After his team’s 1-0 loss to Chelsea on Thursday night, Ange Postecoglou was shocked by a reporter’s implication on his purported gesture towards Tottenham supporters. Enzo Fernandez’s goal in the 50th minute dealt Spurs their fourth straight Premier League loss, dealing him yet another humiliating blow in his tenure in north London.
Despite his obvious frustration with the way things transpired, Postecoglou’s drama did not finish with the last whistle. Later, in the post-match interview, he argued with Patrick Davison of Sky Sports and voiced his unhappiness. After replacing Pape Matar Sarr with Lucas Bergvall, the 59-year-old, whose job at Tottenham is still in doubt, had already been subjected to cries of “You don’t know what you’re doing” from the away end. The Australian seemed to cup his ear towards the supporters just after Sarr scored a goal that was eventually disallowed. View the incident below:
Since then, Postecoglou has disputed that the gesture was made with malice. Nevertheless, his post-game comments provoked a heated outburst following the loss, demonstrating that, as far as Tottenham is concerned, there is never a dull evening these days.
In a heated interview, Postecoglou denies winding up Tottenham supporters.
Patrick Davison’s allegations seemed to irritate the Tottenham manager.
Following the game, Sky Sports aired two broadcasts of Postecoglou’s heated argument with Davison. Postecoglou’s patience appeared to wane as the interview started with the reporter grilling the Spurs manager about the VAR call that resulted in Sarr’s goal being disallowed for offside.
“What happened with you and the supporters tonight, Ange?” Davison then enquired. When you substituted Bergvall for Sarr, they jeered, and you turned to face them when Sarr scored. “You heard the chants going, ‘You don’t know what you’re doing.'”
The brusque reply from Postecoglou was, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” “You don’t think you looked at the supporters?” Davison persisted. Postecoglou continued by elucidating the rationale behind what seemed to be an ear-cupping motion. He stated (see the contentious interview below):
“No, I did.” I wished for their happiness. It seemed like a spectacular goal to me. I hoped they would applaud. They had previously jeered my substitutes. Their jeering at my substitutes had nothing to do with it.
“Look, I get it Pat,” Postecoglou said in response to Davison’s follow-up question about if he feels he has lost the backing of the Tottenham supporters. Don’t worry, you’re making a lot of effort. You’ve already made up your mind about the result. Tonight’s result was a very close game that was decided by a really bad call, but other than that, everyone played well, we got some fantastic minutes from a few people, and we’re going to Sunday.”
Tottenham’s focus immediately shifts to the first leg of their Europa League quarterfinal matchup against Eintracht Frankfurt after their next game on Sunday afternoon against Southampton, who are now in last position. Postecoglou has often bragged about winning a title in his second season, and Europe’s mediocre tournament is his last chance to continue that streak.
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