Ange Postecoglou has maintained his defence of goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario after he confronted Tottenham fans on Thursday night following defeat at AZ Alkmaar. The Italian shot-stopper was one of the few to come out of a disappointing night with any credit for his performance but it was his actions afterwards that overshadowed the result.
Heading over to the Tottenham supporters at full-time, he tried to rouse them, throwing his arms up to draw a reaction. When that proved to be unsuccessful he didn't hide his own hurt.
Vicario turned with a strop, waving his arms again but this time out of apparent outrage rather than in a plea. The Italian has been one of the few players Spurs supporters have stayed committed to during the dark times. This hit him hard.
"I can understand the disappointment for the night because we didn't play our football," he said afterwards about the incident. "So I can understand the frustration of the fans, but we still have a lot to play for, especially in the second leg. It's just a way of trying to stay together because we have the opportunity to go through to the next round.
"They can [be critical]. They have to be, they must be disappointed for the game we played tonight but we still have another game to play against AZ at our place, so it's the moment to stick together now because we can go through this round."
Postecoglou was less forgiving of those hitting back at Vicario. When reminded that playing Bournemouth would see a reversal of the fixture in which he and his players were openly hounded by fans on the south coast, Postecoglou said: "Vic is just so passionate. He wants everyone to push on and get something don't know what people want.
"Do you just want robots and people standing there and clapping, [then they] walk off. We are all human beings. Whether it's me, whether it's a player. Whether it's the fans.
"There's emotion after the game and you understand that. Sometimes it's not positive and you want to deal with it in the right way but they are human beings, mate. I don't get this kind of narrative that there's all of a sudden an issue.
"If anyone doubts Vicario's commitment to this football club or his passion, mate, watch the bit they did on him coming back from injury. That guy did everything in his power to get back as quickly as possible. Why? Because he cares. He cared last night, he cares this morning.
"He's a wonderful asset for this football club and if people think that he was trying to do anything but something that he hopes will push this football club onwards then they're trying to find stories for the sake of it."
It was a common theme of Postecoglou's press conference. Asked directly about the Vicario incident he also said: "Vic is very, very passionate about this football club and very passionate about what we're trying to do here and he wants to win and he wants everyone on board with that. If people think there is one bad or vindictive bone in Vicario's makeup then they don't know the man that I do.
"The guy is one of the purest human beings you have ever come across, mate, so whatever he does he does for what he thinks is best for the team and for the football club because he really cares."
Postecoglou was defensive as a whole over the sorts of responses that his players give to dissenting supporters when times get tough. "Why would a player do that [go over to the fans] if negative stuff comes out?" he questioned in retort.
"They're going to look now at what is being said about Vicario, which I haven't seen, but obviously there's some negative aspect to it. The next player will go, 'actually no, you know what I'm just going to clap and walk off quietly.'
"Do we want it or don't we want it? Because as soon as a player shows emotion, it's like 'okay, how can we put a negative spin on that?' Either there's a problem with Vicario or between Vicario and the fans, or Vicario this or Vicario that.
"If I was a player I'd go 'I don't want any of that, I'll just slink off down the touchline and into the tunnel and nobody will say anything'."
He also pointed out the emotions at play after a match. "I think we all are, aren't we? We're all passionate about something. If you write a crappy article and at the end of it you go 'I got that totally wrong' and I go up to you straight afterwards and say 'how are you feeling?' and 'are you okay? That was a terrible article.' You reckon you'd go 'yeah it wasn't great'?
"No. I reckon you'd react in the same way. We forget sometimes that we're all human beings. People will never be in any doubt about how I feel. I just think what's the point hiding it. Some people will like it, other people will. It's just you have to be yourself.
"That's what Vic was doing last night. He was showing people who he is because what he showed out there is what he showed in the dressing room, it's what he shows every day in training. You lose a game in training and he's not happy. That's just who he is."
Tottenham will now need Vicario to show his personality in a positive sense when welcoming Bournemouth to north London on Sunday. More importantly, Postecoglou will need his squad to show the required strength and backbone throughout the week to try and keep the season alive in the return leg.
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