Ange Postecoglou says his response to the booing Tottenham fans in their 1-0 defeat to Chelsea was misinterpreted.
Spurs fans chanted “you don’t know what you’re doing” at their under-fire boss as he replaced Lucas Bergvall with Pape Sarr just past the hour with their team trailing and yet to register a shot on target.
When Sarr scored from range just five minutes later, Postecoglou turned to the Spurs fans and appeared to cup his ears in what was perceived by some to be a response to the boos. The goal was ruled out after a lengthy VAR check.
But Postecoglou was bemused by this suggestion and insisted he just wanted the fans to enjoy the moment, sensing that if the goal had counted the momentum of the game would have turned for his team.
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Ange Postecoglou said VAR is killing the game and denied reacting to the Tottenham Hotspur away fans when he was booed for bringing on Pape Matar Sarr
Asked about the incident, the Spurs boss said: “It’s incredible how things get interpreted. We just scored, I just wanted to hear them cheer.
“We’ve been through a tough time and I thought it was a cracking goal. I wanted them to get really excited.
“I felt at that point we could potentially go on and win the game.I just felt momentum was [going] our way.
“It doesn’t bother me. It’s not the first time they’ve booed my substitutions or my decisions. That’s fine, they’re allowed to do that, but we just scored a goal, we just scored an equaliser.”
Asked if he risked alienating the fans by having that response, Postecoglou added: “You know what? I’m at such a disconnect with the world these days that who knows, maybe you’re right. But that’s not what my intention was.”
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FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from the Premier League match between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur
Postecoglou, who is a vocal critic of VAR, was furious with the length of time referee Craig Pawson spent mulling over whether to give Sarr’s goal.
The on-field official was sent to his monitor after Sarr connected with the leg of Moises Caicedo in the moments just before his strike for what would have been Spurs’ equaliser.
It took referee Pawson four minutes to come to the decision that the goal should be overturned, which made Postecoglou question if it was a clear and obvious error.
“Who cares if it’s a foul or not? There’s so many incidents that are very similar out there,” said Postecoglou.
“What’s the point of having a referee there? Clear and obvious to me is you go to the screen, you see it, ‘Oh my God, I’ve missed that’.
“I mean, we’re all – not me, because I’m very vocal about it – but everyone accepts it. It’s going to be refereed by AI pretty soon.
“We may as well dispense with the players at some point. Some guy will come up with a genius way of just having a game of football with no participants because referees aren’t refereeing.”
“If anyone believes that when VAR was brought in that we would be sitting around for six minutes with a microscope, it’s irrelevant whether it’s a foul or not. It’s totally irrelevant.”
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Posteocglou suggested there was a lack of consistency over decision-making as he seemingly referred to the decision not to award Everton centre-back James Tarkowski a red card in the Merseyside derby after a VAR review.
He added: “Jared Gillett was on VAR tonight. Maybe if Jared Gillett was on VAR last night, it would have been a different outcome because, again, it comes down, I guess, to everyone’s interpretation. But I don’t like it, mate. I never liked it.”
