Sun 25 April 2021, 19:53
Tottenham HotspurRyan Mason spoke of his pride as the players ‘gave everything’ only to be beaten late by Manchester City in Sunday’s Carabao Cup Final at Wembley.
City impressed on the day, but we hung in there against the champions-elect, defended stoutly and created a few moments of our own particularly in the second half, not least when Zak Steffen was forced into a fingertip save from Giovani Lo Celso.
We continued to make big blocks, Hugo Lloris delivered saves every time he was asked but our resistance was finally broken eight minutes from time when Aymeric Laporte met Kevin De Bruyne’s free-kick and headed home from eight yards.
“The players believed and gave absolutely everything,” said Ryan, our Interim Head Coach. “It was difficult. I thought we rode our luck at times in the first half but defended well, blocked well, but we knew at times we’d have to ride our luck and they’d have long spells of possession.
It’s tough for me, tough for the players, tough for everyone associated with the Club, our fans, because we want to give them moments where they have joy
“In the second half we had a couple of moments, produced a great save from their goalkeeper, had a couple of set-plays and openings... could something have happened for us?
“They also had a couple of opportunities in the second half, but I didn’t feel we were in any danger and as the game went on, we started to have longer spells of possession and I thought we were coming into it a bit.
“Okay, we weren’t creating much in terms of shots on target, but we were getting in areas where moments can happen, we had a two against one, and these moments are what you work for.
“It was disappointing to concede from a set play, but I can’t fault the players. They’ve had a change of manager, a game in midweek, two or three days to prepare for this and work in a completely different way. I’ve so much pride in those players. They believed and gave everything.
"It’s tough for me, tough for the players, tough for everyone associated with the Club, our fans, because we want to give them moments where they have joy. So, it’s disappointing, but we have a big game to prepare for next weekend and once we get over this, our focus will be on that.”
