Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou was delighted with his team’s ‘outstanding performance’ during Sunday’s 3-0 win at Manchester United.
Brennan Johnson, Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke all found the net for Spurs, who could easily have won by a wider margin after registering 24 shots in total.
Two of Tottenham’s goals came after Bruno Fernandes had been sent off for a challenge on James Maddison in the 42nd minute that was ruled to be serious foul play.
Fernandes said after the game that it was ‘never a red card’ and claimed that Maddison had agreed with him on the pitch.
But Postecoglou felt that the sending off was a consequence of the ‘enormous pressure’ that United’s players were being put under by his team.
Postecoglou began his post-match interview with BBC Sport by saying: ‘It was an outstanding performance. We started the game really well, scored a great goal and probably should have had two or three.
‘Then just the pressure I think overwhelms them and they get a red card. After that, again, we controlled the game really well. An outstanding effort from all the lads.
He added: ‘I think the red card was a consequence of how we were going. We were just putting enormous pressure on them, the amount of chances we were creating and we weren’t really letting them out of their half. Our football was good as well. It was a strong all-round performance.’
Asked about the importance of scoring early and whether it was a key part of his plan, he replied: ‘Yeah, you obviously want to [score early] but it doesn’t always happen.
‘I said to the boys that in our last two games [which were both wins], we conceded in the first 20 seconds against Brentford and then we had a man sent off in the first eight minutes [against Qarabag]. So I think it’s about dealing with what you have out there and that was our fourth win in a row. We’ve won them in different ways but always stayed true to the principles we have with our football.’
Asked what the momentum gained from winning four games in a row might do for his team, Postecoglou responded: ‘It helps. I think our performances in the league all year have been really strong. We just haven’t had that cutting edge.
‘Obviously, it helps that we’ve now got Dom [Solanke] back and he’s scoring goals, and Brennan’s scoring goals as well. So I think our form has been consistent but when you get the wins… you want them to feel the reward, to feel like they feel right now because it’s going to need another effort in the next game to get us there.’
Postecoglou had been visibly frustrated by some of his team’s missed chances at Old Trafford. He explained: ‘I’ve no complaints but I’m a human being, so when we miss changes it is [frustrating] – more for the players themselves, because we played some unbelievable football and you want them to get the reward for that. But no complaints at all today.’
