Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has now suggested he wasn’t impressed with what he saw from three of his players last night.
It was another night to forget for Tottenham as their season now looks to drag along to its conclusion after a third-successive Premier League defeat.
Away games at Stamford Bridge have rarely provided the points for the Lilywhites over the years but last night offered Spurs a better chance than ever.
Ange Postecoglou‘s men went into the game up against a Chelsea side that were heavily decimated by injuries and had a bench filled with youth players.
But even still, the Stamford Bridge curse prevailed and Spurs now find themselves looking over their shoulders with four games remaining in their season.
Despite making some changes to his starting XI, Postecoglou admitted after the game he was not impressed with what he saw.
Ange Postecoglou let down by three players in particular vs Chelsea
Across the board on Thursday night the performances were all well below par with Spurs picked apart by Mauricio Pochettino’s side.
It has been a shocking season for the Blues and yet they have now taken six points from Spurs over their two meetings.
Despite the emphatic defeat against Newcastle United and then the North London Derby loss, Postecoglou was still unable to fire his players up.
Changes were made for both tactical and injury reasons on the night but no player really came out of it with any credit.
James Maddison lost his spot in the midfield with Yves Bissouma, Pape Matar Sarr and Dejan Kulusevski the chosen three.
However, in the minutes after the game it was made apparent Postecoglou was not pleased with what he saw from the midfield.
Speaking in his post-game press conference, the 58-year-old said: “I thought we needed to freshen up the team.
“I thought we needed some legs today as they’ve obviously got a real mobile and quick front three/four and I just felt we needed some legs in the midfield. With Biss and Pape coming in, and Deki, I thought it would help us. Fair to say it didn’t work though.”
Who should Ange Postecoglou start in midfield vs Liverpool?
As if the games haven’t already been hard enough for Spurs over recent weeks, next up is a trip to Anfield.
Who Postecoglou should start almost feels like complete potluck with no midfielder really impressing for the last few weeks.
And that can be seen by the constant chopping and changing of the three-man midfield.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Rodrigo Bentancur have also found themselves in and out of the starting XI recently.
The season now feels over for Spurs. Any hope of Champions League qualification is all but gone and they now look likely to finish in fifth.
For that reason, perhaps Postecoglou just needs to play the three midfielders he can see having the biggest impact next year.
Alternatively, he could look to give some of the academy prospects a shot, but the game on Sunday will be too big of an occasion to do that.