Former Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart was unsurprised by his old boss Ange Postecoglou’s demeanour following Tottenham’s collapse against Brighton in the English Premier League on Sunday.
Spurs led the game at half-time by two goals to nil, thanks to strikes from Brennan Johnson and James Maddison.
Hosts Brighton came out a different animal in the second 45, though, as Postecoglou’s men lost their way and fell to a harrowing 3-2 defeat.
The Aussie manager looked shot on his feet at full-time. He seemed gut-wrenched in his several post-match interviews.
Ex-Celt Hart wasn’t surprised by his mood.
“I am really not [surprised]; he [Postecoglou] really puts emphasis on morals, on being a constant good person, striving to get the best,” quipped the now-retired ‘keeper (Match of the Day via RecordSport).
“It almost felt like Tottenham had cracked it, they were excellent in the first half, off the back of some great results. They had the better of Brighton, they wanted to ease into the second half, Brighton weren’t going to let that happen again.”
Tottenham were gaining some momentum before Sunday’s match.
An emphatic 3-0 triumph at Old Trafford was arguably their best performance of the Postecoglou era. They then beat Ferencvaros 2-1 last Thursday in Europe, extending their winning run to five games.
Sunday came as an almighty blow, though, especially heading into the international break.
Postecoglou has consistently communicated that he will deliver success to Spurs, but so far, he has yet to bring the club to the heights he reached with Celtic.
Five trophies – a domestic double followed by a treble – across two years in Glasgow after joining the Hoops off the back of their worst season in modern history has to be commended.
He left in a respectable manner, but things haven’t quite gone to plan for the 59-year-old in North London.