Ange Postecoglou has said he is “falling out of love with football” after admitting he made a mistake in celebrating Pape Matar Sarr’s disallowed goal against Tottenham, but not because he risked a fan backlash.
Spurs lost 1-0 at Chelsea on Thursday but Sarr had a second-half strike ruled out for VAR. Postecoglou’s decision to bring on Sarr for Lucas Bergvall was booed by some travelling Tottenham supporters who also briefly chanted “you don’t know what you’re doing” at the 59-year-old.
Postecoglou responded by cupping his ear in their direction when Sarr scored, only for the goal to be chalked off after a lengthy VAR check.
Spurs fell to their 16th league defeat of the season and Postecoglou appeared to hang back at full-time rather than engage with the away fans, hinting at a fractious relationship which places further pressure on his position.
However, at a news conference on Friday, Postecoglou chose to focus his attention on the impact VAR is having after there were 12 minutes of added time at the end of Thursday’s game with Chelsea also having a goal ruled out as Moisés Caicedo’s volley came after replays showed Levi Colwill was offside in the build-up.
“Maybe I was influenced by England and the old First Division,” he said. “What I loved about it as opposed to other leagues was the frenetic pace of it. In English football, there was always something happening.
“I loved that and it has influenced me a lot in terms of the kind of football I like to watch. There are plenty of other leagues I could have watched. End-to-end stuff, not a lot of teams trying to hold onto wins. It was just everyone going for it. It was the speed and tempo that I loved.
“I’ve tried to design a gameplan that has tempo and energy because I feel if you want people in there for an hour and a half of entertainment and engagement, you want them off their seats. There was 12 minutes of extra time last night. VAR was not brough in last month. It has been here for a long time and it is still taking 12 minutes.
“Everyone says ‘they came to the right to decision’, well, yeah. That’s what people want then. Let’s continue. I don’t like it. I am falling out of love with the game because I love celebrating goals. Last night I did and I’m paying a massive price for it. I’ll make sure I don’t do it again but I reckon that’s kind of sad.
“I am the lone voice. I don’t hear anyone else saying it. That’s why I am sat here and saying maybe I am disconnected. I don’t think anyone else cares. We’re just so accepting. Maybe I come from a different generation where we used to rail against anyone who tried to change the fundamentals of our life.
“It is sad for me because I am a lone voice but I don’t think it is sad for the game because I guess people want that. I’ve got to accept it. When I do finally retire, I will probably watch less football and try and find another hobby.”
Asked again about his ear-cupping celebration, which stands as the lates in a series of incidents in which fans have voiced their anger, Postecoglou said: “I get that seems to be the main talking point out of last night.
“People tend to focus on the internals of Tottenham rather than the externals. I made a mistake last night in that I celebrated a goal.
“Since VAR came in here, there were four or five incidents where we were standing around in Scotland and I thought I am not really going to celebrate goals. There’s no point because you’ve got to wait.
“Last night, I just felt we needed something, cracking goal from Pape [Matar Sarr], I heard the supporters weren’t happy with my decision, which is fine and my response was to celebrate, get them to make some noise and get behind the team. I felt it was a real momentum shifter, that moment.
“My mistake was celebrating a goal, VAR defeated me again. I won’t be doing that again.”
Sources have told ESPN that Postecoglou is at risk of losing his job if Spurs exit the Europa League against Eintracht Frankfurt — their two-legged quarterfinal clash begins next Thursday — and he added: “I’ve been fighting my whole career. I’ll continue to fight until I’m told to stop by someone. I still believe we’ve got a massive opportunity for ourselves this year and I’m not going to let that slip away whether that’s from external or internal pressure. I’m focused on that.
“I feel like people want me to say something that will somehow change the mood of the fans. I’ve just never done that. I’ve never felt that’s my role. My role is to produce teams and get the fanbase behind what we’re doing.
“It is not unusual they are frustrated and angry and the moment but at the same time if anyone looked at that game and thought they weren’t trying, that they had resigned themselves to their fate, I’m sorry, they are not watching the right game.
“The players are fighting tooth and nail to try and address our issues within a real difficult season and try to take this massive opportunity that’s ahead of us.”
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