Presser points | Aston Villa vs Spurs, FA Cup | Ange Postecoglou

Ange Postecoglou spoke to the media on Friday morning, ahead of our Emirates FA Cup fourth round tie against Aston Villa at Villa Park on Sunday (5.35pm UK).

Here's what he had to say...

Ange on having more clarity on our Carabao Cup semi-final defeat against Liverpool at Anfield on Thursday night...

"Not a lot of clarity, when you're talking a few hours later, still the emotions of it. As I said last night, it was a disappointing night for us, a disappointing night for the club, disappointing night in terms of the opportunity we had. I said after the game we didn't really perform to the levels we needed to. Liverpool were too good for us."

On team news - any players coming back for Sunday's tie at Villa?

"No."

On the players' reaction to Anfield...

"Most of them are still sleeping, we got back at 2am. What's more important for them is they rest up. I'll gave them feedback after the game. I don't need to give them too much feedback, we're all disappointed with the way things went last nigh, but the reality is in 48 hours or so we've got a big game coming up. Recovery, and go again."

On if the players 'had anything about them'...

"There's plenty about them. I get the pile on at the moment. It's really easy for people to stick their boot in and question the players, and all that kind of stuff. That's not something I question. We were disappointed last night didn't go the way we wanted to, didn't really perform at the levels we wanted to. That's doesn't define this group of players by any stretch, in my eyes. We'll go out there on Sunday and put in more of a performance that reflects where we're at."

On being confident of getting a reaction at Villa...

"Like I said, I have a great deal of belief in this group of players, and what they're going through, and how they're dealing with it. They were disappointed last night. We're all disappointed. But we'll learn from it. And we'll move on."

On taking criticism on his shoulders...

"No, it's not about taking it on my shoulders. As I said last night, it doesn't really direct me, what I do, what I think. We're an easy mark at the moment, I get that. Obviously making a semi-final is an absolute disaster because we didn't play well last night. I assume not making the semi-final would have put us in a better place... but that's the way people are seeing us at the moment. We're an easy mark, like I said. When we have a disappointing night, like we did last night, it gives an opportunity for everyone to go as hard as they can. That's fine. There's only one way to change that, that's with us. Just getting back out there and playing the football I know we can. And getting a result on Sunday."

On proving people wrong at Villa...

"No, because I don't know which people I'm meant to be proving wrong. I said last night, it's irrelevant to me what other people's opinions are. People are on the TV and the radio and in the newspapers to give opinions and I respect that. They're allowed to do that, but I don’t have any obligation to listen to any of it. To get fuelled by the comments of people I’ve never even met, I don’t know how you live your life, but I certainly don't live my life that way. That's with all respect that they're there to give an opinion. It's not like I want to be successful here so I can go to these people and say to them, 'look, you were wrong'. I don't even know them. Why would I care where they think we're at? They're a million miles away from us, but they're allowed to have their opinion. We're an easy mark at the moment, and look after last night, there are times you've just got to take it, keep your council and atone for it in the way that only really matters and that is with playing the football I know we can."

On if it's a good thing that Sunday's FA Cup tie comes around so quickly...

"We're 48 hours away from a game, I would much rather have had eight days to prepare like the other teams."

On the possibility of injured players returning...

"We thought maybe Micky (van de Ven) was a chance for Thursday. It was the start of next week where we're still hopeful we'll get at least two, maybe three back for the Man United game. We've got two full weeks of training, which I think over these two weeks we'll get the majority of the players back with a bit of luck, provided we don't lose anyone else like we lost Richy last night. I knew this week was going to be a challenging week in terms of personnel, because we just weren't going to get anyone back, so there's no sort of disappointment that anyone missed out."

On Richarlison's injury...

"It's disappointing for him and you know, obviously he was emotional last night because he worked really hard to get himself back but, again, it's another setback that he's going to have to deal with, that we're going to have to deal with and hopefully get him back as soon as possible."

On Kevin Danso's debut...

"I thought Kevin was really good. I thought Mathys (Tel, another debutant, off the bench) was good considering we were throwing him in a difficult night. I'm sure they'll help us and I'm sure they'll feel better after last night getting that first game under their belts and moving on from there."

On there being extra pressure at Villa after the Anfield result...

"I think it's the same pressure, it's a knockout game, so you know you've got to get a result to progress and had it gone any better last night, it wouldn't have made any difference to Sunday. It's still a game you have to win to progress, so the pressure's the same."

On how the next two midweeks look without fixtures for the first time in a long time...

"We'll assess that after Sunday, but I we know we've got two clear weeks. There's a number of our players who are scheduled to come back during that time, so we'll use it wisely to rest the guys who need rest, and certainly there's a fair few of them that need some rest and also hopefully get some work into the guys who have been out for quite a while to be ready for the challenge ahead because I think these two weeks we've got now will be really valuable for the finish of our season."

On our senior players...

"I don’t think you can be too harsh on them. I don’t put any responsibility on the senior players last night. As a collective we just didn’t tackle the challenge we had last night in the manner we needed to. That’s not the senior players. The senior players are carrying us through this in many respects because I don’t know how many players were playing their first game at Anfield last night. So, all these kind of things you try to prepare the group for, but it is fair to say we didn’t handle the situation well, but that’s not on the senior players. I have got no issue with the senior players and we don’t have many out there to be honest. Certainly, they are trying as hard as they can and from my perspective, my role is to try to support and provide the guidance so we can make amends for a poor performance."

On the time it might take to bridge the gap to Liverpool...

"I know that this is all kind of reactive to last night and I get it. Everyone saw there was a big gap between us and Liverpool, but Vicario, Romero, Destiny, van de Ven, Solanke, Wilson Odobert... I could go on and on. We had 10 missing last night, senior players, but you take seven or eight key players out of any team and you are playing the best team in the world who are at their best, I don’t think you make judgements in these moments. I get that it dulls the senses after a while when you say the same thing after week after week and it sounds like it is what it is, but that’s the reality of our situation. A lot of the players I mentioned... Maddison, I mean Brennan Johnson... I don’t make judgements on last night apart from the fact we didn’t perform in the manner we wanted to. Even if we did, we may not have won anyway, but the disappointing thing is we just didn’t play the way we wanted to, so we need to address that."

On getting back to playing our football...

"Yes, look, that is probably our main object now, to play a little bit more like ourselves. It won’t be easy because Villa are a good side and playing at home. Again, it will be a challenge with literally the same group of players backing up, but there is an opportunity for us there and we want to make sure we tackle that opportunity in the right way."