Ange Postecoglou admitted he cannot wave a magic wand to revive Tottenham’s bid to finish in the Premier League’s top four.
Postecoglou’s side crashed to a damaging 2-1 home defeat against Wolves on Saturday to leave them two points behind fourth placed Aston Villa.
Villa’s 2-1 win at Fulham lifted them above Tottenham, who dominated possession but struggled in the absence of injured fullbacks Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie.
Tottenham had returned to fourth position with a last-gasp victory over Brighton last weekend, but their first defeat in six league games was a major setback.
Joao Gomes headed Wolves into a deserved lead after 42 minutes. Dejan Kulusevski levelled 34 seconds after the restart for Tottenham, only for Gomes to grab his second after an excellent solo run by Pedro Neto in the 63rd minute.
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Tottenham have failed to score in the first half of their last five home matches and Postecoglou said the only solution to their issues was to knuckle down on the training ground.
“We will work hard, we’ve got two weeks to prepare for our next game (against Crystal Palace) and there’s no point feeling sorry for ourselves,” he said.
“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.
“There’s no tricks, it’s hard work. I’m not a magician, I’m a football manager. It’s hard work which these guys have done all year.
“Like I said, 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.”