Tottenham Hotspur are now out of contention for a fourth-placed finish in the Premier League after losing 2-0 to Manchester City on Tuesday night.
The match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium had a lot at stake for both Spurs and the Citizens in terms of their hopes for the season.
However, at the same time, there were some Tottenham fans that actively wanted their team to lose.
If Tottenham had beaten City, the result would’ve handed Arsenal the advantage in the Premier League title race.
Spurs gave a good account of themselves but Pep Guardiola’s charges were too strong for the hosts as they ran out 2-0 winners.
And after the game, Postecoglou revealed he wasn’t happy with the “foundations” at Tottenham.
Now, The Athletic’s Charlie Eccleshare and Jack Pitt-Brooke have spoken about what exactly had made the Spurs boss so angry.
What made Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou angry ahead of the Manchester City game?
In an article on The Athletic, the journalists noted how the narrative of Arsenal’s title hopes resting on Spurs became ‘unavoidable, even inside the club’.
They mentioned the argument between Postecoglou and a fan behind the dugout and the ‘subdued atmosphere’ after the game.
‘Most aggravating of all to Postecoglou was the sense that a few club staff – many of whom are Spurs fans – had been relaxed about losing because of the title context,’ they added.
‘While the majority of club staff had been focusing on their work as normal, the prospect of losing to City had been a theme of jokes among a minority of staff for the last week.
‘When one member of the support staff joked to Postecoglou that he should play a youth team against City, the manager was furious.
‘Postecoglou’s mood had deteriorated in recent weeks given the bad results, but this dynamic lit the fuse in him. The whole notion of being happy to lose a game had shocked him.’
Tottenham and Ange Postecoglou can now move forward
While Postecoglou’s comments have been met by a mixed reaction from the fanbase, there’s no denying he said what he needed to say.
It’s one of these where neither side is wrong. Postecoglou is right to question why the club would be so blasé about the prospect of losing a game, but you can also understand why Spurs fans did not really want to willingly give their bitter rivals a way back into the title race.
Chances are, if Spurs had won and Arsenal went on to win the title, Gunners supporters would’ve probably made fun of their rivals for years (maybe even decades) to come about the title “Tottenham helped us win”.
Now, Postecoglou and Tottenham can move on after saying what needed to be said, and hopefully it’ll be forgotten about come pre-season.
