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Tottenham star Dejan Kulusevski has called on Spurs to “learn” and take more control in games after the 6-3 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday.
Spurs were thrashed by the Premier League leaders on Sunday and Kulusevski accepted they could have handled the bigger moments better amid a defensive injury crisis.
Ange Postecoglou’s side were without first-choice defenders Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie, as well as goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, and made no changes from Thursday’s 4-3 win over Manchester United.
Postecoglou has come in for criticism for not adapting his attacking strategy during a busy run of games – with the Australian doubling down on his principles – and Kulusevksi said Tottenham need to be better.
The Sweden international, who did not give up the fight against Liverpool and has scored in five successive games for Spurs, said: “You have to improve, you have to find ways.
“Maybe today we should maybe let them have the ball more, but you know, that’s not how we play. So we went out, we gave everything. It didn’t work, maybe we [will] learn for the next time.
“You have to think about how are we physically? Who’s playing? How many games have we played in the last week? Who are we playing? Have they rested for one week or something?
“You have to put everything in because it is like life. It’s not just black and white. It’s a lot of factors going into it.
“We have to learn because we conceded six goals. I can’t sit here and say that we’re doing something perfectly, we’re not. We have to change a little bit for the better, always try to change for the better.”
Postecoglou accepted that Liverpool’s energy levels were higher after Spurs reached the Carabao Cup quarter-finals on Thursday and had one less day to prepare for the match at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
But he also clashed with reporters and said he was growing impatient at being asked the “same questions” as he insisted that injury issues are to blame for his side’s defensive frailties.
“I have massive admiration for the efforts these players are putting in for this club at the moment,” Postecoglou said. “We know what a difficult situation it is and that’s not going to change in the short term. We’ve just got to push on.”
James Maddison rallied around Tottenham’s depleted squad and insisted they will stick together.
“To concede six goals at home obviously hurts,” Maddison told SpursPlay. “To manage to score another three against arguably the best team in the world at the minute, there is positives there but hard to look at, at the minute.
“I am proud of the lads who kept going. It can be very easy to sit back and not let any more chances or keep a scoreline to a minimal, especially when they get the fifth.
“To be fair to the lads, they kept going, we scored another couple and we’ll keep going and dig in.
“We had a great night, a brilliant night here on Thursday and a really difficult one (against Liverpool). The good and the bad, you’ve got to stick together.”
