Coventry City manager Mark Robins admits what Spurs are best at

Coventry City manager Mark Robins made no secret of his frustration at his side letting what they thought was a ticket to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup slip out of their hands, but has explained what makes Spurs such a good side.

Despite Spurs being the favourites for the Carabao Cup clash with Robins' side, it took two late goals after a really poor performance to get through, and nobody would argue that their hosts were the better side throughout the game.

In an interview with Coventry City's YouTube channel after the game, Robins said: "They are the best pressing team in Europe at the moment, also, they have more possession than any other team in Europe too.

Mark Robins explains what Tottenham are so good at

Those are the stats of the team we played against tonight. Even though there were some changes, they all train the same way, and they are all top players.”

Speaking on his frustrations at letting the lead slip, Robins told Coventry Live: "I'm not going to swear, I thought we were good, I thought we were really good out of possession and got most things right. In possession for the first 15 minutes, we tended to rush it and went long too early.

What generally happens at those clubs when they do it for a cup game, they can look at it and think that they are the second best, the subs or the reserves or whatever and then, mentally, they’re not on it. And that’s what you hope for as a Championship team or a side from a lower division.

But they (Spurs) performed really, really well to be fair. They came after us really well and even though we got some things wrong it was because of the pressure they put us under with their press. Hence the reason we went long early in the game. But I thought we settled down really well.

We still have to be more ruthless, let’s be honest, I keep saying, when life presents you with chances we seem to not take those chances at this moment in time.

I look back to the play-off final and the game against Manchester United and it was there for us, and the game was there for us again tonight and we just didn’t manage to take it. There’s the disappointment but there are so many positives from the game.

The second half we had balls into the area that we missed. Ephron has had a couple of opportunities at the far post again and he has to keep getting in there because those will turn into goals at some point.

From our perspective, yes, it’s disappointing that we didn’t see the job out and get over the line but there are lots and lots of positives from that tonight. And if you’re Tottenham Hotspur you are probably relieved to go through at our expense.”

It is hard to disagree with Robins' summary of the game, considering how emotional it would have been in the hours after the game, it felt like a balanced and objective assessment of the game. Considering the fortunate nature of the win for Spurs, it would have been easy for Robins to give a bitter interview, but it was nothing like that. A top manager and you can be sure that this will be a Premier League fixture before long.

For Robins full quotes, you can click either of the above links.