Ange Postecoglou has defended his decision to substitute Lucas Bergvall and make several changes to his Tottenham side for their last-gasp victory over Coventry City in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday evening.
Spurs looked to be on the receiving end of an upset as Brandon Thomas-Asante put Coventry ahead in the second half.
However, Djed Spence equalised in the 88th minute before Brennan Johnson scored Spurs’ winner in injury time.
Postecoglou, meanwhile, has faced criticism after his side’s defeat to Arsenal in the north London derby last Sunday and was booed by fans over his decision to replace Bergvall against Coventry.
When asked about the negative reaction he received after Bergvall’s substitution, Postecoglou replied: ‘I don’t make substitutions by poll, mate.
‘So, I’m sure the fans have got their own opinions but, yeah, Lucas, like I said that’s his first sort of significant game time for quite a while. What I didn’t want was us pushing guys over the edge today, that’s why we took Destiny [Udogie] off at half time as well.
‘We already had a couple of injuries, and I had some pretty good players on the bench that I thought could make an impact, but it doesn’t take away from Lucas’s performance. I thought he was outstanding tonight.
‘They they’re going to play a lot of football for us and hopefully getting through tonight, whether it’s 90 minutes for Archie [Gray] or you know, 60, 70 for Lucas, will put them in a good space.’
Postecoglou also defended his decision to make eight changes to his side for the Carabao Cup tie.
‘What I’ve always tried to do is the right thing and the best thing for us in terms of what we’re trying to achieve,’ Postecoglou said.
‘There’s no guarantees with anything you do in football but what I’ve always done is backed my decisions in critical times to always do what I feel is best and if it doesn’t work out then I can live with that but I’m certainly not going to jeopardise what we’re trying to build here by doing something that’s going to make me look like I’m in a safer position.
‘We were always going to play these guys because we have Europe starting next week. The last thing I want to do is throw guys in out of necessity.
‘We need to get game time and tonight some key players for us got some good minutes that mean that when we do have to make changes moving forward, they’ve already played and they’re ready to go.’
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