Presser points | Villa 2-1 Spurs, FA Cup | Ange Postecoglou

Ange Postecoglou spoke to the media at Villa Park after our 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa in the fourth round of the Emirates FA Cup on Sunday.

Here's what he had to say...

Ange on the disappointment of the result...

"It’s a disappointing result, cup competition, we wanted to progress, we didn’t do that tonight -  that’s disappointing. We didn’t get off to a great start. It doesn’t help when you are playing away from home, especially a place like Villa, to concede so early, it gives them momentum and confidence, gets the crowd going. We were struggling to stay in the game. Having said that, we had a big chance to equalise which could have settled things down for us. The second half was more even, we got better control of the game. We had to open up which allowed some transition moments. I felt like we were controlling the game a lot better and the second goal makes it even more difficult. We kept fighting, got the goal we needed. It just wasn’t enough in the end."

On two cup exits this week...

"It's obviously disappointing for us in terms of our objectives. But for two-and-a-half months, this small group of players have given everything in multiple competitions. I think they’ve been outstanding. We had 11 first-team players missing today. We started with four teenagers, a 21-year-old goalkeeper coming to one of the best teams in the country, away from home, after playing the best team in the country on Thursday night, after playing a Premier League game last Sunday, after playing a Europa game. The same group of players, no rotation, and they’ve been doing this since the middle of November. I think they’ve given everything they can and I’ve got so much respect and admiration for the players and how they’ve gone about that. We get a couple of midweeks off now, great for them to recover. We’ll get some players back which is also great for this group that they’ll get some help. And we move on."

On being hopeful for the rest of the season...

"Yes. Definitely. We’re in a great position in Europe and we get an opportunity to improve our league form. We’ll get some players back over the next couple of weeks. Plenty to look forward to."

On a 're-set' point and the cup exits coming before players return from injury...

"That’s the timing of things. Just unfortunate for us that we couldn’t get a couple back, we were hoping to get a couple back for this last week and it didn’t happen. We could have risked a couple but with what’s ahead we went conservative on that. It is a bit of a re-set. We'll get three, maybe four, players back this week, with the possibility of one or two others in the week or two after that. More importantly, this group that has been going gets a rest. They can go a whole week now without having to get up for another game. We got back from Liverpool at 2am on Friday, the early hours of the morning. So they can get some rest they desperately need physically and mentally."

On being judged with a full squad...

"I was saying in there, take a back four of Vicario, Dragusin, Romero, van de Ven, Udogie, Maddison, Johnson, Solanke, Odobert, Werner... take them out of any team... How did Liverpool go today? And they just did that for one game. Do that for two-and-a-half months. Any team. Do that for two-and-a-half months in multiple competitions. I don't care about me. People will judge me, but you can't judge this group of players on what's happened. They've given everything. Like I said, two 18-year-olds, a 19-year-old, a 17-year-old, a 21-year-old goalkeeper starting against one of the best teams in the country at home. They've had a week off, they didn't play Thursday night against Liverpool. We did. Same group of players. Not a change. You can't measure this group of players om that and their performance where they're at. It's too easy for people to be critical of them. I just have huge admiration and respect for them. We kind of knew this game was going to be the finishing line because we knew what was coming ahead in terms of midweeks off and getting some players back. They tried their hardest and that's all you can ask. What I'm saying is you can't be critical of players or players' performances at this time. Because if you do, then do that with everyone else. Be as critical of other clubs when they've got 9 or 10 or 11 players out. And none of them have. and have to play every week. And not for one game. I'm not just saying we had to do this today. We've been doing this since the middle of November and you can't judge performances of these players and critique them on what they've done. All they've done is given all they can and that's all you can ask for. Me, that's not of interest to me. My responsibility at this football club is this group of players and this team, to get them to play in the manner I want them to and bring us success. Whether people think I can do that or not, that's for others to judge. But there's got to be a better appreciation for what a very small group of players have been doing for the last two and a half months. It can't be that people think that's an excuse. That's just not anywhere near close to objective analysis. That's just agenda driven stuff. If it's to get rid of me that's fine. Good on you. Go for it a million times. But in terms of this group of players, what they've given over the past two and half months has been outstanding, it's a credit to him, I can't speak highly enough of them."

On free midweeks coming up...

"I'm just going to keep on working like I have. The ones who have been playing, we've got to give them some time off. We've got the early part of the week and we'll give them some time off. The boys who are coming back, we'll get the opportunity to give them a whole week of training, which is great. So, come Tuesday, we should have three or four who have been missing, we can give them a full week of training instead of a couple of sessions and then throwing them in. By the time we get to the back end of the week we should have something resembling a squad of players to prepare for a big game. That then folds into the following week when again we've got seven days and no midweek game to prepare for the next game. So that gives us a real good opportunity to get some work into the guys who have been out for quite a while and give some rest to the guys who have been going at it. So by the time we get back to being in Europe and having midweek games we'll be in a much better shape."

On not playing 'like a Postecoglou team'

"I don't know how else to explain it. I don't know how else to explain it if you can't see that this team is just trying to play its hardest in the most extreme of circumstances. Two and a half months of asking 18-year-olds and 17-year-olds and senior players, with no rest, to play Thursday, Sunday, Thursday, Sunday, Thursday, Sunday, Thursday, Sunday. I'll keep going for two-and-a-half months and if you think that is not at all a factor of how this team is performing then there's nothing else I can say. There's nothing else I can explain."

On the playing style staying the same, regardless of injuries...

"No, because they're tired mate. Do you think if we hadn't played Thursday night and I hadn't rotated that team we wouldn't have been pressing aggressively today? Fair chance, unless you don't think they're human beings. Unless you're super human and you think no, after playing Liverpool on Thursday night they should be flying tonight. It doesn't happen. They're human beings. Why do you think Liverpool and others rotate 11 players? Why? There's a reason and I wish I could do the same. So you can bring a freshness to the team. Of course they're not playing anywhere near the levels that we want or expect, but that's not because they're not trying. It's because they can't. I think this group of players, once we get the rest of the group in, will be an outstanding team. I have no doubt about that. Whether other people can't see that, that's of no interest to me. If you want to measure anything on what they're doing at the moment, other than the extreme situation they're dealing with then I think your analysis is skewed and it's not objective. That's my opinion."