Ange Postecoglou says he won’t stop asking Fraser Forster to play out from the back despite the backup goalkeeper’s howling in Tottenham’s 4-3 win over Manchester United.
Forster’s errors, both with the ball at his feet, threatened to undo all of Tottenham’s good work to give themselves a three-goal cushion in the Carabao Cup quarter-final, before Heung-Min Son scored a late fourth to put them over the line. To face Liverpool in the semi-finals.
Both errors were booed from the home stands with Spurs fans fearing another collapse this season, having already squandered two-goal advantages against Brighton and Chelsea, and giving up leads in each of their last three home games.
Forster has previously shown that he is far less comfortable playing out from the back than Tottenham’s No.1 Guglielmo Vicario, but Postecoglou has constantly asked him to continue with his unwavering approach.
Asked for his thoughts as he watched Forster’s seven-minute nightmare, Postecoglou said: “It’s fair to say that in 26 years, there have been a few of those things.” [goalkeeping errors].
“But I’ve always believed that the positives outweigh the negatives. Those moments are rare, but when they happen they stand out. Today, there were two, and the first affected Fraser in the next period.
“He was disappointed, but he was fantastic for us. He didn’t have a lot to do before that, and in the first half I thought he found some great solutions with his feet, but obviously the first one probably affected his confidence. He lost a bit of belief and then the second one rides him.”
“He’s a big lad, and he’s another guy who has stood up for us. I can’t speak highly enough about this group of players. We had 10 players unavailable tonight, we had one less day off than Manchester United, and we couldn’t make it.” To rotate the team like other clubs do, we don’t have the numbers, but we don’t just play matches, we maintain the style of football [we were]. “This period will see tremendous growth.”
Ange admits mistakes could cost Tottenham success
And while unapologetic about his unchanging approach, Postecoglou warned that “making things difficult” could cost Spurs the success they crave to end a 16-year run since they last lifted the trophy in 2008.
“I love football and watching the teams that go there for entertainment,” he said. Sky Sports. “Obviously we want to be successful and we won’t do that if we make things difficult like we did tonight.
“I love the whole game. Are you not enjoying it? I know the studio is probably having a meltdown because of my lack of tactics.
“We’re not going there to try to get 1-0 wins, we’re trying to keep people entertained. I can’t see how that can be a bad thing.
“It’s part of football, mistakes happen. From the context of the way we play as a team, there’s nothing we need to change. It doesn’t give me any credit in the bank as a skilled tactician, but so be it.”
Amorim: The right to exclude Rashford regardless of the result
Meanwhile, Manchester United coach Ruben Amorim has backed his decision to leave Marcus Rashford out of the matchday squad once again.
The striker was absent from Tottenham after missing the Manchester derby on Sunday amid speculation about his future. Rashford was ruled out at the weekend, with Amorim citing a combination of factors, and he did not travel with his team-mates again after his exit on Tuesday and stated he was open to a “new challenge” away from United.
Asked if leaving Rashford off the field was a mistake, Amorim said: “If I felt like I was doing the right thing for the team, it was never a mistake. We have to make a choice. It was not a mistake because I feel like ‘I am doing my best for the team by My vision of things.”
Regarding his team’s performance, Amorim was positive, and pointed to a bad period that lasted eight minutes at the beginning of the second half, in which Tottenham scored two goals, as the moment he lost the match.
“We controlled the ball. We weren’t the better team all game but most of the time I think we were the better team. We were cut off for eight minutes and it was difficult to recover from that, but the players did a good job.” We worked great to recover, we were very close to equalizing but the fourth goal was very difficult for us.
“We lost contact for eight minutes and that cost us the game.”
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