Yahoo News Tottenham 'so far off it' as they gift Aston Villa golden Champions League chance
Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou admitted his team were 'so far off it' on Thursday night as Chelsea delivered a silver lining on an otherwise disappointing night for Aston Villa. While Unai Emery's side were suffering a damaging first leg defeat in the Europa Conference League semi-final to Olympiacos, the Blues were doing Villa a Premier League favour.
Goals from Trevoh Chalobah and Nicolas Jackson consigned Spurs to their third successive Premier League defeat - after losses to Newcastle United and Arsenal - and it now means that it's almost checkmate Villa in the pursuit of a top four finish and Champions League football next term. Indeed they can even secure it this weekend if they beat Brighton and Spurs lose a fourth straight match at Liverpool.
Postecoglou, in his first campaign as Spurs boss, looks set now to guide his team to a fifth-placed finish amid what is proving to be a particularly disappointing conclusion to the campaign; having beaten Villa at Villa Park in March, they've failed to make any more ground up and now find themselves seven points behind the Lions with only a single game in hand. As regards to Thursday night, the manager takes full responsibility.
READ: What McGinn told the crowd after leaving Villa Park as Emery explains Luiz anger
READ: Villa transcript: Emery on Olympiacos 'disappointment', Torres call and Luiz message
"It wasn't a great night and it's fair to say we didn't play anywhere near the sort of football and didn't have the mindset that I expect us to have," he told football.london. "That's on me and I've got to take responsibility for that ultimately as I'm the one who is putting them out there and preparing them for it.
"We were so far off it and I've got to look at myself and see how I'm preparing this team for it. It is what it is. I don’t sort of think in those terms. Like I said, my responsibility is preparing the team every game to make sure we reach certain levels. We didn’t do it today so that lies at my feet and I’ve got to fix that."
