Postecoglou watched on as Tottenham was beaten 2-1 at Villa Park, with goals in either half from Jacob Ramsey and Morgan Rogers doing the damage.

Having also lost in the fourth round last term, Spurs have been eliminated from the FA Cup prior to the fifth round in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2014-2015.

It means that Tottenham's hopes of winning a first major trophy since 2008 now rely on the UEFA Europa League, having exited two cup competitions in the space of three days.

Postecoglou has not been helped by a number of injuries throughout the season, with the likes of Dominic Solanke, Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven all missing at Villa.

It was also confirmed earlier this week that defender Radu Dragusin would miss the remainder of the season after he picked up an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.

Tottenham returns to Premier League action next weekend against fellow struggler Manchester United, with both teams languishing in the bottom half of the standings.

Despite this latest defeat, Postecoglou said that his side's exit from the competition offers the players some respite after a difficult few months on the pitch.

"Nothing really changes. We have a couple of weeks now where we don't have midweek games," Postecoglou said.

"This group has done an unbelievable job for two and a half months. I can't praise them enough, playing twice a week since November.

"They'll get the chance to reset now and finish the season strong.

"Europe is still very important to us, we're still in a great spot there, and we'll hope to get some players back over the next two weeks.

"We'll get players back, which will help. We had 11 first-team players out today.

"Take that out of any team for one game, and they would struggle - we've been doing that for two and a half months.

"The players are going out there and giving everything they can. It would be a lot better if they had some help."