‘People’s opinions are irrelevant’: Postecoglou says he pays no heed to pundits | Ange Postecoglou

Ange Postecloglou has insisted he still has belief in his players and does not listen to criticism from pundits after Tottenham’s thrashing at Liverpool.

Spurs went into the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final at Anfield with a 1 -0 advantage but did not have a shot on target at Anfield and lost 4-0. That led to widespread criticism of Postecoglou and his squad, with the Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp describing their performance as “abject”.

Before the trip to face Aston Villa on Sunday in the FA Cup, the Spurs manager defended his players. “There’s plenty about them,” he said. “I get the pile-on at the moment. It’s really easy for people to stick their boots 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; [we] didn’t really perform at the levels we wanted to. That 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.”

Postecoglou, asked whether he could use the criticism to prove people wrong, said: “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: ‘Oh, 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 counsel and atone for it in the way that only really matters and that is with playing the football I know we can.”