Ange Postecoglou feels Tottenham Hotspur ran out of steam in Barcelona loss
Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou feels Tottenham Hotspur ran out of steam by the end of the game against Barcelona in the Joan Gamper Trophy.
The North London side flew to Spain to take on the Blaugrana at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys on 8 August. Having gone into the break with a lead, Spurs let in three goals in the second half.
Speaking to the media via football.london after the 4-2 loss, Postecoglou expressed his delight with how the players performed in the opening 45 minutes. Unfortunately, the La Liga giants managed to pip the win in the final minutes of the match.
“It was good. First half was excellent. They got the goal but our response to that was excellent. The whole first half we played some really good football, pressed them and you could see they were uncomfortable.
“I thought the lads were outstanding. We just ran out of legs in the second half. We had a lot of guys out there who this was their first 90 minutes at this intensity.”
Barcelona arguably started their strongest XI against Tottenham. On the other hand, the likes of Harry Kane, Son Heung-min, Cristian Romero and James Maddison did not feature.
Yet, we put on a decent showing. The Blaugrana got an early lead in the first half and dominated the ball initially. However, Spurs soon got into the game and posed a real threat to the Catalan outfit.
Oliver Skipp managed to find the back of the net in the space of around 10 minutes to hand the Lilywhites the lead. However, we looked to run out of gas in the second half.
Postecoglou did not make a lot of substitutions and waited until the 72nd minute to bring on Alfie Devine, Djed Spence and Dane Scarlett. Therefore, it is understandable that most of the players were tired by the end of the fixture.
Subsequently, Lamine Yamal was at the centre of the Blaugrana’s comeback. In the 81st minute, Ferran Torres scored the equaliser for Barcelona, assisted by the youngster. Ansu Fati then scored in the 90th minute before the Catalan outfit’s 16-year-old academy graduate scored their fourth.
Pre-season is meant to get players back to match fitness and gel the new signings into the team. Therefore, the positives of the game should be focused on rather than the loss.
