Ange Postecoglou described it as a 'bridge too far' after Liverpool ran out 6-3 winners in Sunday’s Premier League clash at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Liverpool took a grip on proceedings in the first half as they moved 2-0 and then 3-1 up. It was 5-1 by the hour and although we staged a fightback to make it 5-3 with goals from Deki Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke, the visitors had the final word as Luis Diaz completed the scoring five minutes from time.
_Speaking to us on the Review Show, Ange was first asked for his verdict on the performance..._
Ange: “Obviously, a painful one for us. Credit to Liverpool, they are a good side. They were too good for us today. We were lacking a bit of energy, for sure. It’s just the situation we’re in at the moment. It was just a bridge too far for us.”
_Ange on the players showing spirit to come back to 5-3..._
“I’ve never questioned the players commitment, effort, they really care and believe in what we’re doing. That was evident again today, but you still need to be at a certain level both physically and in terms of quality to be able to do what we need to do against the top teams. Like I said, today, they were just too good for us.”
_On the challenge of getting fitness levels up again for Forest on Boxing Day..._
“You have to look at all the other teams. There won’t be a team that was unchanged from midweek to weekend. We had no choice. That tells you everything.”
_On the overall squad picture, with Rodrigo Bentancur back from suspension, any potential additional returnees for Forest?_
“Hopefully, Destiny will be okay. He wasn’t quite right today, we had him on the bench, hopefully he’ll be closer to it. They are the main two at the moment (Rodrigo Bentancur will be available after suspension). We’re kind of hoping Ben, Mikey and Richy aren’t too far away after that but, for Thursday, it’s probably just Destiny and Rodrigo.”
_On his messaging to the players through this tough period, physically..._
“From our perspective it will be hugely beneficial moving forward, once we get through this period, because there is no doubt they won’t face as difficult a challenge as we have right now where we’re asking guys to play multiple games without any recovery, we’re asking them to play in positions they’re not usually accustomed to, we’re asking them to do things that are really challenging, but I think that will make them stronger moving forward and we’ll get the benefit of it.”