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Ange Postecoglou says Tottenham ‘paid the price’ in 1-0 loss v Man City by making one really avoidable mistake

Srinivas Sadhanand

Thu 27 February 2025 9:15, UK

Ange Postecoglou may still be perplexed by the vast difference he saw in his Tottenham Hotspur side in both halves of their 1-0 defeat against Manchester City.

In the first half, Tottenham could not lay a g✱love on City, who had the lion’s share of possession, created chances for fun and exploited the acres of space l🐲eft by the hosts in the middle of the park in particular.

With how dominant Manchester City were after the first 45 minutes, much of the same would have been expected in thꦚe second.

But perhaps Ange Postecoglou gave his Spurs side a fiery team 𝓡talk that gave them the much-needed spark to go out and domineer over the Sky Blues for much of the second half.

The Lilywhites failed to convert their chances, with Pape Matar Sarr even being given a free header right after Erling Haaland’s late disallowed goal thatꦫ he somehow managed to direct over the crossbar.

However, Haaland and Manchester City🐬 had the last laugh as their 12th minute goal ended up being enough to take home the three points.

Ange Postecoglou says Tottenham were “too eager” to hurt Man City which cost them

Ange Postecoglou will have his fair share of regrets after witnessing the manner in which Tottenham lost to th༒e Sky Blues.

Postecoglou falt꧙ered by starting Porro against M✃anchester City, a decision he might not be too proud of as the ꦏSpaniard was ripped to shreds ꩲby Jeremy Doku.

Furꦯthermore, Ange Postecoglou admitted that in the first half, the blunder his Tottenham players made against Manchester City is by being frantic in possession and too eager to hurt the visitors.

Postecoglou told Tottenham’s in-house media: “Yeah, look, first half, I think, some overeagerness there, especially with the ball, I thought we were wasteful and we allowed Cit༺y to get a bit of rhythm in there and when they do that, they pick you off and obviously scored, granted some good chances in there.”

“We hung in there, which is the most importa𒈔nt thing, stayed, it was only 1-0 at half-t💃ime, second half, we just calmed down a little bit with the ball and really relentless without it, I thought we dominated the whole second half, played in there half, created chances but obviously missing the goal and disappointed to lose.”

“Like I said, we’re missing that sort of final action a little bit but we were j🎶ust a lot more calmer, a lot more clear-headed in our movements in what we needed to, I just thought in the first half, we were just too eager to try and go and hurt City and we kind of paid the price for that.”

Postecoglou is right as one Tottenham player lost the ball 24 times vs Manchester City

Ange Postecoglou has a point as Tottenham♍’s more level-headed approach was rewarded against Manchester City as they ran the show in the second half.

But a ꦿwasteful first-half performance from the hosts ultimately decided the game.

The statistics support Postecoglou’s reflections, with 🤡Tottenham losing the ball 95 times against Manchester City.

James Maddison was particularly poor on the ball, losing it 24 times against🐎 City.

With Maddison being a number 10, he is bound to do so as he takes risks ไin possession. But on days like Wednesday, the England international could hurt his Spurs side by being as inaccurꦐate as he was when trying to carve Manchester City’s defence out.

However, even Lucas Bergvall and Pedro Porro gave away possess𝕴ion a staggering 14 and 12 times respectively, which would be something Postecoglou would like some of his most technically gifted players to avoid in the future.