Spurs beat Manchester United 4-3 in a thrilling tie on Thursday (19.12.24) and the coach was delighted with his depleted squad for coming through a chaotic match to keep their hopes of winning a trophy alive.

Postecoglou said: "We played so well, well in control of the game. It’s the way our season has gone a little bit, we self-inflicted some pain on ourselves and then we had to scramble to get a foothold again.

"It should have been a lot more comfortable than it ended up being but having said that, I still can’t get away from the fact this group of players is doing an unbelievable job at the moment to get us through this.

"We’re in a semi-final of a cup competition, so I think that’s something to reflect this progress for us and we’ve got an opportunity now, home and away to get to a final and we’ve earned that opportunity."

Errors from goalkeeper Fraser Forster meant Spurs nearly threw away a three-goal lead but Postecoglou praised the player for stepping up for the team during a period of difficulty.

The Australian manager said: "He is disappointed because he was outstanding for us.

"The first one probably affected his confidence a little bit and he lost a bit of belief and the second one compounded it, but he is a big boy and he is another one who has stood up for us big time in this period.

"I can’t speak highly enough of this group of players. Again tonight we had 10 players from our list unavailable for one reason or another. We had a day’s rest less than Man United.

"We are not just getting through games, we are still maintaining our level of football. As I keep saying, we will get to some smoother waters at some point but this period is going to see us have enormous growth."