Ange Postecoglou was pleased with how Tottenham’s makeshift centre-back pairing performed against Wolves, even though the Lilywhites emerged with nothing from the game.
With Micky van de Ven out with a hamstring injury, and with Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie suspended, Postecoglou had to start with a centre-back pairing of Eric Dier and Ben Davies at the Molineux Stadium, with Emerson Royal deputising at left-back.
Right until the end of the game, it looked like Spurs’ makeshift defence was going to emerge with an unlikely clean sheet after the away side spurned plenty of opportunities to equalise.
However, stoppage-time strikes from Pablo Sarabia and Mario Lemina saw Gary O’Neil’s men claim a dramatic win.
WOLVERHAMPTON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 11: Hwang Hee-Chan of Wolverhampton Wanderers is challenged by Ben Davies of Tottenham Hotspur during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur at Molineux on November 11, 2023 in Wolverhampton, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
Despite the defeat, Postecoglou insisted that he was proud of the way his defenders played, pointing out that the home side did not test Guglielmo Vicario too often.
When asked what he thought about the performances of Dier and Davies, the Tottenham head coach told Football.London: “Both of them and Emerson, and even for guys like Brennan and Pierre, who haven’t really started many games because we’ve had a pretty settled line-up.
“Particularly those two guys coming in [Dier and Davies], I thought their commitment, their endeavour to play our way was there for the whole game. They held out in the end. I think you could see they were feeling towards the end but they didn’t let their performance levels drop.
“For the most part, Wolves didn’t have many really big chances, I think Vic had one or two saves to make but obviously, at the end there, I think the first goal was a really good goal and we probably ran out of steam in the last few minutes. Wolves, particularly with the crowd behind them, were able to lift themselves.”
Postecoglou reiterated that he could not fault the efforts of any of his players.
He added: “Yeah, disappointed obviously, particularly after it happened so late, but it’s part of the pain of football and when things happen in those circumstances you’ve just got to take it. Can’t fault the players’ effort or commitment. It was always going to be a tough game anyway at Wolves. We just couldn’t hold out.”
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There were some pretty average individual performances out there but as Ange points out, it would be harsh to criticise the players who had no game time coming into this game as they were clearly racking in rhythm.
It was Bissouma’s performance that I was most disappointed by as we needed him to be a leader on the pitch and take the game by the scruff of the neck.
Instead, the 27-year-old hid a little bit and always took the easy option, which was the same thing he did in the first half of the North London derby back in September.
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