Jamie Carragher has slammed Tottenham for their performance in Sunday’s League Cup final.
Manchester City ran out 1-0 winners at Wembley to lift the trophy for the fourth season in a row.
The scoreline did not do justice to City’s domination, with Pep Guardiola’s side controlling the match from start to finish.
Spurs had 37 per cent possession and took just two shots, only one of which found the target.
Interim manager Ryan Mason had replaced Jose Mourinho a few days earlier, but the 29-year-old was unable to inspire Tottenham to their first trophy since 2008.
And Carragher directed his ire at the Spurs players rather than the youthful coach in the dugout.
"This has nothing to do with Ryan Mason at all," he told Sky Sports.
"This group of players at Spurs are a group who really lack courage, and basically bottled it in the final. Forget about losing the final, you don't expect them to win against Manchester City, but it was how they went about it.
"A lot of people say, 'typical Spurs, they're Spursy, they're weak'. I fight against that because it's lazy punditry. I've seen some brilliant Spurs teams; what I saw under Mauricio Pochettino was outstanding, what I saw under Harry Redknapp for two years was outstanding.
"But the reason people speak about Spurs in those terms is because of games like the Carabao Cup final. In their last four cup finals they haven't scored a goal, and this most recent performance is why they get stuck with the 'Spursy' tag.
"I can't argue against it, and the fans can't argue against it on the back of the performance at Wembley, which was down to the players.
"The manager picked a midfield - Harry Winks, Giovani Lo Celso, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg - to try and play through the middle but there was no courage, they didn't want the ball and took the easy option time and again.
"Tottenham were criticised for playing too much at the back, but every time they went forward and went direct they lost the challenge. What could the manager do?
"That first-half performance? I've never felt a team was so lucky in my life to get in at 0-0 at half-time.
"They played like one of the teams fighting relegation. That's what should embarrass them - not their manager, but their actual players.
"Forget Ryan Mason. There was a plan to play from the back and mix it up. There was a plan to stop City when they had the ball, not letting them go through the centre.
"But they didn't have the courage to take the ball and they let their goalkeeper and centre-backs go long.”
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