A dejected Ange Postecoglou during Tottenham’s loss to Fulham. (Image: Getty.)
boss repeatedly described both of goals as “soft” and called for more from Yves Bissouma after the midfielder was hauled off at half-time of their 2-0 defeat. The Mali international was taken off for Lucas Begvall shortly after he passed the ball out of play to huge groans from the visitors to Craven Cottage, a familiar theme for Bissouma in recent weeks.
“I feel Biss sometimes lets the game drift by him, he needs to be more dominant,” Postecoglou said. “Today, we needed more in that position. I needed him to play because he hasn’t played a lot. At the same time, I need him to perform. It is safe to say maybe Biss and a few guys lack a bit of confidence but at this stage of the season we need people to perform.”
Postecoglou lamented the “soft” nature of the goals conceded on several occasions, with just as Spurs appeared to wrestle back some control of the match.
“It’s a disappointing outcome,” the Aussie added. “I thought up until they scored we were really on top of them. It was a tight game and we hadn’t made a save at that point and they scored a really soft goal. Then the game got away from us. It’s disappointing. It wasn’t a great game. We had a couple of chances to score.
“It was a tight game, it always is when you play here. I thought for the most part we were pretty comfortable. We had a big chance to go ahead and then we conceded a really soft goal and the game got away from us.
Yves Bissouma had a torrid afternoon against Fulham. (Image: Getty)
“Both goals were pretty soft. At the very least you want to stay in the game. I thought in the second half we were the better team and had the best chances up to that point. So to concede is very disappointing.
“It’s been a difficult campaign for sure. But I feel we’ve lost too many games that we should have got stuff out of, and this was one of those games. It’s another international break we go into off a loss and you feel that. We just need to make sure we’re ready for when we come back.”
Neither Bissouma nor Brennan Johnson emerged for the second half as they both struggled in a rotated Postecoglou team, replaced by Bergvall and , though the head coach insisted that the players should not solely be focusing on the .
However, with another defeat compounding Spurs to 13th place in the table, all those involved are very much aware that success in Europe is the only way that they will be playing in the next season.
After the international break, Spurs will lock horns with and before a two-legged tie against side Eintracht Frankfurt which may well decide the success of their campaign.