Furious Ange Postecoglou fires back at Tottenham ‘agenda’ to get him sacked
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou has strongly defended his young players and criticized what he calls “agenda-driven” criticism aimed at his team.
Just days after their disappointing Carabao Cup semi-final loss to Liverpool, Spurs were eliminated from the FA Cup by Aston Villa on Sunday evening. The match started badly for Tottenham as they were a goal down within the first minute, with goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky at fault for letting Jacob Ramsey’s shot slip past him too easily.
21-year-old Kinsky received sharp criticism from Premier League legend Alan Shearer, who, while on commentary, asked, “What on earth is he doing?” following the blunder that put Spurs behind early.
Postecoglou has been contending with a severe injury crisis for the past two months, with key players like Dominic Solanke, Brennan Johnson, Timo Werner, Guglielmo Vicario, Radu Dragusin, Destiny Udogie, and James Maddison all sidelined. Additionally, his first-choice centre-backs, Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, have also been dealing with injuries.
On Sunday, Postecoglou was without 11 first-team players, but he stood firmly in support of his squad.
“I don’t care about the criticism of me; people can judge me however they want,” he said during his post-match press conference. “But you can’t judge this group of players based on what happened. They’ve given everything. We had two 18-year-olds, a 17-year-old, a 19-year-old, and a 21-year-old goalkeeper starting against one of the best teams in the country at home.”
He pointed out that while Villa had the advantage of a week off, his team was stretched with a packed schedule, playing without changes to the lineup. “You can’t measure this group of players by that performance. It’s too easy to be critical of them. I have immense respect and admiration for them.”
Postecoglou called for a “better appreciation” of the challenges faced by the players who have remained fit throughout a hectic fixture list, calling some of the criticism “agenda-driven” rather than based on objective analysis.
“Whether people believe I can handle this is up to them,” he said. “But there needs to be a better understanding of what a small group of players has been doing for the past two and a half months. It’s not an excuse; that’s not objective analysis. It’s just driven by an agenda.”
He continued, “If people want me gone, that’s fine—go ahead, but in terms of this group of players, what they’ve given over the last two and a half months has been extraordinary. They deserve a lot of credit, and I can’t praise them enough.”
