'We took liberties' - Ange Postecoglou unhappy with 'wasteful' Tottenham despite Fulham win and record-breaking start
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Published 23/10/2023 at 23:32 GMT+1
Ange Postecoglou believes his Tottenham Hotspur side were “really, really wasteful” after beating Fulham 2-0 and going top of the Premier League. Heung-Min Son and James Maddison scored as Postecoglou became the first Premier League manager to reach 23 points after their first nine games in charge. “We took some liberties with the game which I wasn’t happy with,” he said after the match.
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Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou was unhappy that his side "took some liberties" in their 2-0 win over Fulham which saw them return to the top of the Premier League table.
Heung-Min Son and James Maddison scored either side of the break as Spurs continued their unbeaten start to the league campaign.
The result took them above Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool in the table, but despite the victory, a clean sheet and a ninth unbeaten league game, Postecoglou does not feel his side were at their best.
“It was a good result, obviously," he told Sky Sports.
"Fulham were a tough team to break down. I thought first half we handled it pretty well, nice and calm. The chances we had, we probably should have had a second or third.
"The second half wasn’t great for us. We didn’t play anywhere near the levels we can with the ball. Without the ball, we were still excellent in terms of our pressing, but with the ball, we were really, really wasteful.
“I said before the game we’d been really consistent this year, that's probably the worst 45 minutes with the ball we've had.
"We’ve still got plenty of work to do.”
Postecoglu has led Tottenham to their best start to a league campaign since they last won the First Division title in the 1960/61 campaign.
He has also become the first manager in Premier League history to win 23 points from their first nine games in charge.
However, Postecoglou was unhappy with how Spurs handled the second half against Fulham, even though Maddison scored early on to give the home side a two-goal buffer.
“It’s a combination of things,” the Australian answered when asked what he wasn’t pleased with.
“I thought we got a little bit wasteful, a little bit static, we weren't moving as much as we were in the first half.
“You’ve always got to respect the game. If you’re off it just a little bit, I’ve been around long enough to know it will drag you down pretty quickly. We didn’t really stay true to the football we want to play in terms of our movement, the ball movement.
“We took some liberties with the game which I wasn’t happy with.”
Spurs next travel to Crystal Palace on Friday evening.
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