Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou laid the blame at his own door after watching his side lose the north London derby against Arsenal. The Lilywhites took the lead midway through the first half but were behind by the break. And they couldn’t fight back as Arsenal clinched a 2-1 victory.
The result leaves Tottenham 13th in the Premier League table, with only seven wins from 21 matches and 11 losses.
And they are now closer to the relegation zone than they are to the top four, with Postecoglou feeling the pressure at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
“Nowhere near good enough, especially in the first half,” Postecoglou told TNT Sports after the match.
“We were too passive. We let Arsenal dictate the game. Second half was a little better, nowhere near good enough. Not acceptable. Ultimately the responsibility lies with me and how I prepare the players.
“I’m more interested in how we play and we were not anywhere near the levels today. [We will] go back to work and prepare for a tough game [at Everton on Sunday].”
Tottenham started well against their north London rivals and nudged ahead when a volley from Son Heung-min found its way past David Raya via a deflection.
The Gunners pushed for an equaliser and drew level five minutes before the interval when Spurs striker Dominic Solanke diverted the ball into his own net from a corner after being beaten to a header by Gabriel.
And the home side took the lead moments later when Leandro Trossard raced onto the ball and lashed it past Antonin Kinsky from the edge of the area.
“Of course they hurt me,” Postecoglou added after being asked about his team’s recent defeats. “Not acceptable. Too many losses this year. Too many games getting away from us. It needs to stop.
“No other way of looking at it. If you give up now, there’s no point. Right now we have a big game against Everton this weekend. That’s our focus.”
And the Australian then offered his verdict to Match of the Day as he explained “Yeah we could have got something but that is kind of irrelevant to the point that we were nowhere near the levels we needed to be at today.
“In the first half we were way too passive and let Arsenal get into a rhythm. We hung in there, we hung in there the whole game really. Second half was a bit better but nowhere near the level it needed to be.”
