The former Celtic boss claimed he wasn’t cupping his ear in response to being booed by Spurs fans at Chelsea
Ange Postecoglou’s claim that he wasn’t cupping his ear to troll the Tottenham fans appears to have been torpedoed by Sky’s footage.
The Spurs boss stands teetering on the brink after another Premier League defeat, this time at Stamford Bridge after his side went down 1-0 to London rivals Chelsea.
The Aussie’s popularity amongst fans continues to nosedive after a disappointing season, which can only be saved now by winning the Europa League.
But the writing appeared to be on the wall when Postecoglou’s call to sub Jonas Bergvall for Pape Sarr in the second half was met with a chorus of boos from the sway end, followed by a chant of “you don’t what you’re doing”.
However, Sarr soon put a stop to that by firing in what appeared to be the leveller.
And Postecoglou turned towards the Spurs support with a hand cupped to his ear in response.
Their celebrations were cut short however, as a VAR check spotted a foul in the build-up and the goal was ruled out, with Chelsea holding on to see out a 1-0 win.
The former Celtic boss was adamant afterwards that he merely wanted the Spurs fans to crank up the volume afterwards, insisting it was in no way a response to being booed.
He said: “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.”
However, Sky footage shown afterwards seems to blow that excuse out of the water, with pundit and former Tottenham star Jamie Redknapp seeing a clear disconnect between manager and fans.
Dave Jones: “So now, Pape Sarr has come on, he’s scored the goal and we can see the reaction of Ange Postecoglou.”
Redknapp: “And he’s now thinking I do know what I’m doing.”
Jones: “He’s cupping his, isn’t he? To the fans?”
Redknapp: “Yeah. By the way, we’re here now, we’re in the media, we’re making a story out of it. It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever seen. It’s not. It’s not ideal. Right now, the disconnect between the fans and the manager is apparent. “
