Spurs struggled to pinpoint a team they had previously dominated at home.
Ange Postecoglou believes Tottenham were punished for a “passive” start in their FA Cup defeat to Manchester City, whom he describes as the “benchmark” that other teams strive to meet.
Nathan Ake’s 88th-minute winner was City’s first-ever goal at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, knocking Spurs out of the FA Cup in the fourth round.
Tottenham’s attention now goes to the Premier League, where they are fifth, eight points behind champions Liverpool.
“We fought hard to stay in the game, but to be honest that’s all we did is stay in the game” , Postecoglou said. “Our second half was okay. The first half was a little too passive, and we let them establish some rhythm in the game.
“We began the second half with more conviction in our play. But, as I mentioned, we were trying so hard simply to stay in the game, and that wasn’t going to be enough tonight. You need to put pressure on the opponent from the start, something we didn’t do tonight.”
He continued, “It’s just about having a little more belief and conviction in ourselves for the first 45 minutes.” I thought we did a good job defending. It’s not like Vic had a million savings to make.”
Postecoglou described Pep Guardiola’s side as a “top team.” They are the standard, and we are not there yet. They have maybe eight or nine years on us. It’s not an excuse, but the reality is that they’re far along the way to being the team they are, whereas we’re still in the early phases.
James Maddison came off the bench for his first outing since sustaining an ankle injury against Chelsea in early November.
When asked if he was tempted to start Maddison against City, Postecoglou said, “Not really.” Knowing the importance of the game today, he has trained for the past week and a half. We could give him a few minutes today, which we did, and he should be fine now.
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