Ange Postecoglou defended his determination to make 9 modifications after Tottenham suffered a penalty shoot-out defeat at Fulham within the Carabao Cup second spherical.
Spurs entered this contest following back-to-back wins within the Premier League, which had generated a feelgood issue across the membership regardless of the departure of all-time high scorer Harry Kane on the eve of the brand new season.
Only Micky van de Ven and Richarlison retained their beginning berths from the win at Bournemouth and whereas Tottenham improved from a sluggish begin, penalties have been required after a 1-1 draw and Davinson Sanchez failed to attain from 12 yards at hand the guests a 5-3 spot-kick loss.
It inflicted a painful dent to the momentum constructed throughout the first couple of months of the Postecoglou period however the Australian pointed to the necessity for gamers to get minutes when quizzed on his modifications.
“Obviously disappointed with the outcome, getting knocked out of the cup,” Postecoglou mentioned after Richarlison’s second-half purpose cancelled out Van de Ven’s own-goal after 17 minutes.
“We weren’t at our fluent best, particularly early on which was not surprising considering the amount of changes I made. A lot of the boys tonight, it was their first start of the season.
“We lacked cohesion and fluency, but I really liked the way we hung in there. There are many different ways to grow as a team and we showed some real character.
“We had our moments in the second half to maybe go and win it. We weren’t able to get over the line and lost on penalties.
“It is my priority (the cups) but there is no European football so how am I going to find out about our players? What opportunity would I have to do that other than the game? They are all part of our club.
“We thought they’d be able to bring a different energy tonight and that doesn’t mean the cup or any game isn’t our priority.
“From my perspective, we’re very much at the discovery stage so we need to find out and give the players the opportunity to contribute, because that’s why they’re here.
“They’re not just here to make up the numbers. They keep working hard and deserved the opportunity to go out and play tonight.”
Fulham boss Marco Silva felt the very best crew gained and insisted his gamers would react in a different way sooner or later if a repeat occurred of a weird incident with right-back Kenny Tete after half-time.
Tete was pressured to depart the pitch for various minutes after he broke his boot and Spurs went on to attain, with Ivan Perisic taking advantage of house on Tottenham’s left-hand aspect to cross in for Richarlison to move residence the equaliser within the 56th minute.
Dutch full-back Tete was all smiles at full-time after he scored the decisive fifth kick to assist Fulham progress into spherical three with a 5-3 shoot-out success at Craven Cottage.
“Yes the best team won and the best team on the pitch will play in the next round of Carabao Cup,” Silva, who served a touchline ban, mentioned.
“During the 97 minutes, we were the team with the more chances to score and unfortunately we concede a goal in one moment we were with 10 men after the Kenny Tete incident.
“In the future we are going to approach that in a different way because you cannot give the opposition the chance to play against 10 men for two or three minutes because that incident happens.
“Of course it was the first and it will be the last time it happens for us because we will approach in a very different way.”
Source: www.impartial.co.uk
