The north Londoners crashed out on penalties against Fulham (Picture: Getty)
Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has defended his team selection in Tuesday night’s Carabao Cup exit at the hands of Fulham while he laughed off suggestions Spurs’ new third kit was to blame.
The Australian coach made nine changes from the team that beat Bournemouth at the weekend, with only Micky van de Ven and Richarlison keeping their place in the side.
Spurs struggled to find their rhythm in the early exchanges and went behind in the 19th minute when Tom Cairney turned Davinson Sanchez inside out and saw his low cross deflected into the back of the net via the unfortunate Van de Ven.
Tottenham’s performance improved in the second half, with Richarlison getting off the mark for the season with a clinical headed finish, and they had chances to win the tie outright but ultimately had to settle for a penalty shootout.
Backup keeper Fraser Forster did not look like getting near any of the Fulham attempts while Sanchez saw his effort saved, with Kenny Tete netting to send the Cottagers into the third round.
It is 15 years since Tottenham last won a trophy and many supporters were unhappy with Postecoglou’s decision to field so many fringe players, but the former Celtic boss felt it was important to give them a chance.
Asked if the Carabao Cup should have been more of a priority, he replied: ‘It is my priority but there is no European football so how am I going to find out about our players?
Spurs were beaten 5-3 on penalties by Fulham (Picture: Getty)
‘What opportunity would I have to do that other than the game? They are all part of our club. We thought they’d be able to bring a different energy tonight, and that doesn’t mean the cup or any game isn’t our priority.
‘From my perspective, we’re very much at the discovery stage so we need to find out and give the players the opportunity to contribute. Because that’s why they’re here – they’re not just here to make up the numbers. They keep working hard and deserved the opportunity to go out and play tonight.’
Tottenham donned their newly released third kit against Fulham – a pinkish brown cappuccino colour officially described as ‘taupe haze’ – and there had been some suggestions the players struggled to pick out their team-mates in the drab colour.
Tottenham’s newly released third kit doesn’t exactly stand out (Picture: Getty)
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Postecoglou did not think it was a factor, however, and grinned when the ‘visibility of the shirt’ was mentioned as a potential issue.
Slightly taken back by the question, Postecoglou said: ‘Erm, okay. I don’t know is the real answer to that genuine question. That’s my genuine answer. I’m not really sure. I don’t think it would have played a massive part.
‘I think some of it is, like I said, in a team function when there isn’t familiarity there, guys who’ve not played with each other for three games, there’s not going to be the fluency there that we’ve seen. That’s understandable.
‘But again that’s part of the process where we’re at. We need to find out about our players, find out about the group, the character and the personality and, I dunno, maybe we need to check out our colour matching capabilities. Cappuccino was it? Nice.’
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The north Londoners crashed out on penalties against Fulham.