Tottenham Hotspur wrapped up the Premier League season with a 3-0 win at Sheffield United on Sunday.
Ange Postecoglou guided Spurs to a fifth-place finish in his debut campaign, meaning the north Londoners will be back in the Europa League next season.
A Dejan Kulusevski brace and Pedro Porro ensured Postecoglou signed off the season with a victory. But Tottenham players headed off for a 22-hour flight after their clash at Bramall Lane and it wasn’t for their holidays.
Postecoglou’s men were involved in a post-season friendly against Newcastle United yesterday in Melbourne.
It saw the Spurs boss return to his homeland and his side were held to a 1-1 draw, with James Maddison and Alexander Isak both on target.
Tottenham fell to a 5-4 defeat in the penalty shootout, with Bryan Gil missing his effort from 12 yards out.
The friendly has proven to be controversial as many have criticised the decision with Euro 2024 just around the corner.
Now, Alan Brazil has become the latest to slam the post-season friendly, labelling it ‘absolute madness’.
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Brazil furious after Tottenham vs Newcastle friendly
Speaking on talkSPORT [23/05 7:21am], Brazil reacted to Tottenham and Newcastle’s decision to play a friendly just three days after the season ended.
“It’s madness,” he said. “Absolute madness taking them out there, especially with the Euros coming up. I don’t care, getting on the plane for 20 hours is just ridiculous.”
Gabriel Agbonlahor agreed with Brazil, labelling the friendly as a ‘disgrace’.
“Listen, the managers will be fuming, the players will be fuming, even people at the club will be fuming,” the former Aston Villa skipper said.
“But the hierarchy will be saying this is about the money, making money, sponsorships or whatever it is.
“I think it’s a disgrace. As a player, you’ve played a long, gruelling season, little knocks… everyone on the plane, we’re going to Australia.”
Brazil added: “I think it’s absolute garbage. Nonsense.”
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What Ange Postecoglou said about post-season friendly
While many will understand Brazil’s view on the decision to fly out players halfway across the world after the season has ended, Postecoglou has a different view on the situation.
As a manager who grew up watching football in Australia, the Spurs boss understands the importance of supporters from different countries having the opportunity to watch Premier League sides.
“I thought it was ok,” Postecoglou told Football.London. “I thought the first half was really good. It was a decent game. I thought we played really well actually.
“It was important because as I said to the lads before the game, it’s 80,000 people here and it wasn’t that long ago I was on the other side of the fence. I used to get hugely disappointed if I felt overseas clubs came here and went through the motions.
“I felt in the first half it was a decent game and both teams were at it. I thought we played really well. Second half obviously we both made some changes.
“Some young boys got experience and the game sort of tailed off, which is kind of expected. Considering the boys literally 48 hours ago were playing on the other side of the world, and we lost in a surprise penalty shoot-out, so year disappointed.”