Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou is looking more isolated than ever.
The Australian directed a brief clap towards the furious travelling away fans from near the halfway line following his side’s 1-0 loss at Chelsea but, by then, it could be argued the damage had already been done.
Enzo Fernandez’s second-half header was enough to inflict a 16th defeat of the season on Tottenham and leave them 14th in the Premier League – 10 points away from the top 10 – and the signs are growing some fans have had enough.
Chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing” came from the away end after midfielder Lucas Bergvall was replaced by Pape Sarr in the 65th minute.
Remarkably, Sarr found the net with an excellent long-range strike just four minutes later, leading Postecoglou to cup his ear and turn to the away end, only for VAR to then rule out the goal for a foul on Moises Caicedo.
When asked about the incident after the match, Postecoglou said: “Jeez mate, it’s incredible how things get interpreted. We’d just scored, I just wanted to hear them cheer. Because we’d 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 on our [side]. 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’d just scored a goal, just scored an equaliser, I was just hoping we could get some excitement. If people want to read into that that somehow I’m trying to make a point about something, like I said, we’d been through a tough time, but I just felt there was a bit of a momentum shift there.
“If they get really behind the lads, I thought we had the momentum to finish on top of them.”
It’s just the latest in a season of incidents between Postecoglou and sections of the fanbase.
There was the recent exchange with an angry supporter after defeat by Fulham just before the international break, another similar back and forth happened after defeat at home to Leicester and he confronted the away end after they criticised players after losing at Bournemouth in December.
He added when asked if he was alienating the fans: “You know what, I am at such a disconnect with the world these days, that who knows? Maybe you’re right. I don’t know. But that’s not what my intention was.”
This just compounds the lack of progress on the pitch, especially with almost a full squad of players available, as Spurs look to avoid their worst season in the Premier League era.
Former Spurs midfielder Jamie Redknapp put it plainly when he said on Sky Sports: “Tottenham were awful. It could have been so much more. Not good enough in any department from Tottenham. Chelsea were so much better.
“When Sarr scored, it looked like Ange cupped his ears to say: I know better. There’s a disconnect between the two [Tottenham fans and Ange Postecoglou] at the moment.
“It’s not ideal for the manager. He’s got some big games ahead. He’s got to keep his head up, got to keep going, working hard and believing in what they do.”
