Ange Postecoglou after Spurs 18th Premier League defeat: ‘Another game we’ve lost where we shouldn’t lose’ | OneFootball

Ange Postecoglou says he felt Spurs ‘deserved to win the game’ despite their 2-1 loss to Nottingham Forest.

Elliott Anderson fired Forest in front within five minutes with a deflected strike from the edge of the box.

Having been denied by VAR five minutes earlier, Chris Wood doubled the visitors’ advantage, rising to meet Anthony Elanga’s cross and beating Guglielmo Vicario in the air, heading into an empty net.

Both Lucas Bergvall and Richarlison were denied by a goal line clearance from Harry Toffolo and a magnificent save from Matz Sels respectively.

Spurs did pull a goal back through Richarlison with three minutes to go, but it wasn’t enough to mount a late comeback.

“It’s another game we’ve lost where we shouldn’t lose,” he said.

“It’s been a big part of our season in that we just make things really difficult for ourselves in key moments. Just a little bit of concentration and giving away poor goals.

“It’s a shame because our football was outstanding. We totally dominated the game. Even with the two goals we conceded, I still felt like we deserved to win the game.

“At the same time, it’s another unacceptable loss. We had challenges today, having to make changes to the team. It’s just really frustrating, because our football was so good that you’ve lost another game.”

Postecoglou insisted that a lack of motivation was not the reason for why Spurs were unable to gain a result from the match, given their dominance.

“It’s not like we lost because the players chucked it in. If that’s what people saw, they are watching something different to me,” he said.

“I don’t think they lacked motivation today, because I thought our football was outstanding.

“But again, we’ve paid the price for lacking focus and concentration in key moments. It’s another game we’ve let slip. I don’t think motivation is the issue.”

Postecoglou added that mistakes coming from a lapse of concentration need to be eradicated in order to improve as a side.

“We should learn from these things, but it is a constant in our makeup at the moment. It’s something we need to eradicate,” he admitted.

“But at different times this year we’ve shown real good focus and concentration, Frankfurt being a classic case of that.

“Tonight, at the start, we didn’t really sense the only threat Forest were going to have were on the counter attack, which I thought we handled very well, and set-pieces. We gave away two poor goals.”