The reasons why Man City defeated Tottenham are explained by Postecoglou.
Ange Postecoglou, who called Manchester City the “benchmark” that other teams want to meet, feels that Tottenham was penalized for having a “passive” start in their FA Cup loss to them.
With his game-winning goal in the 88th minute, Nathan Ake gave City their first-ever goal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and eliminated Spurs from the FA Cup at the fourth round.
Tottenham’s focus is now on the Premier League, where they are now eighth, eight points behind leaders Liverpool.
“To be honest, all we did was stay in the game, even though we fought hard to do so,” Postecoglou remarked. “We did okay in the second half. We let them establish a little rhythm in the game during the first half, which was a little too passive.
We had a little more faith in our play at the beginning of the second half. To be honest, though, we were exerting a lot of effort just to remain in the game, and that was not going to be sufficient this evening. We failed to apply pressure on the opposition from the off today, which is something you have to do.
For the first forty-five minutes, he continued, “it’s just about having a little more belief and conviction in ourselves.” I felt our defense was strong. Vic didn’t have to make a ton of saves, really.
Regarding Pep Guardiola’s team, Postecoglou stated, “They are a top team.” They serve as the standard, and we haven’t reached it yet. They are maybe eight or nine years older than us. Although we’re still very much in the early phases, the truth is that they’re already far along as a team, so it’s not an excuse.
James Maddison made his first appearance since sustaining an ankle injury against Chelsea in early November, coming off the bench.
In response to the question of whether he would be inclined to start Maddison against City, Postecoglou said, “Not really.” He has been training for the past week and a half, aware of the nature of the game today. He might have a few minutes today, which is what we gave him, and he should be good to go after that.
He and the others must assist us. There wasn’t much of a choice about whether or not to start him. More than anything, I had the impression that playing fewer minutes today would benefit us as a team.
