Ange Postecoglou was delighted to see his Tottenham Hotspur side beat Manchester United in the EFL Cup quarter-final.
Spurs booked their place in the last four of the competition following a 4-3 victory over the Red Devils. It was a great game to watch for the neutral and there was a lot of drama in the final 30 minutes of the fixture.
Tottenham only have themselves to blame for their problems. They were 3-0 up and cruising, but two avoidable mistakes from Fraser Forster brought Manchester United back into the game.
Postecoglou has now claimed that one of those goals should’ve been ruled out.
Ange Postecoglou says Joshua Zirkzee’s goal for Manchester United vs Tottenham was ‘illegal’
Manchester United weren’t awful by any means, but Tottenham’s clinical finishing put them 3-0 up by the 54th minute of the game.
It looked like it would be a straightforward victory for the Londoners at that point, but Postecoglou’s men decided to create problems for themselves.
Forster made a huge mistake while playing out from the back. He passed the ball to Bruno Fernandes inside the box, who then rolled it into the path of Joshua Zirkzee to score.
It was a terrible mistake by the Tottenham goalkeeper, and Postecoglou has acknowledged that. However, after watching it back, the Spurs boss thinks the goal should have been ruled out.
That’s because Postecoglou noticed that Zirkzee was inside the box when the goal kick was taken – the Australian says that was ‘illegal’ and shouldn’t have counted.
He said, as per Football London: “I think the first goal can happen. Zirkzee was actually in the box pressing when he should have been… actually what he did was illegal.
“But anyway we’ll let that run because there was no VAR last night.
“That was my decision so I’m happy with that. I think we should have waited for him [Zirkzee] to clear the box before we start playing because then he presses from inside the box.”
The referee made another mistake during Tottenham vs Manchester United
Nobody apart from Postecoglou noticed that Zirkzee was inside the box when the goal kick was taken. Even the Tottenham players didn’t complain.
That goal stood and another error from Forster allowed Amad Diallo to bring the game to 3-2. United were right back in it at that stage.
However, in the 88th minute of the game, Son scored directly from a corner to push Tottenham 4-2 up. That ended up being the winner.
Spurs fan and pundit Jamie O’Hara was delighted that his side won, but he pointed out a big refereeing error after the game.