymouth Argyle a few hours earlier, and how being deprived of so many key players can greatly hamper a team.
The 59-year-old said (via Sky Sports): “Take them out of any team. How did Liverpool go today? They just did that for one game. Do that for two-and-a-half months. Any team, do that for two-and-a-half months in multiple competitions.”
When asked why his Spurs team haven’t played with the same attacking intensity as before, he replied: “They’re tired, mate. They can’t. If we hadn’t played on Thursday night and I had rotated that team, do you think it would have been pressing a bit more aggressively today?
“Unless you don’t think they’re human beings. Unless you’re super-human and think after playing Liverpool on Thursday night they should be flying today. It doesn’t happen. They’re human beings.
“Why do you think Liverpool and other teams rotate 11 players? There’s a reason. I wish I could do the same to bring freshness to the team.”
Liverpool dealt far better with injury crisis than Spurs have been doing
Although we have every sympathy with Postecoglou and the injury list with which he’s trying to cope, the harsh truth is that Liverpool were in a similar predicament this time last year and handled it so much better than Tottenham are right now.
Twelve months ago, Jurgen Klopp had to manage without Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dominik Szoboszlai, Diogo Jota, Darwin Nunez, Mo Salah and Ryan Gravenberch. He did so by steering the Reds to five consecutive wins in February, including a famous Carabao Cup final triumph over Chelsea with a youthful line-up at Wembley.
Injury crisis or not, Spurs were abject at Anfield last Thursday and were ruthlessly punished by an LFC side in no mood for pity. Granted, even a full-strength Tottenham team would’ve struggled to live with the hosts that night, but they tamely surrendered to their fate from the moment that Cody Gakpo scored in the first half.
Postecoglou’s side will play just seven more matches between now and the end of March, which is also a quiet month for Liverpool once a hectic February is out of the way.
Given the injury crisis in north London, a part of the Australian might be secretly grateful to have a quieter calendar over the next few weeks. With his team already losing more matches since the start of January than the Reds have all season, it’s no wonder he’s casting envious glances towards Merseyside.
