Ange Postecoglou wary of ‘destroying’ careers of young Tottenham players

Ange Postecoglou believes he could “destroy” some of his young players’ careers if they are exposed to the spotlight too early given the criticism levelled at his Tottenham side after their 4-0 defeat by Liverpool in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg.

The Tottenham head coach is expecting to field a similar starting lineup against Aston Villa in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday to the team that were thrashed 4-0 at Anfield as he waits for the return of several key players from injury.

The teenagers Dane Scarlett – who is ineligible to face Villa after playing for Oxford in an earlier round while on loan – Oyindamola Ajayi and Mikey Moore all scored in the 3-0 win over Elsfborg at the end of January that secured progress to the last 16 of the Europa League. But, having seen some of his more experienced players singled out for their poor performances against Liverpool, Postecoglou – who will be without Richarlison as a result of the calf injury he picked up at Anfield – stressed he has a duty to protect those who are taking the first steps in their professional careers.

“It’s one thing to put them on late in a European game but I’m not going to expose young players to that … we saw what happened and our players are now getting criticised,” he said of the outcome at Anfield.

“Most of them will be able to handle it but I wouldn’t want to expose a young player to something like that, especially the way the world is today. You know, we don’t want to make determinations in a snap instance and destroy careers. I’m not going to expose young players who I don’t think are ready for that.

“So we don’t have the opportunity to rotate but I think it will be a similar kind of team that rolls out on Sunday. We’ve been doing this for quite a while now for the last three months and we have handled that pretty well at times and that’s what we will try and do on Sunday.”

The new signings Kevin Danso and Mathys Tel both made their debuts at Liverpool, with the latter coming on as a second-half substitute. Postecoglou expects the France Under-21s forward who has joined on loan from Bayern Munich to have an immediate impact.

“We’re going to have to lean on him a fair bit now. But he came here to play,” he said. ““His physical condition is not too bad. He hasn’t played a lot but watching him in training and last night, he was still moving quite well. We have to be careful with him, also. But he came here to play and he’ll get an opportunity to do that.”