Oct 31,2024
Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou knows how tough tonight's Carabao Cup fourth-round tie at home to Manchester City will be, despite previous remarks from Pep Guardiola.
Guardiola has repeatedly stated this season that City would not waste energy on the competition and during the 2-1 win over Watford last month played five academy graduates, which included Phil Foden and Rico Lewis.
Postecoglou is fully aware if Spurs want to progress to the quarter-finals then they must be at their best.
He said: "If you look at Pep in this comp, he has always pretty heavily rotated and they won four in a row didn’t they?
"He’s not playing his kids. No disrespect to Pep’s kids! These are good players, they’re at City. They have a pretty good programme. Pedro (Porro) was part of that.
"If you’re part of the City infrastructure, you’re a good player. We’re expecting a tough game, but irrespective of who they put out, we want to win. We want to stay in this competition and put in a strong performance."
Tuesday was familiar territory for Postecoglou, who has continuously faced questions about Tottenham’s 16-year trophy drought since his 2023 appointment.
The 59-year-old has been consistent in his belief that cup success will not guarantee a prosperous future and pointed to Erik ten Hag’s dismissal from Manchester United on Monday as further evidence.
"Everyone tells me, just win a trophy and you'll be fine. I don’t think so"
"You can’t guarantee success. No-one can, but you can put yourself in a position," Postecoglou insisted.
"If you can put yourself in a position in the league on a consistent basis, I think by extension you should be strong in the knock-out comps. That’s still where I think our most meaningful progress lies.
"Winning a comp. Is it a positive? Absolutely. Our supporters will love it, it’s great for the club, yes you get that winning feeling too. But it’s not a panacea for everything, obviously.
"We’ve got a manager (Ten Hag) here who’s won two in the last two years who’s just got the sack. Everyone tells me, just win a trophy and you’ll be fine. I don’t think so.
"The measures these days are constantly shifting. There’s always something that people perceive to be better.
"What’s more important for me is that we’re getting to a space where we’re consistently challenging for all honours.
"If we’re there in that space, where big clubs are, and where we should be, the rest will take care of itself."
The 1-0 loss at Crystal Palace on Sunday halted Spurs’ momentum after they had won seven of their previous eight matches in all competitions.
It occurred three weeks after a collapse at Brighton on 6 October produced a 3-2 reverse, which left Tottenham eighth in the Premier League after four defeats in nine games.
However, Postecoglou has plenty of belief in his squad, which will be without Son Heung-min and Wilson Odobert (both hamstring) for the visit of City.
He added: "We know where we are at. We’re struggling in difficult moments because we lack some maturity and leadership.
"Now, there’s two ways of dealing with that. You can either go and buy it, acquire it, or you can wait for it to develop within your own group.
"We’ve gone down this (development) way because I think that’s the better way for me, but with that process, it takes time and experience. You’ve got to go through tough times.
"I’m so optimistic about this playing group. I think there’s such a high ceiling with this group of players. The more we get exposed to difficult times, the more I believe that ceiling gets higher."
Meanwhile, City boss Pep Guardiola does not know when Kevin De Bruyne will return to action after admitting the playmaker's injury is worse than first thought.
De Bruyne has not played for City since being forced off at half-time in the Champions League draw against Inter Milan in mid-September. The 33-year-old also missed four months of last season after hamstring surgery.
"I would like to tell you (when he can return), I especially would like to know, but I don’t know," Guardiola said.
"He feels better to train but to go to the level we need for competition he still has pain. Kevin has to feel good to express the huge talent that he has."
Asked if the injury was more complicated than it initially appeared, Guardiola added: "Yeah, that’s why I’m not a doctor. He’s feeling better but not the best.
"If he doesn’t come back as quick as possible we will struggle because we cannot sustain it with 14 or 15 players but it is what it is.
"We need players to come back but it is what it is. Hopefully that can happen after the international break."
"We have a lot of injured players and I cannot rotate like I would" - pep Guardiola
Guardiola’s injury problems having been growing in recent weeks.
Newly-crowned Ballon d’Or winner Rodri is out for the rest of the campaign, Oscar Bobb is yet to play after breaking his leg in pre-season, while Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku will all miss Wednesday’s Carabao Cup trip to Spurs.
After beating Watford in the last round, Guardiola said he intended to play academy players in this competition because of the already heavy demand on his senior squad, although a draw away to Spurs has forced a re-think on that front.
The likes of James McAtee and Nico O’Reilly will hope to be involved, but Guardiola admitted he needed to prepare for the challenge of a Tottenham side smarting from the loss to Crystal Palace.
"There is someone (who will come into the side) but we play against Spurs," Guardiola said.
"They’re coming from defeat and I know what that is mentally for managers and players. They’re playing against City, I’m sorry to say it but we have won four Premier Leagues in a row. I know they will be at their best.
"We also won the Carabao Cup four in a row (between the 2017-18 and 2020-21 seasons) and I always used the early rounds to play guys who didn’t play regularly.
"Now we have a problem that we have a lot of injured players and I cannot rotate like I would and I don’t want to put much pressure on the young players on this stage for this opponents so I have to make a mix of the players."
