Spurs 1-2 Ipswich | Ange’s verdict: “We started the game nowhere near the levels we needed to be”

Ange Postecoglou described the first half as ‘unacceptable’ as we suffered a 2-1 loss at home to Ipswich Town in the Premier League on Sunday.

Goals from Sammie Szmodics (31 minutes) and Liam Delap (43) put the visitors in the driving seat 2-0 up at half-time as we struggled to find any rhythm. “We were far too passive without the ball,” said Ange.

We were improved after the break, Dominic Solanke had a goal disallowed and we tested Arijanet Muric before Rodrigo Bentacur pulled it back to 2-1 with a bullet header from Pedro Porro’s corner on 69 minutes. However, with Town happy to disrupt any momentum in the game, there was only one further chance of note as Muric denied Solanke in added time.

Asked for his assessment, Ange told our Review Show: “It was hugely disappointing and, from my perspective, unacceptable, because we started the game nowhere near the levels we needed to be and gave ourselves a mountain to climb. In the second half, we had the ascendancy and enough opportunities to get the job done, but we didn’t do enough with it.”

Here’s what else he had to say...

We arrived home from Istanbul at 2am on Friday morning, does that have an impact on that first half display?

Ange: “No, and if is it, that’s even worse, for me. Look, it’s my responsibility, I’ve got to fix it. We’ve been inconsistent this year, fair to say, we shouldn’t be that inconsistent, and when you are, that responsibility lies with me to try to help the players overcome that.”

Thoughts on our first half display?

Ange: “We were far too passive without the ball, allowed them to feel comfortable, and that’s what we don’t want to do when we’re at home, especially, and we paid a price for that.”

Is it particularly difficult against teams who want to try to slow the game down, to kill momentum and the rhythm of game?

Ange: “It’s part of the Premier League now. Clubs are strategically doing it. You can almost work by your clock that every 20 minutes, someone will go down, and they’ll come over and get instructions from the coach. If we want to overcome that, we have to make sure that we don’t give opposition teams the opportunity to get ahead in games and try to kill it, then we can control that. It’s up to the officials to work out.”