Ange Postecoglou explains how Tottenham must react to Wolves defeat: 'I'm no magician'

A disappointed Ange Postecoglou remarked “I’m not a magician” after Tottenham slumped to fifth in the Premier League by losing 2-1 at home to Wolves.

Tottenham’s fourth defeat in their last five meetings with Wolves came courtesy of a double from Joao Gomes, either side of Dejan Kulusevski’s strike just after half-time.

Aston Villa moved ahead of Spurs and into fourth place and Postecoglou’s side will have to sit on this defeat for a fortnight as they do not play again until hosting Crystal Palace on March 2.

“There's no tricks, it's hard work”, Postecoglou said when asked how his side can get back on track in their race for a top-four finish.

“I'm not a magician, I'm a football manager. It's hard work which these guys have done all year. We’ve got to this point, which is pretty decent, on the back of some hard work and that's what we'll keep doing.

“We didn't start the game well. We controlled the game well enough, we just weren't threatening enough.

“We've had a lot of injuries this year, we've certainly performed better than that when we have had injuries. So I don't think that's the reason. Our general level of performance wasn't where it should be.”

The 58-year-old added: “For us to dominate games like we want to, it does mean we need to start aggressively, and try and put the opposition on the back foot. And we haven't really done that the last two or three games. Before, we were doing that and that gave us a foothold in games that we're not getting at the moment.

“We will work hard, we've got two weeks to prepare for our next game and there's no point feeling sorry for ourselves. You take the blows and you've got to move on, irrespective of what's happened in the past.

“You've got to make sure you're ready for the next game. We've got two weeks, it's a different kind of build-up for us, but we'll use these two weeks to make sure we're ready for the next game at home.”