Liverpool won the Premier League after earning a 5-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur.
Ange Postecoglou makes honest Anfield atmosphere claim and sends Liverpool message
Ange Postecoglou hailed Liverpool as worthy Premier League champions after Tottenham Hotspur suffered their latest comprehensive defeat.
The Reds’ 5-1 triumph over Spurs saw them win the English title for a record-equalling 20th occasion. Anfield was at fever pitch hours before kick-off as fans anticipated history being made. But Liverpool’s afternoon did not got to script in the early stages after Dominic Solanke headed home in the 12th minute.
However, the Reds quickly regained their composure to brush aside the North Lindon side. Luis Diaz, Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo started the title celebrations before half-time. Then Mo Salah’s Word strike of the season and a Destiny Udogie own goal delivered the Reds a triumph, with the title celebrated euphorically.
Tottenham, on the other hand, lost for a 20th time in the Premier League this season and we’re swatted aside by Liverpool for a third time. Once Spurs went behind, head coach Postecoglou knew it would be near impossible for his side to get back in front at an electric Anfield.
The Australian said: “Credit to Liverpool, worthy champions and they have been the outstanding team all year, consistent and again today obviously. I thought we started the game well and sort of made things difficult for them. Even apart from the goal, I thought just in general we had decent territory but once they got in front with the atmosphere inside the stadium fair to say it was going to be difficult for us to claw them back and that’s how it proved.”
Tottenham’s priority for the remainder of tbe campaign is the Europa League and they face Bodo/ Glimt in the semi-final first leg in Thursday. As a result, Postecoglou rested several key players including centre-back pair Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero.
Postecoglou added: It’s not easy, it’s not easy on the players because if you sort of look at Liverpool’s line up you can almost pick it on a weekly basis. I had made a lot of changes but I just felt it was necessary. A lot of our players have missed a lot of this season with injuries and it wasn’t just about bringing them back but managing their minutes because obviously we want them ready.
“Guys like Micky and Romero today could have played but they’ve missed so much of the season that we’ve just got to be really careful about when we use them. Guys like Pedro [Porro] and [Rodrigo] Bentancur have played a lot this year. It has been a juggling act for sure and that hasn’t helped the team, hasn’t helped the players and when you’re facing the best you pay that price.
“We had a really young midfield with Lucas [Bergvall] and Archie [Gray] and you’re asking a massive task of them. Change three of the back four, all of these kind of things logically tell you it’s going to be a tough day, but when you’re facing the best team, and on such a massive occasion, it was always going to be a huge ask for us and it proved too much.”
