Ange Postecoglou was not a happy camper in the immediate wake of Tottenham Hotspur’s 1-2 loss to Newcastle today at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Ange cut a very angry figure on the sidelines at points during the match, seemingly taking issue with match official Andy Madley’s decisions (or lack of decisions) during the game.
Speaking to the press just after the match, Ange was raging, choosing his words carefully but clearly incensed about a “fair and even playing ground” after a match where Spurs deserved at least a point.
“Brilliant, outstanding, it was a game we deserved to win and any other day we would have won. On a fair and even playing ground we would have won the game. I know what my opinion is... if that was different day and an even and fair playing ground, we would have won.”
It’s not clear exactly what Ange was referring to, and that’s almost certainly by design — Ange has been doing this a long time and knows how to give criticism without directly implicating match officials. But the clear inference was that he was unhappy with Madley’s refereeing in this match. And he has a point! One particular moment noted was after Pedro Porro was fouled by Joelinton, who was fully deploying the Dark Arts during the match, and with Madley declining to call a foul; Ange was especially incensed on the sidelines after that incident. Joelinton also stopped a Spurs counterattack with his hand that ended up being a hockey assist for Newcastle’s equalizing first half goal, which was also not called.
We haven’t heard anything about the official post-match presser, and that might be an opportunity for Big Ange to either clarify his comments or expound upon them. But I can’t remember Ange getting that hot in the immediate aftermath of a match. It’s not necessarily a good look — complaining about refs and injuries never is, even when you’re right — but also, yeah he’s got a real point in this one. He’s probably still under significant pressure and even though there’s a lot of good will coming from supporters after that performance even with a loss, this one has to sting.