Ange Postecoglou slammed “passive” Tottenham for the dozy first-half horror show which left them “too much of a mountain to climb.”
Spurs trailed 2-0 at the break but, unlike their two previous home games against West Ham and Aston Villa, they were unable to overturn the deficit. And Big Ange didn’t pull his punches after a shock defeat to the promoted Tractor Boys which left Tottenham down in 10th place.
He said: “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. 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.”
Spurs fans were frustrated by Ipswich’s time-wasting and strategic time-outs when players went down injured, allowing their team-mates to have a breather, and Postecoglou is no fan of the tactic either.
He growled: “Look, I think it's the way the Premier League is going. It's pretty strategic now. 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.
“Nothing we can do about it. For us, if we want to mitigate those things because we don't do it and we want the game to be played, then we shouldn't give opportunities for the opposition to do that.”
Skipper Heung-min Son apologised to Tottenham fans after his side’s shock defeat, saying: "It’s very disappointing. We conceded a very sloppy goal that shouldn’t happen. It’s more than disappointing.
"Sometimes you have to be calm and find a better solution if someone is in a better position. We have to be better in those kind of situations. It’s very painful.”