Monday, December 23, 2024

Ange Postecoglou ‘determined to get it right’ after Spurs lose at Bournemouth

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Ange Postecoglou vowed to keep fighting to revive Tottenham’s fortunes after receiving “some direct feedback” from disgruntled fans following a limp 1-0 Premier League loss to Bournemouth.

Spurs boss Postecoglou was booed and heckled by a frustrated away end at the Vitality Stadium, having seen his toothless side condemned to defeat by Dean Huijsen’s 17th-minute header.

The Australian refused to go into detail about the heated exchange but said he understood the supporters’ emotional reaction.

“I didn’t like what was being said because I’m a human being but you’ve got to cop it,” said Postecoglou, whose team have won only one of their last six games in all competitions.

“I’ve been around long enough to know that when things don’t go well you’ve got to understand the frustration and the disappointment.

“They’re rightly disappointed tonight because we’ve let a game of football get away from us. I’m OK with all that.

“They’re disappointed and rightly so. They gave me some direct feedback, which I guess is taken onboard.

“All I can say is, I’m really disappointed with tonight and I’m determined to get it right and I will keep fighting until we do.”

Asked what was said by the travelling support, Postecoglou replied: “Probably not for here, mate.”

Postecoglou spoke with fans at the final whistle (Adam Davy/PA)

Tottenham began brightly in Dorset but created little during the 90 minutes and were fortunate not to lose by a bigger margin.

Bournemouth midfielder Ryan Christie struck a post and the impressive hosts failed to capitalise on a host of other chances to put the result beyond doubt.

Spurs dropped below the Cherries, into 10th position, ahead of Sunday’s London derby at home to high-flying Chelsea following the latest setback in a patchy season so far.

To compound a miserable evening for the injury-hit north London club, defender Ben Davies limped out of his 300th Premier League appearance and faces a spell on the sidelines.

“It looks like he’s done his hamstring,” said Postecoglou.

“Him and Radu (Dragusin) have played every game, it’s the one sort of position we can’t rotate.

“He’ll obviously be out for a period of time now, we’ll just have to wait and see how long it is.

“It’s kind of the consequence of us having the squad we have at the moment.”

Match-winner Huijsen became Bournemouth’s youngest Premier League goalscorer by nodding in Marcus Tavernier’s corner.

The Spain Under-21 defender, who is aged 19 years and 235 days, was making only his third top-flight start since a summer switch from Juventus, in place of the injured Marcos Senesi.

Cherries boss Andoni Iraola said: “Dean has shown from the beginning that he is someone with confidence in himself. With the injury of Marcos, for sure he will have to play more.

Dean Huijsen celebrates scoring the opening goal
Dean Huijsen celebrates scoring the only goal of the game (Adam Davy/PA)

“It’s a very good win. I liked especially the second half; the first half we were playing decently, we were not conceding chances but probably we were not being a threat as we’ve been in the second one.

“Now we will not regret it because we finished winning but when we started missing the chances in the second half it was a dangerous moment. Luckily for us, we could finish the job.”

Speaking about Senesi, who sustained a quad injury in Saturday’s 4-2 win at Wolves, Iraola said: “It’s quite significant so probably he will be out for some time but we still have to do more assessment.”

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