Ange Postecoglou has given a furious response to questions about the standard of refereeing in Tottenham’s defeat to Newcastle.
The Lilywhites went down 2-1 at home on Saturday, despite taking a fourth-minute lead through Dominic Solanke.
Anthony Gordon hit back two minutes later, while Alexander Isak completed the comeback seven minutes before half-time, consigning Spurs to a fifth defeat in their last seven Premier League games.
Spurs produced a valiant effort against an in-form Newcastle side, especially considering a sickness bug ran through their squad this week. That left Postecoglou with even more selection headaches on top of the mountain of injuries he’s already dealing with.
There was also plenty of controversy surrounding Newcastle’s first goal, with the ball striking Joelinton’s hand in the build-up, but referee Andrew Madley and VAR deemed there was no offence.
“The referee’s call of goal was confirmed by VAR, who checked for a potential handball by Joelinton in the build-up and deemed that his arm was by his side, in a natural position and the contact was accidental,” the Premier League said via their Match Centre account on X.
Ange Postecoglou fuming at officials
Spurs supporters were left furious with the decision and clearly, Postecoglou is rattled, even if he’s tried his best to keep a lid on his emotions.
“No, because I know what everyone wants me to say, but all I’ll say is that on any other day, on a fair and even playing ground, we would have won that game. Simple as that,” Postecoglou responded when asked by reporters to comment on Newcastle’s first goal (via Football.London).
“Don’t keep asking me about the decision. If you guys have no opinion about it that’s fine. I know what my opinion is and, as I said, if that was a different day and it was an even and fair playing ground we would have won that game.”
Postecoglou was later asked to ‘clarify’ if he was ‘angry with the officiating’ from Saturday’s match.
“I know you just want me to say something but I’m not going to. I think it’s clear,” he answered.
“Now whether people agree with me or not whether it wasn’t handball or it was accidental, I’m just not interested in any of that discussion. What I’m saying is, on any given day with a fair and even playing field and logical thought processes we would have won that game, that’s it. You can make what you want of that. I don’t know what else to say about it.”
