Ange Postecoglou says that one gesture that Archie Gray made to his Tottenham teammate on Thursday is an indication of the attitude and the camaraderie which exists among the Spurs players.
It should have been game over at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when the home side raced into a three-goal lead on 54 minutes in the Carabao Cup quarterfinal on Thursday.
However, quite inexplicably, the Lilywhites gifted two goals to Man Utd, owing to a couple of poor errors by Fraser Forster, thus bringing the Red Devils back into the game.
That set up an extremely nervy final 20 minutes of the game, with Spurs eventually emerging 4-3 winners.
After the final whistle, Archie Gray appeared to be saying “it was my fault” to Fraser, presumably referring to the back pass that led to United’s second goal.
Postecoglou insisted that the former Leeds man’s decision to accept responsibility is indicative of the kind of attitude that runs through the Tottenham squad.
When asked about the teenager’s message to the experienced goalkeeper, the Australian has now told Football.London: “Did he say, ‘mate?’ There you go! I’m having an influence! Yeah, fantastic. It’s a testament to him but also what we are trying to build here. The guys are not … they are taking a collective approach to things and Archie is probably thinking in that moment I could have made a better decision which would have helped Frase.
“I’m sure Frase said, ‘No mate, I should have handled it better myself’ but I think it’s part of our growth. As I keep saying we will eventually get out of this and hit some smoother waters but the way the guys are dealing with it at the moment in terms of accountability, responsibility … there are no factions or people splintering off and saying, Oof, this is a difficult time and saying I’m going to save myself here.
“We have the injured lads in the dressing room before the game, they are out on the pitch afterwards so everyone is really invested in it and that’s an important part of how you deal with adversity. Growth. If you’ve got an 18-year-old who is standing out there and literally telling a man twice his age that you know what I’ll take responsibility, that’s great signs for us.”
As one would expect, Postecoglou was not critical of the risks that his players took by playing out from the back. However, the Australian admitted that his defenders and his goalkeeper needed to make better decisions when they are under pressure, adding that a bit more calmness was required.
When asked for clarification if Archie was apologising about Amad Diallo’s goal, Postecoglou added: “Don’t know. Probably one to ask Archie about. I think you would have found a few of the boys had similar sentiments that they could have handled that situation better in terms of …. I think the first goal can happen. Zirkzee was actually in the box pressing when he should have been … actually what he did was illegal. But anyway we’ll let that run because there was no VAR last night.
“That was my decision so I’m happy with that. I think we should have waited for him [Zirkzee] to clear the box before we start playing because then he presses from inside the box. So we could have handled that situation a little bit better, just some calmness but then when that happens I think us going back to Frase a couple of times probably wasn’t the right decision.
“Again, Frase could have handled that better by just telling the boys that. It’s about ownership and responsibility in that area. So we got a free-kick, Biss goes back, Archie goes back. Do we need to go back in that situation? Probably not. So that’s what I mean in terms of decision-making. Our decisions at that moment probably weren’t as clear-headed as we should be.”
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