Ange Postecoglou slammed the home faithful at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday afternoon, stating that the atmosphere in the ground would have made it "very easy" for his team to crumble at 2-0 down.
"Yeah, chaotic game for sure. We added to the chaos and it was a little bit self-inflicted, especially in the first half, just with the ball we were really careless with our passing and that allowed the game to be played on the terms Bournemouth would like with their transition football.
"So yeah chaotic but at 2-0 down it would have been very easy, particularly with the atmosphere as it was, for the boys to just let the game get away from us, but credit to them, they found a way to get back into the game and we got something out of it."
Instead, his team came from behind to draw 2-2, thanks to a goal apiece from Pape Matar Sarr and half-time substitute Heung-Min Son. Despite being unhappy with the state of the crowd in N17 on Sunday, the Australian summoned the Tottenham Hotspur fans to help the side get through Thursday's UEFA Europa League second leg, where they have to overturn a 1-0 deficit against AZ Alkmaar.
"Yeah, look, again I said before, I can't sort of dictate to people how they sort of interact, but, AZ’s crowd certainly helped them on Thursday night and we need our crowd to get behind the boys on Thursday to make it an atmosphere where maybe we lose some of that nervousness and anxiety within our game.
"But the reality is, we as a team have to respond irrespective of the atmosphere and one may follow the other. If we start the game strong, it’ll get the place nice and loud, which will help us."
Praise for young game-changer
Whilst there was not an overload of positives to take from the game, one standout was 18-year-old Lucas Bergvall, who came off the bench at half-time and made a real difference to the tempo of the game in the middle of the park.
The Swede looked to get on the ball at every given opportunity and was a driving factor in the second-half comeback as he turned defence into attack at speed. Ange Postecoglou was full of praise for Bergvall, who has rapidly matured since being thrown into an injury-hit side at the beginning of the winter period, and come on leaps and bounds since.
"Lucas was great. He has been great but he has played a lot and we've just got to be mindful of that. He's becoming an important part of our team. I thought he made a real big impact when he came on.
"Like I said we were sloppy when we were on the ball in the first half and he’s one who takes a bit more care with it. He's a technician and he carries the ball really well. I thought he and Sonny made a really good impact when they came on."
Romero's 'rustiness' unsurprising
Had it not been for Guglielmo Vicario's goalkeeping heroics, Tottenham could have been 2-0 down just a matter of minutes after kick-off in N17 on Sunday.
With just 15 seconds on the clock, Evanilson was gifted a huge chance to give The Cherries the breakthrough. The Brazilian was given the ball by Cristian Romero, who horrifically misplaced a pass across the box, but the former FC Porto man was unable to score.
Then, after five minutes, it was a risky pass from Romero to Yves Bisouma when he was under pressure which gifted the visitors their next opportunity, which was again incredibly well saved by Vicario.
However, the Argentinian, who has been linked with a move away in the summer, grew in confidence and composure as the game went on, as well as being defensively astute as he played 61 minutes on his return from injury, in what was his first appearance since early-December.
"Not surprised, he hasn’t played for a very long time. He's hardly played this year to be fair. Cuti will be disappointed with that himself but at the same time what was much more important for me was how grew into his game, his defensive work, his aerial ability. I mean he was on the end of almost every cross they put into the box from corners and I think for him he will feel a lot better just having played.
"The idea was only to play 45 today, but he was keen to stay on for a bit longer and you could see he grew into the game and was really important for us."