Tottenham boss Postecoglou blasts his own team for ‘UNACCEPTABLE’ defending following costly loss to Arsenal

ANGE POSTECOGLOU blasted Tottenham’s defending as “unacceptable” after their first-half debacle in the North London derby.

But he is still not overly-concerned by his side’s set-piece record, despite two more goals shipped from corners taking the total to FOURTEEN for the season.

EPA

Ange Postecoglou cast an angry eye over Spurs’ dodgy defending[/caption]

AFP

Tottenham’s Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg nets his own-goal opener[/caption]

That is the fifth worst in the league after Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s own goal and Kai Havertz header came either side of a Bukayo Saka breakaway strike.

Arsenal’s 3-2 away win was built on that triple burst before the break and Postecoglou said: “They had too easy access to our goal.

“They got there three or four times and scored three times in the first half.

“It is just unacceptable at this level and we paid a price for it.”

Spurs mounted a second-half fightback with Cristian Romero’s strike and a Son Heung-min penalty – but it was not enough.

Once again Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario was targeted at set-pieces as Arsenal exposed the hosts’ frailties.

Yet Postecoglou said: “If I thought fixing defensive set pieces was the answer to us bridging the gap then I’d put all of my time and effort into that. But that’s not where we’re at.

“For us it’s about, when I was focused on the details of, not just set pieces but a lot of moments in games where we don’t sense that you give good opposition the time and the space to do things then they’re going to hurt you.

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“They maybe had four attempts on goal in the first half and they conceded three. I don’t think it’s about one part of it, it’s a bigger, broader picture than that, but our defensive set pieces for those two were very poor. But there’s a lot more than that to fix.”

The defeat, which came two weeks after a 4-0 tonking at Newcastle, left Spurs seven points behind Aston Villa in the race for fourth spot.

The performance of Argentina star Romero was a rare bright spot for the hosts.

Postecoglou added: “He’s a World Cup winner and I’ve just got to get some of what’s in him into some of the others.”