- Tottenham’s 2-0 defeat by Crystal Palace was their 20th in the league this term
- Ange Postecoglou admitted his side cannot cope with the challenges ahead
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Are Arsenal even close to achieving big things?
Ange Postecoglou damningly declared Spurs cannot mentally cope with having a final in front of them after slumping to a record 20th Premier League defeat.
Three days after reaching the Europa League final, Tottenham were brought back down to earth yesterday with a 2-0 home loss to Crystal Palace, a result which leaves them fourth bottom.
Postecoglou made eight changes to his team he prepares for their all-important showdown with Manchester United in Bilbao on Wednesday week.
But the Spurs boss still let rip at his side’s sorry display, admitting his second-choice players blew their chance of forcing their way into his thinking for the game in Spain.
‘I just think some of it is psychological in terms of not being able to cope with what’s before us at the moment,’ admitted Postecoglou. ‘With elite sport, if you’re a little bit off it, you pay the price.
‘It was a disappointing performance and nowhere near the level it should be. I can’t totally discount the performance on the fact I’ve made a number of changes. We should have still been able to perform better than what we did.
Ange Postecoglou admitted that his Tottenham side cannot ‘cope’ with what lies ahead of them
Spurs suffered their 20th Premier League loss of the season after falling 2-0 to Crystal Palace
They face Man United in an all-English Europa League final on May 21 – just over a week away
‘Guys had an opportunity today to put their name forward and put some pressure on the guys who played the other night.
‘It’s fair to say there wasn’t any compelling evidence of that. I’m disappointed more didn’t step forward. They missed a chance.’
Postecoglou suffered a scare when Dejan Kulusevski – one of only three players he kept in his starting line-up from Thursday night’s win over Bodo/Glimt – limped off in the first half with a knee injury.
But the Aussie said: ‘We are hoping he should be OK. The medical team are not too concerned with him. It’s more of a knock than anything else.’
Postecoglou went on to blame Tottenham’s Europa League campaign for losing 20 games in a Premier League campaign for the first time.
‘It’s not exactly Pythagoras theorem,’ he added. ‘It’s quite simple to understand we would have had much better results if we didn’t have to navigate this. Either you understand or you don’t and you beat us over the head. I get it.’
Meanwhile, Oliver Glasner was left hailing Palace’s perfect preparation for their FA Cup final against Manchester City on Saturday.
‘There are so many positive things to take ahead of the final,’ said the Eagles boss, who picked a full-strength side.
Tottenham are now 17th and on track to log their worst table finish in Premier League history
‘The best preparation is showing a good performance here, to sustain the rhythm. It is more risky not to play players from last Monday to next Saturday.
‘The chances we created, the goals we scored and the consistency of our defending will all help us in the final. It was a really nice Sunday afternoon.’
