Ange Postecoglou shared an awkward stare-down with a Tottenham fan after his side’s 2-1 loss to Ipswich Town.
Gifted the chance to climb up the Premier League table, Spurs welcomed the Tractor Boys to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, favoured to win – but fell flat on their faces.
Two quickfire first-half goals from Sammie Szomodics and Liam Delap gave Spurs a mountain to climb, and despite Rodrigo Bentancur halving the deficit from a corner in the 69th minute, Ipswich held on for their first win of the season, and boos sounded around the ground.
As the Australian head coach sauntered down the tunnel after the final whistle, a video emerged of a fan or group seemingly voicing concerns to Postecoglou, which the 59-year-old didn’t take kindly.
Postecoglou was filmed after the loss, exiting the playing surface with his staff, boos still trickling from the stands. Just as he is about to walk out of view, the head coach comes to stop, glaring up at a fan or group in the crowd who assumedly said something that rubbed him up the wrong way – an anger that resonated in his post-match thoughts.
“We didn't start the game well at all. It was all sort of passive. I felt we didn't get the tempo right or intensity right and then we gave ourselves too much of a mountain to climb,” admitted Postecoglou.
“Second half, we were in the ascendancy and had opportunities, but we didn't do enough with them, and we should never have been in that position.
“If we’re inconsistent, that’s down to me. That's my responsibility. The inconsistency we're having this year, ultimately it comes down to me and my approach and something I need to try and fix and see if I can help the players in that area.”
Fans didn’t just take aim at their own, also being highly vocal throughout the match towards Kieran McKenna’s side’s strategic time-outs – mirroring the opinion of Postecoglou.
“Look, I think it's the way the Premier League is going. It's pretty strategic now,” Postecoglou continued. “You can almost look at your clock around the 20-minute mark and some player will go down, they'll all come over to the coach and get instructions.
“It's funny - I always liked the Premier League because it wasn't like that. You would watch teams play in Europe and get frustrated by it, but now it's part of the game here as well.”
Spurs will face a trip to another side in disarray, Manchester City, after the international break and will look to improve on this seasonal low.