Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has dismissed a row between defender Cristian Romero and Emerson Royal as proof his player “cares” after his team’s Champions League hopes were dealt a major blow at Anfield.
Liverpool win 4-2 means that Spurs were unable to take advantage Aston Villa’s defeat at Brighton as Unai Emery’s team remained seven points clear in the race for fourth place.
It was a particularly miserable afternoon for Tottenham’s defenders, with Romero and Royal arguing before half-time and needing to be separated by goalkeeper Vicario after conceding a series of chances to the home team. Royal was later substituted, just before Postecoglou’s side recovered from a 4-0 deficit.
“I haven’t seen it, but as I’ve told others, they care,” Postecoglou said.
“I don’t mind this type of behavior, but they should have this aggressiveness in their defense”
Roy Keane comments on Emerson Royal and Cristian Romero apparently arguing as they walked out at half-time pic.twitter.com/GD6dJq7Vvs
– Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 5, 2024
“They won’t just be happy with the current situation. Because they care, they want to improve. There’s nothing wrong with that as long as it’s constructive. They want to change the situation and they don’t accept it.”
Despite the defeat, Postecoglou declared himself satisfied that his team had played in a way that was more reminiscent of the beginning of the season.
“Obviously it’s an extremely disappointing result for us, but at least we were more equal today in terms of football,” said Postecoglou.
“In our last two away games, at Newcastle and Chelsea, in addition to the results that weren’t good either, we simply didn’t try to play our football. I thought that today, even in the first half, some of our football, of our pressure was back where it should be.
“I thought our football was good. Under pressure, they are a very good pressure team and we did some good things to get past them and then we got to third place and nothing would happen. It’s probably a bit of a lack of confidence, but again, that’s something guys need to overcome. You have to find a way to overcome that because, ultimately, if you don’t put pressure on the opponent in the front third once you get there, they will feel comfortable with your position.”
A triple substitution changed the momentum of the game, with Richarlison scoring and creating a goal for his captain, Son Heung-min.
“It seems crazy because we were 4-0 down but we still made Liverpool work hard and we do that in all our games. Arsenal’s game was similar,” said the Spurs coach.
“We always tend to finish well and I think the subs benefit from the hard work of the other guys. I thought Richy was really good with his presence and then the other guys that came added something for us. We scored a few goals and could have scored a few more.”
In his penultimate appearance at Anfield, Jurgen Klopp was relieved to see his team back to form after a miserable April when their attempted treble evaporated.
“We were excellent until we weren’t good and then we were good again,” said Klopp.
“I really like the way the boys played, even though they conceded two – Ali (Allison) isn’t too happy about that. It was a very good football game, which everyone should have expected from us, and we delivered.”
