Ange Postecoglou said he will not stop asking Fraser Forster to play from the back despite the goalkeeper’s two howlers in Tottenham’s 4-3 win over Manchester United.
Forster’s mistakes, both with the ball at his feet, threatened to throw away all of Tottenham’s good work in their three-goal Carabao Cup quarter-final, before Heung-Min Son’s last-four saw them over the line in the semi-final against Liverpool.
Both mistakes were booed by the home stands and Spurs fans feared another collapse this season, having already let two-goal leads slip away against Brighton and Chelsea and conceded the lead in each of their last three home games.
Forster has previously shown himself to be far less comfortable playing from the back than Spurs’ regular No.1 Guglielmo Vicario, but Postecoglou has been adamant in asking him to continue his unbreakable style.
When asked about his thoughts watching Forster’s seven-minute nightmare, Postecoglou said:
“But I’ve always thought the positives outweigh the negatives. Those moments are rare, but when they do happen, there were two today, and the first one affected Frazier in the next period.
“He’s been great for us. He didn’t have much to do in the first half, but obviously the first one affected his confidence little faith and then the second turns it on.
“He’s a big guy, he’s another one who has stood up for us. I can’t speak highly enough of this group of players tonight, we had 10 less rest than Manchester United.” We can’t rotate the squad like other clubs can, we don’t have the numbers but we still keep the football we’ve been in this period will see us have a huge growth.”
Mistakes can cost “Tottenham” success, Ange admits
While usually unapologetic about his unchanging style, Postecoglou warned that “making things difficult” could cost Tottenham success as they look to end a 16-year run since last winning the trophy in 2008.
“I love football and watching teams go out there to have fun,” he said Sky Sports. “Obviously we want to be successful and we won’t be if we make things difficult like we did tonight.
“I like the whole game. Don’t you? I know the studio is probably failing because of my lack of tactics.
“We’re not going there to try to win 1-0, we’re trying to entertain people. I can’t see what’s wrong with that.
“It’s part of football, mistakes are going to happen. In the context of how we play as a team, we don’t have to change anything in the bank as a skilled tactician, but so be it.”
Amorim. The right to leave Rashford out regardless of the result
Meanwhile, Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim has defended his decision to leave Marcus Rashford out of the squad once again.
The forward has been absent from Spurs since missing Sunday’s Manchester derby amid speculation over his future. with teammates after coming out on Tuesday to announce that open to a “new challenge”. Away from United.
When asked if it was a mistake to leave Rashford out, Amorim answered: “If I feel like I’m doing the right thing for the team, it’s never been a mistake. It wasn’t a mistake because I feel like I’m doing the best thing for the team in my way.” :
Amorim was positive about his team’s performance and pointed to a poor eight-minute spell at the start of the second half in which Spurs scored twice as the moment they lost the game.
“We were in possession. We weren’t the best team the whole game, but I think we were the best team. We got shut down for eight minutes and it was hard to recover from that, but the guys did. We were very close to a draw, but the fourth goal was really difficult for us.
“We switched off for eight minutes and it cost us the game.”