He’s not playing his kids – Ange Postecoglou says City will have strong cup team

Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou knows how tough Wednesday’s Carabao Cup fourth-round tie at home to Manchester City will be despite previous remarks from Pep Guardiola.

Guardiola has repeatedly stated this season that City would not waste energy on the competition and during the 2-1 win over Watford last month played five academy graduates, which included Phil Foden and Rico Lewis.

Postecoglou is fully aware if Spurs want to progress to the quarter-finals then they must be at their best.

He said: “If you look at Pep in this comp, he has always pretty heavily rotated and they won four in a row didn’t they?

“He’s not playing his kids. No disrespect to Pep’s kids! These are good players, they’re at City. They have a pretty good programme. Pedro (Porro) was part of that.

“If you’re part of the City infrastructure, you’re a good player. We’re expecting a tough game, but irrespective of who they put out, we want to win. We want to stay in this competition and put in a strong performance.”

Tuesday was familiar territory for Postecoglou, who has continuously faced questions about Tottenham’s 16-year trophy drought since his 2023 appointment.

The 59-year-old has been consistent in his belief that cup success will not guarantee a prosperous future and pointed to Erik ten Hag’s dismissal from Manchester United on Monday as further evidence.

“You can’t guarantee success. No-one can, but you can put yourself in a position,” Postecoglou insisted.

“If you can put yourself in a position in the league on a consistent basis, I think by extension you should be strong in the knock-out comps. That’s still where I think our most meaningful progress lies.

“Winning a comp. Is it a positive? Absolutely. Our supporters will love it, it’s great for the club, yes you get that winning feeling too. But it’s not a panacea for everything, obviously.

“We’ve got a manager (Ten Hag) here who’s won two in the last two years who’s just got the sack. Everyone tells me, just win a trophy and you’ll be fine. I don’t think so.

“The measures these days are constantly shifting. There’s always something that people perceive to be better.

“What’s more important for me is that we’re getting to a space where we’re consistently challenging for all honours.

“If we’re there in that space, where big clubs are, and where we should be, the rest will take care of itself.”

The 1-0 loss at Crystal Palace on Sunday halted Spurs’ momentum after they had won seven of their previous eight matches in all competitions.

It occurred three weeks after a collapse at Brighton on October 6 produced a 3-2 defeat, which left Tottenham eighth in the Premier League after four defeats in nine games.

However, Postecoglou has plenty of belief in his squad, which will be without Son Heung-min and Wilson Odobert (both hamstring) for the visit of City.

He added: “We know where we are at. We’re struggling in difficult moments because we lack some maturity and leadership.

“Now, there’s two ways of dealing with that. You can either go and buy it, acquire it, or you can wait for it to develop within your own group.

“We’ve gone down this (develop) way because I think that’s the better way for me, but with that process, it takes time and experience. You’ve got to go through tough times.

“I’m so optimistic about this playing group. I think there’s such a high ceiling with this group of players. The more we get exposed to difficult times, the more I believe that ceiling gets higher.”