Ange Postecoglou was proud of his team’s effort at Old Trafford (Picture: Getty Images)
The Tottenham squad was hit with a string of illnesses in the days leading up to the clash with Manchester United, revealed manager Ange Postecoglou.
The entertaining contest finished 2-2 at Old Trafford, with Rasmus Hojlund and Marcus Rashford twice putting the home team ahead, while Richarlison and Rodrigo Bentancur scored the equalisers.
Dejan Kulusevski sat out the game for Spurs due to illness, but Postecoglou said that the Swede was not the only one who was unwell, but others managed to recover in time for the trip north.
‘Kulusevski struggled all week, he was desperate to play, Skippy [Oliver Skipp, Destiny [Udogie], two or three others struggled this week,’ said the Australian.
‘Doesn’t matter, these guys don’t make excuses. If we didn’t play well today they wouldn’t want me to make excuses.
‘When you consider guys who haven’t played in a while, Timo [Werner] has had two training sessions with us, even Rodrigo and Skippy haven’t started games in a while, enormous effort from the lads.’
Richarlison scored the first of Tottenham’s two equalisers (Picture: Getty Images)
Tottenham were boosted this weekend by the return from injury of both Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, restoring their first choice partnership in central defence.
‘Romero is two weeks ahead of schedule,’ said Postecoglou. ‘The thing about this group, Bentancur was similar, put aside their own personal well-being to help the team.
‘Coming to a difficult place, United are in transition but still a brilliant football team, front three are a threat. Testament to their character.
‘I thought it was an outstanding performance. Difficult place to come and play, big game for United as well.
‘Go down pretty early but this group of players when they deal with adversity do it in an outstanding manner. Couldn’t be prouder. Unlucky not to win the game, irrespective, performance and effort was first rate.’
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