Every word Ange Postecoglou said on Dejan Kulusevski injury, surgery for striker and record defeat

Ange Postecoglou held his press conference after Tottenham's 2-0 defeat against Crystal Palace on Sunday and we've got the full transcript with everything he said.

The loss made it a record 20 defeats in a Premier League season and the game was only 15 minutes in when Spurs lost Dejan Kulusevski to an injury to worry them ahead of that Europa League final on May 21 against Manchester United in Bilbao.

Palace were the better team against a Tottenham side with eight changes from their victory against Bodo/Glimt on Thursday night. After a couple of ruled out efforts, the visitors finally grabbed the lead just before the break when Daniel Munoz beat the offside trap and raced towards the box and squared for Eberechi Eze to fire home.

The England international doubled his tally early in the second half when Ismaila Sarr got into far too much space behind Djed Spence and eventually picked out Eze to slot home in the box.

Both sides cancelled each other out for the remainder of the encounter with the best opportunity falling to Pape Matar Sarr, who headed wide unmarked, before Antonin Kinksy denied Eddie Nketiah late on.

Our Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to Postecoglou after the game. Here's a full transcript from the press conference at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

How is Dejan Kulusevski?

Should be OK, just talking to him after. Medical team are not too concerned with him, more of a knock than anything else. So we're hoping he should be OK.

Did that injury impact the players ahead of final?

Hard to say mate. I still felt we weren't anywhere near the level we needed to be today. It's not helpful when you lose another player, 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.

Does eight changes have an effect though?

That 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.

Were you going to bring on Solanke or Richarlison if Kulusevski had stayed on?

No, we weren't going to. The last time we played on an artificial pitch with Tamworth, the game after we got two calf injuries out of it. Guys like Brennan, maybe Richy and Madders, so we were never going to risk those guys today.

Was there a lack of desire?

I just think some of it is psychological in terms of not being able to cope with what's before us at the moment. With elite sport, if you're a little bit off it you pay the price. We're trying to navigate this fine line of being prepared for a really big game but also needing to perform at levels you need to in the Premier League because it's unforgiving.

Is Wilson Odobert at 10 something we might see more of?

It was a needs must basis today, I put him in there, he's played there before because I didn't want to expose any of the other guys from the other night so he had to play in there. But I think aside from all that, it's still about performance. Guys had an opportunity today to put their name forward and put some pressure on the guys who played the other night. 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.

Why have Richarlison and Solanke on the bench if they're not going to be used? Is Dane Scarlett available?

Dane's had an operation, he was carrying a groin injury all year and we decided to get the operation done so he's ready for pre-season.

Antonin Kinsky played, what was the thinking behind that?

Even with Vic, he's having to perform every game. I just felt it was a good time for him... because it was quite an emotional night the other night and fair to say all the lads are probably still feeling the effects of it physically and mentally, including him. Toni's training well and I was keen to give him another crack at it. He's not eligible in Europe so it was more about giving Vic a breather before the big final push.

Does it feel like the players know there are eight or nine set players likely to play in the final?

That's the problem, because how do you know? Like we lost Lucas 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. Like I said when Lucas went down, we had to throw Biss in there, so you have to be ready.

So is the message that they have to take the chance to give you something to think about for the final?

Well they missed one today, so I mean there aren't gonna be too many, so you know, there's their opportunity.

One small positive at least was for Son to get some minutes?

Yeah, good to get him some match minutes and hopefully we can get him some more match minutes against Villa on Friday and it'd be good to get him back and involved and available.

It's been such a season of extremes, you reach a European final on Thursday and now a record 20th Premier league defeat?

Yeah, look and I get it and people are banging the drum about this record with defeats, but if people don’t see there is a correlation between the two, I am not going to sit here and, it’s not exactly Pythagoras' theorem. It’s quite simple to understand we would have had much better results if we didn’t have to navigate this. So, either you understand or you don’t and beat us over the head, I get it.

I am not happy with the way we performed today, so that’s what I look at. I think we could have performed better and irrespective of the result you can still lose a game of football and our performance level wasn't anywhere near where it should be. That's my responsibility to address.

Is it heartening that Man United are going through the same problems this season?

Nah, I said before, I couldn’t care less about Man U. They have their own journey. It is about us and what we’re trying to create here. It is too easy to accept a performance that is not up to the level because of other factors. I think irrespective of other factors, you should still be able to perform at a certain level and we didn’t reach that level today. That’s disappointing.

Does this suggest past 12 or 13 players, the squad is not good enough?

No, I just think we haven’t been able to cope with what’s been presented to us this year. A lot of that is because of the injury situation we had, particularly earlier in the year. It’s not just about getting players back, I’ve had to manage guys like Micky, Romero and Destiny. There is every possibility they could have played more than what they’ve played, but we’ve had to manage it and we haven’t been able to cope with it. We have got a lot of young players in the squad who we have exposed to a lot of football and fair to say a few of them are looking tired I think because we’re into our 60th or 61st game and because of the injury situation we had, we’ve paid a price for that in the league. So, that is the story as it’s been told.

Europa League final

We have an all-English Europa League final and focus now will be on how fans can get their hands on tickets, but also get out to Bilbao for the match on Wednesday, May 21.

The best way to get to Bilbao will be to fly, although most direct flights are now fully booked.

There are other way sto go though, with different airports an option.

Check out SkyScanner here to sort out your travel arrangements.