Spurs 1-4 Chelsea | Ange’s verdict: “It was an outstanding effort, the lads gave everything”

Ange Postecoglou paid tribute to the players for their efforts after a testing night and 4-1 defeat against Chelsea at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

We started brilliantly and deserved our early lead via Dejan Kulusevski’s deflected shot on seven minutes. We were fractions away from doubling that lead when Heung-Min Son converted Brennan Johnson’s cross but was given offside by VAR.

Another VAR decision saw Cuti Romero sent off and a penalty converted by Cole Palmer for 1-1 and then, 10 minutes into the second half, we were down to nine men following Destiny Udogie’s second yellow card.

Maintaining our high defensive line, we defended with everything - Guglielmo Vicario magnificent in goal - until Chelsea finally broke through to take a 2-1 lead 20 minutes later. We then had chances to level as Eric Dier’s goal was chalked off by VAR for offside, Rodrigo Bentancur headed wide from close range Sonny forced Robert Sanchez into a low save. That chance arrived in the 94th minute, Nicolas Jackson made it 3-1 seconds later and then wrapped up his hat-trick for 4-1.

That marked the end of our unbeaten start in the 11th game of this Premier League season, but the players’ efforts weren’t lost on the home crowd, who gave them a standing ovation on the final whistle.

Speaking to the Review Show, Ange said: “It’s a hard game to analyse but in terms of effort, will and determination it was an outstanding effort by the lads.

“I thought we started really well, scored a good goal, then we were inches away from scoring a good second, but it was offside. Then the game got out of control, there was a lot happening that made the game a little bit not within the parameters we want to play. It felt like after that there were a lot of disruptions.

“I thought they gave everything they could and, unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.

“We’ll let the dust settle, let the boys recover, obviously we’ll have a few absences next week. Micky looks quite significant, but we’ll just have to see what happens. We’ll dust ourselves off and prepare for next week.”

Speaking at his post-match press conference, Ange said: “It's hard to analyse from a football perspective. You're left with the result which is disappointing. You don't like to lose, particularly here at home. I’m super proud of the players' efforts, will, determination and desire to try to get something out of the game.”