Ange Postecoglou: Necessary Tottenham changes made it tough to beat Liverpool | OneFootball

The manager made eight changes with one eye on Thursday’s Europa League semi-final

Decisions: Ange Postecoglou

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Spurs, who started with a teenage midfield of Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall, took a shock 1-0 lead through Dominic Solanke but were pegged back by goals from Luiz Diaz, Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo before the break.

Mohamed Salah's strike and a Destiny Udogie own goal added to the scoreline in a party atmosphere on Merseyside.

"It's not easy, it's not easy on the players because if you sort of look at Liverpool's line-up you can almost pick it on a weekly basis," Postecoglou said afterwards.

"I had made a lot of changes but I just felt it was necessary. A lot of our players have missed a lot of this season with injuries and it wasn't just about bringing them back but managing their minutes because obviously we want them ready.

"Guys like Micky and Romero today could have played but they've missed so much of the season that we've just got to be really careful about when we use them. Guys like Pedro and Bentancur have played a lot this year. It has been a juggling act for sure and that hasn't helped the team, hasn't helped the players and when you're facing the best you pay that price.

"Credit to Liverpool, worthy champions and they have been the outstanding team all year, consistent and again today obviously.

"I thought we started the game well and sort of made things difficult for them. Even apart from the goal, I thought just in general I thought we had decent territory but once they got in front with the atmosphere inside the stadium, fair to say it was going to be difficult for us to claw them back and that's how it proved."

Postecoglou, who confirmed that all his players came through the game unscathed, is likely to make five or six changes for the visit of the Norwegian champions mid-week.

The second leg will be held in Bodo the following week, with the winner facing Athletic Club or Manchester United in Bilbao on May 21.

Asked if he now faces a challenge to lift his players ahead of the biggest game of their season, Postecoglou said: "No, I don't think so, I think they are well aware of it.

"Like I said, we had some key players missing today who I think will come in and sort of make sure there isn't any hangover from today. Look, we knew the challenge today was going to be a big one. We had a really young midfield with Lucas and Archie and you're asking a massive task of them.

"Change three of the back four, all of these kind of things logically tell you it's going to be a tough day, but when you're facing the best team, and on such a massive occasion, it was always going to be a huge ask for us and it proved too much."