Tottenham coach Ange Postecoglou feels hard done by his players as they missed the chance to beat Wolves and climb back to the top of the Premier League.
Wolves came from a goal down to beat Tottenham 2-1 at the Molineux Stadium. It was Tottenham’s second defeat in two games. Wolves scored twice in second-half stoppage-time to record an impressive comeback victory, with Pablo Sarabia, a second-half substitute, and Mario Lemina rendering Brennan Johnson’s first Tottenham goal in effect a footnote.
“We were winning the game and a lot of the guys, in the back of their minds, they hadn’t played for quite a while and there was a little bit of self-preservation to get us through to the end of the game, but it’s all understandable stuff given the lineup we had out there,” Postecoglou said.
He felt his side grew passive despite taking the lead in the third minute. “We started well but we could have been a little bit more positive, a little bit more aggressive, particularly with the ball,” he said. “I have got to temper that with the fact we’ve made so many changes and we’re not going to get the same sort of fluency when three of your back four are virtually starting for the first time [this season].
“We’ve made a couple of changes further up as well so it’s not going to be as fluid but we could have been more positive.”
It is the first time Postecoglou has lost successive games as a manager since September 2021 with Celtic in the Europa League and Scottish Premiership. But the Australian was diplomatic about his side’s second defeat of the week, after their unbeaten start came to an abrupt end against Chelsea on Monday, when Destiny Udogie and Cristian Romero were sent off.
“Some of the guys have played their first games of the year – changing three of the back four is fairly disruptive, especially when the guys haven’t played at all,” Postecoglou said. “They will be better for the experience. They will be stronger now they have a match under their belts, so there are plenty of positives.”
