Ange's outburst shows his desire after strangest night in noe home

ANGE POSTECOGLOU had called for Tottenham to show progress against Manchester City and his players responded, producing one of their better performances since November and coming so close to a deserved draw when captain Heung-min Son missed a late one-on-one.

- Dan Kilpatrick

Tottenham               0

Manchester City     2

After last night's game, however, a visibly-furious Postecoglou appeared to take aim at Spurs' culture in a cryptic press conference, in which he claimed the build-up to the match had shown him the club's foundations "are fairly fragile".

"The last 48 hours have revealed a fair bit to me... I've got to go back to the drawing board with some things," he said. Postecoglou did not elaborate, although it was not hard to read between the lines.

The defeat to City, which ended Spurs' hopes of a top-four finish, played out in a subdued atmosphere, with an overwhelming majority of the home supporters conflicted about the prospect of their side getting a result which would have left the title in Arsenal's hands on the final day.

The tension only really drained out of the stadium when Erling Haaland scored his second of two goals, an unerring penalty, and Spurs fans could relax, safe in the knowledge that their side had played well but were not about to do Arsenal an historic favour.

Before the game, Postecoglou bullishly questioned suggestions that some fans might have mixed feelings and said he could never comprehend any supporter wanting their side to lose.