Ange Postecoglou insisted he didn’t care concerning the damning comments Jamie Redknapp made about his Tottenham side within the wake of their crushing Carabao Cup semi-final defeat to Liverpool.
Spurs held a one-goal advantage heading into to this evening’s second leg but were blown away on Merseyside, with Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and Virgil van Dijk all finding the back of the online.
It secured Liverpool – the defending champions – a 4-1 win on aggregate over the two-legged tie, organising what guarantees to be an intriguing final between Arne Slot’s men and Newcastle at Wembley on March 16.
Tottenham, meanwhile, are left to lick their wounds once more, with the visitors failing to register a single shot on the right track across the 90 minutes at Anfield.
Analysing the one-sided contest within the Sky Sports studio shortly after the ultimate whistle, an astounded Redknapp claimed he had never seen a team roll over quite like Spurs had done in his entire lifetime.
‘I cannot remember a team in my lifetime go down with less of a fight than they did today,’ the ex-Tottenham, Liverpool and England midfielder said.
‘Not having one shot on the right track in a semi-final second leg, while you’re attempting to do something, trying to vary the course of your history. I feel sorry for those young players.
‘I believe Djed Spence played 14 different positions tonight, I’ve never seen anything prefer it.
‘These young players, you’re meant to guard them. Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall, they’re young men and so they’re trying their best.
‘But I’d take a look at the experienced players to steer today and ensure they set the proper tempo today. They didn’t try this one bit.
‘There have been some lows. Palace, Everton, Ipswich… but while you take a look at that scoreline, it’s just horrendous.’
Asked whether he though Redknapp’s scathing criticism was ‘fair’ at his post-match press conference, Postecoglou replied: ‘You asking me? Ask Jamie. He’s obviously made the comment.
‘Look, I do know people get really enthusiastic about things like that but there are people on TV to offer opinions. That’s what they do, that’s their job.
‘My job just isn’t to scan the TV or the commentary on our games. My job is to administer this football club.
‘Whatever people think or don’t think is sort of irrelevant. It doesn’t really matter, it doesn’t really put any kind of emphasis on who we’re and what we’re attempting to do.’
The Australian added: ‘At the top of the day, everyone seems to be allowed to have an opinion, everyone seems to be allowed to specific that opinion.
‘My view is I don’t really want to answer that or be affected by that because I don’t care.
‘Whether it’s Jamie Redknapp or anyone else, I don’t care and it doesn’t hassle me.’
Postecoglou was particularly upset with the way in which his side allowed Liverpool to ‘control the sport’ and dictate the tempo for probably the most part at Anfield.
‘Look, it’s fair to say we didn’t really get to the degrees we would have liked to tonight,’ he continued.
‘It was all the time going to be an enormous challenge for us. They’re obviously a superb side in a terrific moment, with all their players in superb form, very settled.
‘But for us to offer ourselves a chance, we needed to be rather a lot more aggressive with and without the ball and we weren’t.
‘We allowed them to regulate the sport and dictate the way in which it was played. Ultimately, they were too good for us.’
Postecoglou hopes his players are in a position to ‘make amends’ for his or her wretched performance once they lock horns with Aston Villa within the fourth round of the FA Cup this weekend.
‘It’s disappointing. It was a terrific opportunity for us to get to a final and we didn’t take that chance,’ he went on.
‘To didn’t give ourselves a probability to take that chance which might be more disappointing.
‘But ultimately it’s a chance for further learning and a chance for us to atone for that and make amends with a powerful performance on Sunday.’
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