Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou had some strange comments after the defeat to Newcastle United on Saturday afternoon.
Newcastle put in a battling shift to hold on to their first-half lead. The Magpies dominated the first half for the most part after Spurs' lightning-quick start.
Once Newcastle found a way to get Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes on the ball more, it was all one-way traffic until the break.
Granted, Spurs won the possession wars in the second half, and while there were a couple of moments that got the crowd off their feet, none of them were really much of a concern to Martin Dubravka other than a close-range shot that came off the post and a James Maddison effort that drifted wide.
Goals are what win games though, and Ange Postecoglou told BBC Sport that he believes Anthony Gordon's equaliser shouldn't have stood after the ball struck Joelinton's hand in the build-up.
"On the balance of play - any balance you want - with all things being equal, we would have won. We were outstanding. I couldn't be prouder of the players. I couldn't ask any more. It is a game that we would have won if all things were equal. If all things were equal and balanced, we would have won. Things weren't equal and balanced.
"I know what everyone wants me to say, but all I'll say is that on any other day, on a fair and even playing ground, we would have won that game. Simple as that. Don't keep asking me about the decision. If you guys have no opinion about it that's fine. I know what my opinion is and, as I said, if that was a different day and it was an even and fair playing ground we would have won that game."
But if Ange wants to talk about poor decisions, let's talk about how Anthony Gordon didn't get a penalty when he got his nose bust open, but James Maddison got a free kick for an almost identical incident.
But it wasn't just Postecoglou's viewing of the handball incident that was strange; it was his insistence that Spurs were 'outstanding'.
Spurs put up a good fight, considering they had a cobbled-together team. We can't take credit away from them for that, and that youngster Lucas Bergvall looks like a baller, but we can't agree that Spurs should have won.
The fight they showed in the second half suggests that there's still enough there for them to turn their season around, though.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
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25 | 36 | 60 |
2 |
![]() |
25 | 29 | 53 |
3 |
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25 | 12 | 47 |
4 |
![]() |
25 | 17 | 44 |
5 |
![]() |
25 | 15 | 43 |
6 |
![]() |
25 | 13 | 43 |
7 |
![]() |
25 | 9 | 41 |
8 |
![]() |
25 | 5 | 39 |
9 |
![]() |
25 | -3 | 38 |
10 |
![]() |
25 | 0 | 37 |
11 |
![]() |
25 | 1 | 34 |
12 |
![]() |
25 | 12 | 30 |
13 |
![]() |
25 | -3 | 30 |
14 |
![]() |
25 | -4 | 30 |
15 |
![]() |
25 | -7 | 29 |
16 |
![]() |
25 | -18 | 27 |
17 |
![]() |
25 | -19 | 19 |
18 |
![]() |
25 | -27 | 17 |
19 |
![]() |
25 | -30 | 17 |
20 |
![]() |
25 | -38 | 9 |