Ange Postecoglou cut a frustrated figure during Tottenham’s loss at Chelsea (Picture: Getty)
Roy Keane ‘enjoyed’ Ange Postecoglou’s reaction to Tottenham’s 2-0 defeat to Chelsea and says the manager’s ‘frustration’ was ‘good to see’ given the team’s recent below-par performances.
Postecoglou will have been desperate for a response on the back of successive defeats in the Premier League at the hands of Newcastle and Arsenal, but his out-of-sorts Spurs side were comfortably beaten at Stamford Bridge.
Trevoh Chalobah put Chelsea in front with a powerful 24th-minute header and the visitors had no answer as Nicolas Jackson increased the deficit midway through the second half of Thursday’s one-sided derby.
The result left Tottenham seven points adrift of fourth-placed Aston Villa ahead of their trip to Liverpool this weekend and Postecoglou’s frustration was clear to see on the touchline in west London.
Shortly after Chalobah opened the scoring, the Spurs head coach could be heard barking orders from the edge of his technical area before Sky Sports’ cameras captured the 58-year-old completely losing it with Pape Matar Sarr and Cristian Romero, giving the duo the full hairdryer treatment.
Postecoglou, still seething after the final whistle, admitted his players were ‘nowhere near good enough’ in a prickly post-match interview and batted away questions over his side’s apparent weakness in defending set pieces.
‘It was good. It was good to see,’ ex-Manchester United captain Keane said ahead of Tottenham’s clash with Liverpool at Anfield this afternoon.
Spurs trail fourth-placed Villa by seven points in the table (Picture: Getty)
‘He’s obviously frustrated on the back of a few particularly tough performances.
‘Talking about the Newcastle game, the first-half performance against Arsenal was nowhere near good enough so I enjoyed seeing that from the manager because he’s obviously frustrated. A lot of managers get frustrated with the team’s performances.
‘The perception about Ange is that he’s cool, calm and collected, but clearly he was frustrated with the players and it this stage of the season you want your top players to turn up and perform and they’re not doing that.
‘That will lead to that frustration.’
United legend Keane ‘enjoyed’ Postecoglou’s reaction at Stamford Bridge (Picture: Getty)
Jamie Redknapp, meanwhile, branded Tottenham’s display against Chelsea ‘diabolical’ and said Postecoglou’s men are ‘going to have to react’ to keep any sort of pressure on Villa in the fight for Champions League football.
‘They were diabolical on Thursday. They didn’t show enough effort, they didn’t win enough individual battles, all the things you want from your team,’ the ex-Spurs, Liverpool and England midfielder said.
‘I think the manager actually came out swinging at the end of it. There was a lot of frustration with his team and their performance.
‘He’s obviously trying to interchange with the midfield, he’s not happy with certain elements of how that’s functioning, so they need to bounce back today.
‘Their record isn’t great here [at Anfield] but they’ve got to ask the question of Aston Villa, try and put them under a little bit of pressure. Can they maybe get in the top four?
‘But their away form of late, just when they needed to maybe ramp up the pressure on them, look at the Newcastle result away, the Chelsea result, today there’s more pressure, so they’re going to have to react.’
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