December 2nd, 2024 7:39 am
Ange Postecoglou insisted Tottenham are in “good shape” despite a frustrating 1-1 draw against Fulham that damaged their bid to secure a top four finish in the Premier League.
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Postecoglou’s side maintained a concerning recent trend of inconsistent performances as they failed to build on Brennan Johnson’s 54th-minute opener in north London.
Johnson volleyed home from Timo Werner’s cross for his 10th goal this season to boost a Tottenham team hit by the morning withdrawal of ill England striker Dominic Solanke.
However, Fulham claimed a deserved leveller when substitute Tom Cairney rifled beyond Fraser Forster after 67 minutes.
Although Cairney was given an 83rd-minute red card following a VAR review for his foul on Dejan Kulusevski, Tottenham were unable to find a valuable winner.
A week on from a superb 4-0 victory at Manchester City, Tottenham have dropped to seventh place, but Postecoglou vowed to protect his players amid a growing list of absentees.
“We’re going to have to protect our players because as I said, we’re within our numbers and Deki (Kulusevski) has played every minute. I’ve rarely subbed him off,” the Australian said.
“So, we’ve just got to be careful with him and with a few others, but at the moment we just don’t have too many options, so we’ve just got to try and manage them the best we can and obviously that affects performance.
“It’s too easy to say, well, let’s just play like we did against Man City every game.
“And it somehow again seems with this club that whatever it is that we do well is then used as a millstone to bring us down at every other opportunity.”
Tottenham last won a major trophy in 2008 and after blowing a chance to qualify for the Champions League last season, Postecoglou is beginning to hear more criticism from frustrated fans.
“I guess from my perspective, as I keep saying, it’s really important that we don’t react to any of that and just stay focused,” he said.
“I just sometimes feel like, especially the players we’ve got at the moment, they’re just working really hard for this football club to try and progress to where we want to be.
“We’re in good shape, we’re still in good shape. We’re still in a decent position in the league. We’re still in the Carabao Cup, we’re in a decent position in Europe, so it’s about us maintaining our focus on continuing to develop.”