Sports broadcaster Faye Carruthers believes Ange Postecoglou is getting ‘really spiky and a little bit disrespectful to reporters’ as pressure mounts on the Tottenham boss.
Postecoglou is under immense pressure at Spurs following a dismal run which has seen the north London club slip to 12th in the Premier League, 12 points outside the Champions League places.
Tottenham emerged as surprise title contenders at the start of last season but have suffered a major dip since then and lost half of their Premier League games so far this season.
Spurs’ latest defeat came at the hands of in-form Newcastle United on Saturday and Postecoglou gave a series of bizarre interviews after the 2-1 loss.
In one interview with BBC Sport, the Australian used a version of the phrase ‘if all things were equal’ nine times.
‘On the balance of play – any balance you want – with all things being equal, we would have won,’ the former Celtic manager said.
‘We were outstanding. I couldn’t be prouder of the players. I couldn’t ask any more. It is a game that we would have won if all things were equal.
‘If all things were equal and balanced, we would have won. Things weren’t equal and balanced.’
Carruthers believes Postecoglou is ‘starting to unravel’ in front of the media and has spoken out on her awkward exchange with the Tottenham boss in which he accused her of ‘putting words in his mouth’.
‘He’s started to unravel a bit in terms of his post-match [interviews],’ she told ex-Arsenal and England goalkeeper David Seaman on the Seaman Says podcast, sponsored by Betway.
‘Pre-match [before the Nottingham Forest game], I had a lovely chat with him and he’s so polite and really engaging, which everybody says. He was really lovely, very respectful, very nice.
‘But post-match, it started fine but he accused me of putting words in his mouth, which I hadn’t. I’d just interpreted what he’d said in terms of the energy levels.
‘It’s really difficult, I’m trying to give him an opportunity to explain the positives because actually I thought they’d played really well against Forest.
‘It was a much tighter game and they played better than they had done for a while. But ultimately they lost.
‘The post-match interviews that he gave to more than one outlet after the game against Newcastle were really spiky and a little bit disrespectful to reporters, which he has been on other occasions before as well.
‘It’s really difficult doing post-match interviews. It’s a skill because you’re listening to every word, you’re picking up on the context of things and you’re trying to be polite.
‘He just would not answer because in the past he has said he won’t criticise referees, but he’s clearly fuming.
‘But instead of just saying “we should have had a penalty”, he just kept repeating “it wasn’t an equal playing field”.
‘But he did it in all his interviews. He was pushed because people want to hear his opinion, not a reporter’s opinion. But he would not elaborate on it.
‘I think he wants to make sure he’s being respectful to referees, but then why say it wasn’t an equal playing field because it just opens it up for other people.
‘The reason I get annoyed with people calling him “Ange” or “Big Ange” is because he’s not your mate.
‘But having interviewed him once, I don’t think he is arrogant. I just think he’s under an incredible amount of pressure and that things aren’t going his way this season.’
During the pair’s tense exchange on Amazon Prime after Tottenham’s Boxing Day defeat to Forest, Postecoglou said: ‘It was a tight game, there was not much in it.
‘With the way Forest set up it was never going to be too open or too many chances. We had a couple of good chances to get our goal, they got theirs and there was not much between but they got on top.’
Carruthers then said: ‘When we spoke pre-match you mentioned energy and that the players were struggling with that and it felt it as chances went begging.’
But the Spurs boss snapped back: ‘I didn’t say we were struggling with energy, you’re putting words in my mouth. I said we needed energy. We weren’t struggling with it.
‘But it was a tight game, we had some good chances, they didn’t have too many themselves but they got the goal.
‘We tried hard to claw it back but we couldn’t. It was a tight game, but we lost so we’ve got to take the disappointment of that.’
Despite their dismal run, Tottenham have been determined to stick by Postecoglou and give him a chance to send the club into the Carabao Cup final.
Spurs face Liverpool in a two-legged semi-final, with the first match taking place in north London on Wednesday night.
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