Tottenham: Ange Postecoglou not hiding from 'massive' chance to 'accelerate' Spurs plans | OneFootball

Postecoglou knows potential impact of getting past Liverpool and reaching the Carabao Cup Final

Ange Postecoglou has tended to play down the significance of the domestic cups at Tottenham, previously insisting that they were not a quick fix for the club's problems, but the head coach made no attempt to dismiss the potential impact of beating Liverpool on Thursday.

“There’s no hiding it, it would be massive,” Postecoglou said. “To get to a final, it’s going to be hard-earned.

“Going to Anfield, the way they’re going this year, they’ve been an unbelievable team, they’re so consistent, they’re the most settled, injury-free team in the whole league. Apart from us, they’re the only ones still having a crack at all the competitions.

Lucas Bergvall’s late goal in north London last month gives Spurs the advantage heading to Merseyside

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“[Given] all those ingredients, if we manage to overcome that and get to a final, it would be massive. Massive for where we’re at, massive for our future. I’m sure it will accelerate the growth of our players and the belief in what we’re trying to do. In that context, it’s a massive night for us.

“But I think we’ve earned the right to be in this position, even though it’s been a real, difficult season for us. We’ve earned the right to make a big impact.”

As Postecoglou hoped, the signings of Kevin Danso and Mathys Tel have lifted the mood at the club, giving everyone a new spring in their step.

Both new arrivals are in contention to start on Merseyside, potentially adding a freshness to Postecoglou's depleted side, although the visitors will still be missing a host of key players, with neither Micky van de Ven nor Cristian Romero fit enough to feature.

Part of the challenge for a youthful Spurs will be dealing with the Anfield atmosphere after Postecoglou's players appeared overawed in visits to Galatasaray, Rangers in the Europa League, as well as on their recent trip to the blue half of Merseyside for a dismal 3-2 defeat to Everton.

“It’s part inexperience but I think we handled Old Trafford pretty well which can be intimidating, so we’ve had our moments,” Postecoglou said.

“Those experiences have allowed us to grow, for sure. Especially some of our younger players. For a lot of them they’re still firsts.

“For a lot of them it will be a first at Anfield. People dismiss the fact it’s such a young group and a lot of them are doing things for the first time.

Postecoglou has new signing Kevin Danso and Mathys Tel available to make their debuts against Liverpool

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“Again, I see that as a positive. The more we expose them the more we put them in those situations the greater the growth from the group further down the track.

Tel could start on the right flank or be used from the bench as a potential rotation option for Spurs captain Heung-min Son, who has four goals on his last four appearances at Anfield and has found some sharpness in the last few games.

Postecoglou has compared Son to Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, also 32, and suggested the pair would both be having very different seasons if they swapped teams.

The Spurs head coach believes Son would have been more impactful this season if he had been allowed more rest, adding to the significance of Tel's arrival.

“Sonny’s been outstanding for us,” Postecoglou said. “The extremes we’ve had to put on him this year, it’d be tough for anyone to carry the load he has both from a physical perspective, a mental perspective.

“I think he was unbelievable against Brentford on the weekend but that’s because he only played 45 minutes on Thursday night. Now we haven’t been able to do that.

“If we had the opportunity to give him the rest he needs to be at his best I think we would have seen it. But I think he’s got a real clear focus in his eye that he senses an opportunity for us as a football club, not just for himself, to have success this year.

“Ben Davies is another one who’s really stepped up in recent times. Two guys who have been at this club for a long time and understand what success will do for this club. Both of them realise what it means for the club, more importantly, and he’s going to be a part of us hopefully having success.”

As well as van de Ven and Romero, Spurs are expected to be without Guglielmo Vicario, Radu Dragusin, Destiny Udogie, James Maddison, Brennan Johnson, Timo Werner, Wilson Odobert and Dominic Solanke.

Liverpool will be missing Trent Alexander-Arnold but have largely avoided injuries this season, despite continuing to compete across four fronts.

Slot has put their clean bill of health down to luck and an adjusted training schedule, but Postecoglou dismissed the suggestion that intense sessions had contributed to Spurs casualties.

“There’s a whole range of things that kind of ended up being a perfect storm for us, but we’ll certainly look at the way we do things,” he said.

“I know people look at our training, but I guarantee you, we're hardly trained for the past four months. We’ve been playing games, so nothing to do with our training.”