Tottenham must accept criticism for Anfield display – Ange Postecoglou | OneFootball

Ange Postecoglou accepted Tottenham must take all criticism on the chin after a 4-0 thrashing away to Liverpool on Thursday night.

Spurs collapsed in meek fashion at Anfield to taste defeat in the Carabao Cup semi-final and raise the stakes ahead of Sunday’s trip to Aston Villa in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Tottenham were heavily criticised post-match by Sky Sports pundits Jamie Redknapp and Jamie Carragher, but Postecoglou claimed it would not be used as motivation to salvage their season.

“No, because I don’t know which people I’m meant to be proving wrong,” Postecoglou said on Friday morning.

“It’s irrelevant to me what other people’s opinions are. People are on the TV and the radio and in the newspapers to give opinions and I respect that. They’re allowed to do that but I don’t have any obligation to listen to any of it.

“To get fuelled by the comments of people I’ve never even met, I don’t know how you live your life, but I certainly don’t live my life that way. That’s with all respect that they’re there to give an opinion.

“It’s not like I want to be successful here so I can go to these people and say to them, ‘oh, look, you were wrong’. I don’t even know them. Why would I care where they think we’re at? They’re a million miles away from us, but they’re allowed to have their opinion.

“We’re an easy mark at the moment and look after last night, there are times you’ve just got to take it, keep your counsel and atone for it in the way that only really matters and that is with playing the football I know we can.”

Tottenham’s problems have only increased after being tormented on Merseyside with Richarlison forced off in the first half with a new calf injury.

Richarlison’s absence means Spurs are set to be without 12 players for the Villa clash, with Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, James Maddison and Dominic Solanke still unavailable.

It has put extra onus on the fit senior players and while Yves Bissouma, Rodrigo Bentancur and captain Son Heung-min all disappointed against Liverpool, Postecoglou defended his depleted squad.

He added: “I get the pile-on at the moment. It’s really easy for people to stick their boots in and question the players and all that kind of stuff. That’s not something I question.

“I don’t put any responsibility on the senior players last night. As a collective we just didn’t tackle the challenge we had last night in the manner we needed to. That’s not (on) the senior players.

“The senior players are carrying us through this in many respects because I don’t know how many players were playing their first game at Anfield last night.

“So, all these kind of things you try to prepare the group for but it is fair to say we didn’t handle the situation well, but that’s not on the senior players.

“I have got no issue with the senior players and we don’t have many out there to be honest.

“Certainly they are trying as hard as they can and from my perspective, my role is to try to support and provide the guidance so we can make amends for a poor performance.”