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Embattled Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou says people who are calling for him to be sacked are “agenda driven” and no other side would be able to cope with the amount of injuries his side have had.
Postecoglou’s position was plunged into more uncertainty after Spurs were knocked out of their second cup competition in four days following a 2-1 FA Cup defeat at Aston Villa.
Less than 72 hours after losing the Carabao Cup semi-final to Liverpool, a depleted Spurs went down to goals from Jacob Ramsey and Morgan Rogers at Villa Park with Mathys Tel bagging a late consolation.
Postecoglou is happy for people to say what they want about him, but insists no other team could have coped with the injuries he has had to deal with over the last few months.
“I’m not talking about me. People can judge me. They can say I’ve done a bad job, I’m not up to it or whatever,” he said.
“That’s fine. What I’m saying is you can’t be critical of players or players’ performances at this time.
“Because if you do, then do that with everyone else. Be as critical of other clubs when they’ve got nine or 10 or 11 players out. And none of them have. And have to play every week. And not for one game.
“How did Liveprool go today? And they just did that for one game. Do that for two and a half months. Any team. Do that for two and a half months in multiple competitions.
“I don’t care about me. People will judge me. But you can’t judge this group of players on what’s happened.
“Me, that’s not of interest to me. My responsibility at this football club is this group of players and this team, to get them to play in the manner I want them to and bring us success.
“Whether people think I can do that or not, that’s for others to judge. But there’s got to be a better appreciation for what a very small group of players have been doing for the last two and a half months.
“It can’t be that people think that’s an excuse. That’s just not anywhere near close to objective analysis. That’s just agenda driven stuff.
“If it’s to get rid of me that’s fine. Good on ya. Go for it a million times. But in terms of this group of players, what they’ve given over the past two and half months has been outstanding, it’s a credit to them, I can’t speak highly enough of them.”
Villa were worthy of their victory, which sees them book their place in the fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time since the 2014-15 campaign.
Marcus Rashford made his debut as a second-half substitute, while Marco Asensio also came on and both showed glimpses of what they will add to the Villa team.
Boss Unai Emery said: “We watched the skill, how they helped us and how they will help us again for the next month in different competitions we’re going to face and being demanding like we are.
“We are in a new way, for some changes we did, but being demanding, because we will need improve.
“Improving in different tactical issues and as well how we want to compete in the Premier League for the next month, and we have to be now very demanding in our hard work.”
