Tottenham: Ange Postecoglou delivers verdict on Spurs fringe players' case for Europa League final inclusion | OneFootball

Spurs boss rung the changes with one eye on the Europa League final

Following Thursday's win over Bodo/Glimt in the semi-final decider, Postecoglou made eight changes to his XI against the Eagles -- with only Pedro Porro, Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski, who was forced off injured after 19 minutes, keeping their places.

Spurs' second string were overrun by Palace, who twice had goals disallowed before Eberechi Eze's simple finishes either side of half-time.

Postecoglou, who said Kulusevski "should be OK" to face Manchester United on May 21, says there was not enough "compelling evidence" from his side that they deserve to feature in Bilbao in 10 days time.

"Guys had an opportunity today to put their name forward and put some pressure on the guys who played the other night," the Australian said.

"Fair to say there wasn't any compelling evidence of that. That's what I'm trying to push with these guys, that sometimes in football you've just got to take the opportunities there before you.

"They're never going to be perfect.

“We made eight changes but there is an opportunity there and you've just got to take it when presented to you and I'm disappointed more didn't step forward today.”

Dejection: Tottenham players

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Spurs have one more league game before the Final, the visit to Aston Villa on Friday night.

“They missed [an opportunity] today, so I mean there aren't gonna be too many, so you know, there's their opportunity,” Postecoglou added.

"We weren't anywhere near the level we needed to be today.

“It's not helpful when you lose another player [Kulusevski], it's the fine line we're trying to navigate at the moment. That aside, it was a disappointing performance and nowhere near the level it should be.

"[Rotation] explains some of it but not all of it. I still felt we should have been better than we were today. So I can't totally discount the performance today on the fact I've made a number of changes. We should have still been able to perform better than what we did.”

We made eight changes but there is an opportunity there and you've just got to take it when presented to you and I'm disappointed more didn't step forward today

Ange Postecoglou

Almost every one of Spurs’ likely XI against United already seems set in stone, particularly as captain Heung-min Son returned from injury for the final half-hour against the Eagles.

But Postecoglou says that is no excuse for under-performance from the rest of his squad.

“That's the problem, because how do you know [when your opportunity might come]

“Like we lost Lucas [Bergvall] the day before a game. You've got to be ready for your opportunity.

“They may think that this team's already set, but if there's nothing else we've learnt this year it's that nothing goes to plan, so I'm not thinking about the starting line-up now for the final because we've still got another game and 10 days to navigate, so if there is that attitude in there then it's the wrong attitude because you're missing an opportunity.

“When Lucas went down, we had to throw Biss [Yves Bissouma] in there, so you have to be ready.”