Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou addressed any potential anger from Tottenham fans on Thursday night, clarifying that he wasn`t reacting negatively to the supporters but rather encouraging more support during Spurs` 1-0 defeat at Chelsea.
Postecoglou seemed to react to the Tottenham fans after what appeared to be a fantastic equalizing goal at Stamford Bridge. Pape Matar Sarr dispossessed Moises Caicedo and scored a powerful goal against Robert Sanchez in the 70th minute. This prompted the Spurs manager to gesture to the fans, some of whom had been chanting `you don`t know what you`re doing` just moments before in response to substitutions.
These chants followed Postecoglou`s decision to substitute Lucas Bergvall and Wilson Odobert with Sarr and Brennan Johnson. Any feeling of justification for the Tottenham manager quickly disappeared when the equalizer was disallowed due to a foul by Sarr.
There was clear tension after the disallowed goal, which should have been a moment of celebration. Captain Heung-min Son had to guide Sarr towards the away fans to ensure he acknowledged them despite the goal being overturned. However, Postecoglou insisted he was only trying to encourage the fans to support the team in a game he believed they could still win.
`It`s amazing how things are interpreted,` Postecoglou said. `We had just scored. I wanted to hear them cheer. We`ve been through a difficult period, and I thought it was a brilliant goal. I wanted them to get excited.
`I felt at that moment we had the chance to go on and win the game. I felt the momentum was shifting in our favor. The booing doesn`t bother me. It`s not the first time they`ve booed my substitutions or decisions. That`s perfectly acceptable, they have the right to do that, but we had just scored a goal.
`I was just hoping we could generate some enthusiasm. If people want to interpret my actions as some sort of statement, they are free to do so. We`ve been through a tough time, but I felt there was a change in momentum. If the fans got behind the team, I believed we had the momentum to come out on top.`
The defeat at Stamford Bridge marked Tottenham`s fourth consecutive Premier League game without a win. They are currently in 14th place, closer to the relegation zone than seventh. This loss was their 20th across all competitions this season, matching the number of losses they had between August 2016 and September 2018 under Mauricio Pochettino. While there have been some expressions of disapproval towards Postecoglou recently, the chants directed at him seemed particularly noticeable.
`It really doesn`t affect me,` Postecoglou stated. `If that`s how the fans feel, and if they believe I`m not doing a good job, they have every right to express their opinion. They spend their hard-earned money.
They support the club. They will be here long after I`m gone. So, it doesn`t bother me. I try to focus on the things I can control. I can`t control the fans. I can`t control many things, but I can control our football, how we play, and how we conduct ourselves, and that`s what I concentrate on.`
Postecoglou reiterated his complaints about VAR following the lengthy review that led to the ruling that Sarr had fouled Caicedo. He criticized the process that involved officials `sitting around for six minutes with a microscope,` adding that whether or not Sarr fouled his Chelsea opponent was `irrelevant`.
Adrian Whitmore 
Benedict Kingsley