Ange Postecoglou has stood by his decision to make sweeping changes to Tottenham Hotspur’s lineup for their Carabao Cup clash against Coventry City, a move that nearly backfired as Spurs narrowly secured a 2-1 win to advance to the fourth round. Despite fielding a heavily rotated squad, Tottenham managed to avoid a cup upset, with late goals from substitutes Djed Spence and Brennan Johnson overturning a 1-0 deficit.
Only three players—Destiny Udogie, Rodrigo Bentancur, and Dominic Solanke—retained their spots from Tottenham’s weekend loss in the North London derby against Arsenal. With the team minutes away from being eliminated by the Championship side, Postecoglou’s faith in his substitutes paid off. Djed Spence and Brennan Johnson came off the bench to provide the late goals that spared Tottenham from an embarrassing exit.
The match featured several fringe players and squad members looking for minutes, including goalkeeper Fraser Forster, who made his first appearance in over a year. Ben Davies, Radu Dragusin, and teenager Archie Gray formed part of a restructured defense. Timo Werner, Lucas Bergvall, and Wilson Odobert also received rare starts as Postecoglou shuffled his squad in anticipation of a grueling fixture schedule.
With seven matches in the span of 21 days ahead for Spurs, Postecoglou explained that rotating his squad was essential. “What I’ve always tried to do is make decisions based on what I believe is best for the team and our long-term goals,” he said. “In football, nothing is guaranteed, but I can always live with my choices because I make them with the team’s interest in mind, not for my own security.”
He further emphasized the need to manage the workload of his players, especially with European competitions on the horizon. “We’ve got Europe starting next week, and the last thing I want is to be forced into making changes out of necessity. Tonight, some important players got valuable minutes, and that’ll help us when we need to rotate in the future.”
Despite the victory, Postecoglou faced some discontent from the away fans when he substituted the promising Lucas Bergvall for James Maddison around the 60-minute mark. However, the Spurs boss remained firm in his decision. “I don’t make substitutions based on popular opinion,” Postecoglou stated. “Lucas has been out for a while, and tonight was his first significant runout in some time. I didn’t want to push him too far, just as I didn’t want to overextend Destiny, which is why we took him off at halftime.”
Coventry took the lead through Brandon Thomas-Asante, and Tottenham’s defense was tested throughout the match. Forster was called into action several times, and Ben Davies made a crucial block to deny Haji Wright a second goal. Postecoglou acknowledged that his side had struggled for control but praised their resilience. “It felt like a classic cup tie,” he said. “Coventry brought a lot of energy, and we struggled to impose ourselves on the game. But we hung in there, even after going behind.”
The Australian manager highlighted the team’s character in coming from behind to win, something he believes had been missing in their early-season performances. “In the last 10 minutes, we showed real belief and spirit. That relentlessness to get a result is something we’ve lacked in our first few games. Hopefully, this is a sign of progress.”
Despite the positive result, Postecoglou was quick to temper expectations, warning that Spurs’ recent struggles won’t be solved overnight. With a crucial Premier League match against Brentford looming, he made it clear that there is still much work to be done. “I’ve said before, there are no quick fixes in football,” he remarked. “Tonight we showed glimpses of the character and resilience we had last year, but we need to bring that same relentlessness to our league performances. If we can marry that with the quality we’ve shown at times, it will make a big difference.”
Postecoglou’s men will now turn their attention to the upcoming Brentford fixture, looking to build on the momentum of their Carabao Cup comeback while continuing to address the inconsistencies that have plagued their start to the season.