Spurs 0-2 Palace | Ange’s verdict

Ange Postecoglou described our 2-0 loss against Palace on Sunday as ‘a missed opportunity’.

He added that ‘we didn’t reach the levels we needed to’ after Eberechi Eze’s goals either side of half-time (45, 48 minutes) saw the visitors collect the Premier League points at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

With the UEL Final just 10 days away, Ange made eight changes to the team that started the semi-final, second leg against Bodo/Glimt in Norway on Thursday night. Typically, there was good and bad news – good news saw the return of Heung-Min Son after month on the sidelines, Sonny back in the action off the bench on the hour. However, Dejan Kulusevski was forced off after just 19 minutes - thankfully, Ange reported later that it wasn’t looking like a serious issue.

Ange on the performance...

“It wasn’t good, very disappointing. We didn’t reach the levels we needed to. A disappointing afternoon.”

Ange on his message to the players, after the highs in Bodo, and now this loss...

“It’s two separate things. The highs are still the highs, nothing changes that, but you have to perform at this level and it was a missed opportunity to do that.”

Ange on managing those highs and lows...

“That’s the situation we’re in, and I still feel within that context we should be performing better. I was disappointed today. Last week against West Ham wasn’t great, but we were really committed to making sure we were hard to beat and worked hard as a team. I just didn’t feel we had that same resilience and focus today, and that’s disappointing.”

Ange on Dejan Kulusevski...

“He should be okay. The medical team aren’t too concerned, so he should be okay.”

Ange on playing Wilson Odobert in the ‘10’ role after Deki’s departure...

“We didn’t really have any other options, so we had to put him in there. He’s played there before, not often, but he has played there before. I didn’t want to expose any other attacking players, so we put him there.”

Ange on getting the players ready to peak for the UEL Final on 21 May...

“We’ve got to make sure we give the guys the best chance in terms of preparation. I think today was a missed opportunity, because guys had the opportunity to put their case forward. Now, we have 10 days to make sure the whole group is ready to go.”