After the 2-1 defeat to Arsenal in another hotly contested North London derby that got away, Ange Postecoglou cut a dejected figure.
While Heung-Min Son’s 25th-minute opener gave Tottenham early life, they let Arsenal wheel back in front by halftime and Spurs never looked likely to claw back level until Pedro Porro’s’ tight-angle shot hit the post in stoppage time.
The Tottenham boss was noticeably downtrodden in his post-match television interview, admitting both verbally and non-verbally that this season’s run of results has been “unacceptable.”
“It was nowhere near good enough,” A sullen Postecoglou said while staring straight at the ground. “Especially in the first half we were way too passive and let Arsenal dictate the game. We hung in there, but that was all we were doing. The second half was a little bit better but nowhere near good enough. Unacceptable.”
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When the interviewer noticed his demeanor and asked if the run of defeats has been taxing on the mind, Postecoglou somehow sounded even more dejected.
“Of course they [the losses] hurt me, it’s not acceptable. We’ve had too many losses this year, too many games to get away from us, and that’s got to stop.
“There’s no other way of looking at it [than to keep going], if you give up now there’s no point. But it needs to stop now.”
“If you give up now, then there’s no point, but this has to stop”
Ange Postecoglou reflects on another disappointing defeat for Tottenham 🗣
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The Spurs manager brought the same frustrated tone in his post-match press conference shortly thereafter, repeating his exasperation for his team’s mentality.
“We were nowhere near the level we needed to be, in such a big game,” Postecoglou told the writers and cameras in the room.
“When we play well and take the game to teams then we are at our best and we didn’t do that today.”
The defeat left Tottenham with 11 losses on the year, their most at this stage of the season since 2009, buried in 13th place in the Premier League table.
Spurs have two games coming up against relegation-threatened opponents, traveling to Everton on Sunday and hosting Leicester City the following weekend. Sandwiched in between is a midweek Europa League match in Germany against Hoffenheim, and they wrap up the League Phase on January 30 when they host Swedish side IF Elfsborg.
