Ange Postecoglou reacts on the touchline during the English League Cup semi-final second leg football match between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield (Image: OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)
Ange Postecoglou has claimed he “doesn’t care” about stinging criticism from ex-Liverpool skipper Jamie Redknapp after his Tottenham Hotspur side were humbled at Anfield. Taking a one-goal advantage into the return leg of their League Cup semi-final, the Londoners were thrashed 4-0 on Thursday night to lose 4-1 on aggregate.
Cody Gakpo levelled the tie in the first half before a second-half penalty from Mohamed Salah and further strikes from Dominik Szoboszlai and Virgil van Dijk earned Liverpool a Wembley date against Newcastle United on March 16.
Tottenham failed to register a shot on target with Redknapp, also a former Tottenham player, claiming he couldn’t remember a team going down with less of a fight.
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And when told of the comments, Postecoglou said: “I know a lot of people get really excited about things like that. People on television are paid to give options, that’s their job, my job isn’t to scan television and the media and see what people say, it’s to manage this football team.
“At the end of the day, everyone is allowed to have an opinion and express that opinion. My view is I don’t really need to respond to that. I don’t care if it is Jamie Redknapp or anyone.”
Postecoglou, though, admitted he was disappointed with the manner in which his players failed to realise their potential.
“We had an opportunity to get to a final and they don’t come around too often,” he said. “It’s not the fact we have come here and lost that is disappointing, it’s a difficult place to come to, they are in a great moment right now and it would be difficult for anyone.
“Liverpool are a good side in a great moment, they are flying in four competitions, players are in great physical condition and are top players at peak of their powers.
“But I would have liked for us to be more like who we are than we were tonight. I think the players understood the opportunity, for sure, but the reality sometimes hits you. It is a bit different to what you envisaged in your head.”
Postecoglou added: “It’s fair to say we didn’t get to the levels we needed to tonight. For us to give ourselves an opportunity we had to be a lot more aggressive without the ball and we weren’t.
“We allowed them to control the game and dictate where it was played and in the end they were too good for us. It was a great opportunity for us tonight to get to a final and we didn’t take that opportunity. We didn’t give ourselves a chance to take the opportunity which is probably more disappointing.”
