Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou suffered an unwanted club first in the Lilywhites’ 1-0 Premier League London derby defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
The two-week international hiatus evidently did not do the North London outfit much good, as they came out on the wrong end of the scoreline courtesy of an Enzo Fernandez winner on Thursday evening.
After a Moises Caicedo effort was disallowed, Postecoglou’s men briefly appeared to have levelled the tie through Pape Sarr, only for the Senegalese’s strike to also be chalked off due to a foul.
Enzo Maresca‘s men comfortably held out in the closing stages to continue their stronghold over Tottenham, who have now lost all four of their Premier League matches with Chelsea under Postecoglou.
The Australian has therefore become the first-ever Lilywhites head coach to be beaten in each of his first four league games against Chelsea, who were their own worst enemies in the final third in the first half before Fernandez bailed out his attackers.
Postecoglou clarifies gesture to Spurs fans after Sarr strike
To add to Postecoglou’s dismay, the former Celtic boss was the target of negative chants from his own supporters when he replaced Lucas Bergvall with Sarr, being subjected to a chorus of ‘You don’t know what you’re doing’ by the away end.
In retaliation, Postecoglou cupped his ear to the Tottenham fans after Sarr made the net bulge, only to end up with egg on his face when the lynchpin’s strike was disallowed following a VAR review.
However, in a spiky post-match interview with Sky Sports News, Postecoglou refuted the suggestion that he was getting his own back at the Spurs fans, saying: “Oh, jeez mate.
“It is incredible, we just scored, I wanted to hear them cheer, I wanted them to get excited, I wanted to win the game with the momentum, it wasn’t the first time my substitution was booed.”
Postecoglou and Maresca shook hands at the conclusion of a 102-minute tie on Thursday, where a copious amount of second-half injury time was added on following two lengthy VAR reviews.
The officials in Stockley Park firstly took several minutes deliberating whether Caicedo’s goal was offside, before on-field referee Craig Pawson took several looks at the pitchside monitor to determine whether Sarr had committed a seemingly straightforward foul in the lead-up to his goal.
Postecoglou launches scathing VAR rant after Chelsea loss
Postecoglou has always been a staunch advocate against the use of VAR, and he did not shy away from calling out tonight’s technological assistant Jarred Gillett, adding: “It’s killing the game mate, it’s not the same game it used to be.
“We all sat on our couches last night and watched TV [when Everton’s James Tarkowski was not sent off for a high challenge on Liverpool’s Alexis Mac Allister] and I guarantee you if Jarred Gillett was VAR last night it would’ve been a different outcome so you just don’t know what we’re going to get.
“You are standing around for 12 minutes. It’s just killing the game, but no-one cares about that, they just love the drama and controversy and I’m sure there will be 24 hours discussion about it and that’s what everyone wants – they’re not really interested that it’s killing the spectacle of the game.”
Tottenham have now picked up just one point from their last four Premier League games and remain in a dismal 14th place in the table ahead of Sunday’s visit of basement side Southampton.
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