A furious Ange Postecoglou hit out at Tottenham fans, blaming the flat atmosphere for the lack of intensity from his side against Manchester City.
Spurs lost 2-0 to City in north London on Tuesday night as two goals from Erling Haaland took Pep Guardiola ’s side another step closer to securing a fourth straight Premier League title. The away win was a hammer blow to Arsenal, who are two points behind City going into the final day of the season on Sunday.
Tottenham needed to win to retain any chance of overhauling Aston Villa to finish fourth and claim a place in next season’s Champions League, but they fell flat. Haaland opened the scoring with a tap-in from Kevin De Bruyne’s cross before making sure of the points with an emphatic late penalty.
Dejan Kulusevski forced Stefan Ortega into a few saves before Son Heung-min was denied one-on-one by the City deputy goalkeeper, but that was as near as Spurs came to upsetting the apple cart. The match was played out to a strange atmosphere inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with many home fans reluctant for their side to take points off City and aid Arsenal’s chances of winning a first title in 20 years.
DON'T SCRAP REPLAYS!
Premier League odds and betting tips
Postecoglou was clear in the build-up that he was gunning for the win, regardless of the consequences, and was left angry with the result. The Australian cut a hugely frustrated figure in the post-match press conference and snapped at several questions put to him.
After saying the foundations at the club were “fairly fragile” and that the last 48 hours had “revealed a fair bit to me”, he refused to comment on Spurs fans chanting “are you watching Arsenal?” after Haaland’s opening goal. “I'm not interested mate. I just don't care,” he said dismissively.
Asked about his assertion that the last few days had revealed fragile foundations, Postecoglou said: “Outside, inside, everywhere. It's been an interesting exercise.” And pressed on whether that assessment was based on the desire of many to stop Arsenal winning the title, rather than focus on Spurs, he said: “I'm just not interested mate. Maybe I'm out of step, but I just don't care, I just want to win.
There was a strange atmosphere inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (Marc Atkins/Getty Images) HAVE YOUR SAY! What did you make of the atmosphere? Comment below.
“I want to be successful at this football club, it's why I was brought in. So what other people, how they want to feel, and what their priorities are, are of zero interest to me. I know what's important to build a winning team, that's what I need to concentrate on.”
Postecoglou was then asked whether the subdued atmosphere affected the players. “Of course it does,” he replied. “It is what it is. I can't dictate what people do. They're allowed to express themselves any way they want. But yeah, when we've got late winners in games it's because the crowd's helped us.”
After criticising the fans, Postecoglou made it clear that he didn’t hold the same frustrations over his players. Asked if he was happy with their application, he said spikily: “Well I think, unless I was watching a different game, we matched it with the best team in the land for the last four years, unless someone saw it differently.”
and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
