Dejan Kulusevski has hinted at a need for Tottenham Hotspur to be more streetwise amid renewed scrutiny of their daring tactics after the 6-3 defeat by Liverpool.

While Ange Postecoglou blamed injuries for his team’s leaky defence, Kulusevski highlighted how Spurs could also be making smarter in-game decisions.

The creative midfielder remains firmly behind Postecoglou’s approach, saying other factors such as tiredness contributed to the team’s humbling by the Premier League leaders. Tottenham were unable to match Liverpool’s intensity, having also fielded a full-strength team during Thursday’s Carabao Cup win against Manchester United.

Kulusevski, who struck the second Spurs goal, maintained the team’s shortcomings are “not just black and white”, but he suggested there are times when compromises could be required on the field.

When reporters put to Kulusevski that control during matches was something Spurs ought to seek, he said: “If you want to get a result, maybe yeah. You have to think about how are we physically. Who’s playing? How many games have we played the last week? Who are we playing? Have they rested for one week or something? You have to put everything in because it is like life – it’s not just black and white. It’s a lot of factors going into it.”

Kulusevski then added “no, maybe not” when further probed about Spurs’s approach being sustainable. “But you have to improve, you have to find ways,” he said. “Maybe we should have let them have the ball more but that’s not how we play. We went out, we gave everything. It didn’t work. Maybe we learn for the next time.”

Also speaking after the game, Postecoglou said he has accepted that some Tottenham fans may have lost patience with him after the chaotic defeat.

The result left Tottenham 11th in the Premier League table but, despite being under pressure, the head coach declared he would not be changing his ways.

“We are in a difficult situation,” he said with Spurs in the middle of a crippling injury crisis. “The fans, they should feel the way they need to. They were good today and still supported the players, which is important. And, who knows, maybe some of them understand the situation we are in at the moment. It seems many don’t. I hope they understand what we are trying to build here.”

Asked once again about his expansive, brave playing style, Postecoglou added: “Look, I think I have been really, really patient in the last 18 months answering the same questions. If people want to change my approach it won’t change.

“If you want to discount the fact we’re missing a goalkeeper, two centre-backs and left-back and that hasn’t coincided with what we’re doing… I don’t know what to say any more. I think people make up their mind in their own way. They either think what I’m doing is good or bad, and that’s fine.”