Tottenham Hotspur managed to let a two-goal lead slip against Brighton and Hove Albion to suffer a shock 3-2 defeat on the south coast.
Spurs looked in cruise control in the first half as goals from James Maddison and Brennan Johnson saw them head into the break 2-0 up.
However, just three minutes after the restart Yankuba Minteh managed to grab one back for the hosts and that goal left Tottenham looking rattled. 18 minutes later the North London club found themselves behind as Georginio Rutter and Danny Welbeck both got themselves on the scoresheet.
Instead of changing it up when the momentum was starting to swing, Ange Postecoglou made his first set of substitutions with just over 10 minutes to go. After the game, the Australian was questioned as to why he didn’t make subs earlier and his response has left Tottenham fans bemused.
Ange Postecoglou’s bizzare reponse to late substitutions
Postecoglou gave a bizarre response to a question asking why he waited until his team were behind to make his first sub.
The Spurs boss revealed that his team’s performance was so poor in the second half that they deserved nothing from the match and subs coming on in an attempt to swing the game back in their favour would have only masked a poor display.
Speaking in his press conference after the game, Postecoglou said: “Yeah I could have. But… all these things… are totally irrelevant to me. Substitutions and all those kind of things. If you’re not competitive, it doesn’t matter what you do, you’re not going to get rewards, you don’t deserve to win.
“We didn’t deserve on our second-half performance, irrespective of subs or anything else, to get something out of the game. But I think if you do get something out of the game, you’re falsely rewarded and I don’t want to get falsely rewarded.”
Several Tottenham players looked well off it against Brighton with Destiny Udogie dropping one of his worst displays in a Tottenham shirt. Meanwhile, Cristian Romero was caught ball-watching for the host’s winning goal.
How Tottenham fans reacted to Postecoglou’s substitution comments
Tottenham fans were left fuming with Postecoglou’s comments on substitutions and took to X to share their thoughts on his press conference.
One supporter said: “How can anyone support this comment? I still support Ange (for now), but this is shocking. Substitutions can change a game. He knows that. Surely we take a point or three whether we think we deserve it or not?”
“Yeah, maybe I’m misunderstanding what Ange meant here but if not then I simply cannot get on board. It’s a kind of purist mentality that isn’t sensible or realistic. You can’t ALWAYS win and deserve it. Those victories are hollow, sure, but you don’t just give up,” another fan claimed.
However, some fans did show an understanding of Postecoglou’s comments, claiming the Australian head coach was right about subs being irrelevant due to too many players showing a lack of willingness to win.
Another fan added: “Postecoglou quotes about subs don’t read well, but I think he means that it doesn’t matter who’s on the pitch if you don’t compete for 50:50s, don’t do the basics etc. Might just be my interpretation because it does read poorly.”
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