Ange Postecoglou rejected any criticism of Tottenham’s ultra-attacking approach after their 4-3 EFL Cup quarter-final win over Manchester United, asking: “Are you not entertained?”
Tottenham finished on the right side of a seven-goal thriller against Ruben Amorim’s United, with Son Heung-min scoring what proved to be the winner direct from a corner.
Spurs had been cruising at 3-0 up when Dominic Solanke struck twice either side of a Dejan Kulusevski goal, but two glaring errors from stand-in goalkeeper Fraser Forster allowed United back into the contest at 3-2.
It was the ninth time Spurs have scored three or more goals in a match this season, yet their gung-ho approach has led some pundits to describe them as naïve.
In all competitions this season, Tottenham have scored 55 goals and conceded 31 in 25 matches. Among all clubs from Europe’s top five leagues, only games involving Chelsea (99), Barcelona (98), Stuttgart (89) and Bayern Munich (88) have featured more goals than those involving Spurs (86).
After Thursday’s game, Postecoglou was asked by Sky Sports whether Tottenham’s near-capitulation detracted from their victory, but he had nothing but positive words for his team.
“I liked the whole thing mate, are you not entertained? Would you rather have a scrambly 1-0? I like the fact we just go out and take it to teams,” Postecoglou said.
“Even when we’ve got so many absences, these boys are trying to maintain the football that we want to play.
“I really liked the way we played tonight, and obviously those moments overshadowed it a bit and don’t help in terms of gaining traction, but the boys showed great character.”
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher, in his role as a pundit for Sky Sports, reacted to the win by describing Tottenham as the Premier League’s most entertaining team.
Asked if that meant anything, Postecoglou said: “It does to me, yeah, because I love football. I love watching teams that want to go out there and entertain.
“If you balance it up with the situation we’re in right now, with 10 first-team players out, and we’re not going out there and trying to grind out 1-0 victories… We’re going out there, trying to keep you folks entertained!
“I don’t see how that’s a bad thing. It won’t get me any credit in the bank as an astute tactician, but so be it!”
The captain with a special moment!#CarabaoCup | @SpursOfficial pic.twitter.com/84uq22pFrj https://t.co/PW1y1KCUPk
— Carabao Cup (@Carabao_Cup) December 19, 2024
Forster’s two errors came within seven second-half minutes. Standing in for the injured Guglielmo Vicario, the veteran goalkeeper passed directly to Bruno Fernandes in the build-up to United’s first goal, then saw a casual pass diverted into the net by Amad Diallo for their second.
“We made it harder than it should have been, for sure,” Postecoglou continued.
“We had control and were playing really well, it looked like we were going to manage the game, but then we just had those two moments.
“The first affected Fraser, then the second came as a result of that. We had to scramble and show some fight, but we got a fourth.”
