Presser points | Spurs 2-1 Man City, Carabao Cup | Ange Postecoglou

Ange Postecoglou spoke to the media after our 2-1 win against Manchester City in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Wednesday evening.

The win took us through to the quarter-finals, where we'll play Manchester United at home.

Here's what Ange had to say...

Overall thoughts

First up, Ange was asked for his thoughts on the win...

Ange: "Yeah, it was an important win. Obviously in the cup competitions you have to win to continue in it so that's the first thing. Look, you're playing against an unbelievable side and they're going to ask you all sorts of questions and they did today. I thought we defended well as we didn't give away many clear-cut opportunities but we did have to defend and I thought we did that well. In our attacking moments we had some really top quality moments and we had some really good chances to finish the game off that we didn't take. Great resilience from the boys to sort of hold out. When you play City they're going to ask you every question there is and for the most part I thought we handled it okay."

Golden goals

Timo Werner and Pape Matar Sarr's goals were special - Ange was asked for his thoughts on them...

Ange: "Pape has done well for us in terms of goal output when he has played. He hasn't played every game but when he has played he has made an impact for us. It was well worked as an attacking set-piece, but it was a hell of a strike. Against City you need quality in those moments to score against them and both goals were outstanding moments for us - great move for the first one and great for Timo to finish as he has been going through a tough time. With the attacking players it kinds of weighs on them when they don't score or don't sort of finish stuff off. For him to score tonight and in an important moment of the game was great, and hopefully that helps him kick on."

Team news

Ange was asked for updates on Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and Timo Werner...

How are Micky and Timo in terms of injuries and was Romero an injury or tactical change?

Ange: "Micky felt something in his hamstring. I haven't got the full update on him, but he definitely felt something and we'll see how he is. Cuti was a bit tired. I contemplated changing him at half-time but after losing Micky as well I didn't want to lose another centre-half. He said he felt ok but my gut was telling me there's no point taking a risk as we had Benny who could come on. Timo hasn't played a lot so I felt it was more fatigue hopefully than anything else."

Was Sarr a tactical change at half-time?

Ange: "Yeah, he had been booked and I just thought the way the game was going, I didn't want to take a risk there. I thought Biss would help us in our build-up as it got a bit sticky for us at the end of the first half playing out. I thought having Biss and Rodri in there would give us more of a foothold in there playing out from the back and that helped us in the second half. It was tactical more than anything else."

Opportunity knocks?

It was put to Ange, 'City have won this competition in six of the last ten years.. Do you feel like it's wide open for the boys?'

Ange: "Are you suggesting the sides left are easy?"

No, but there's an opportunity there...

Ange: "There's always an opportunity if you keep winning, but as I say, there's still some decent teams in there. What's important is we're in it. As long as we stay in it, we've a chance.

A step forward?

Ange was asked if going toe-to-toe with a really good City side felt like a big step forward in the development for the group...

Ange: "I'm not going to go for big steps forward or big steps back. We're the same team we were three days ago. We're a side that's growing, we're developing. I've seen progress, I'll continue to see progress, but we're going to have stumbles along the way. In the same way, we don't lose our nerve after having a poor one on the weekend. Tonight doesn't mean that we need to change our approach. We're just going to keep working on what we've been doing and keep believing in the process of what we're trying to build. The key thing for us tonight was obviously the victory. In a cup competition, ultimately, that's the main thing. You've got to win to keep going. And the fact that it was against a formidable opponent is great for the whole group."

Given recent losses, was it a big win?

Ange: "I continue to see growth in this group of players and this team. I want them to have these moments because I know how important it is to accelerate the growth of what we're doing. But for me, personally, nothing really changes. It's about trying to continually push this group to become the team we want to be. We're not there yet, fair to say, but as I said yesterday, I'm really optimistic and bullish about this group of players. I just think they've got a really high ceiling and we've just got to keep focusing on that."