Ange Postecoglou insisted he would stick to his high-risk approach even if Tottenham were reduced to five men after the chaotic defeat to Chelsea.
A frenetic meeting saw five disallowed goals, two red cards, a penalty and two Spurs players forced off during the first half with injury, as Mauricio Pochettino marked his return to north London by ending the Premier League’s last unbeaten record. The match was dominated by VAR’s involvement with the red cards two of nine decisions referred to the video referee.
Even with nine men, the hosts continued to take the game to Chelsea and were well in the contest before Nicolas Jackson twice sprung their high line in stoppage time to add his team’s third and fourth goals and complete an unlikely hat-trick.
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Quizzed on his tactics after the game, the Aussie coach insisted he had no regrets over his front-foot approach and said it was here to stay while he was in charge. He said: “It’s just who we are, mate. It's just who we are. It's who we’re going to be as long as I’m here. We go down to five men, mate, we'll have a crack.”
But it was VAR’s impact that dominated Postecoglou’s thoughts after the game after a total of 21 minutes were added on at the end of each half. He added: “It’s hard to analyse from a football perspective. We’re left with a result which is disappointing, but [I’m] super-proud of the players’ efforts and will and desire to get something from the game.
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“[Lengthy VAR pauses] are going to become the norm, I think it’s where the game is heading. Unfortunately it’s how we’re going to have to watch and participate in football from now on.
"I don’t like it. I don’t like the standing around, the whole theatre around waiting for decisions. But I know I’m in the wilderness on that.
“In my 26 years, I was always prepared to accept the referee’s decision, good, bad or otherwise, and I’ve had some shockers in my career. I’ve had some go my way as well.
“I’ll cop that because I just want the game to be played. But when we’re complaining about decisions every week, this is what’s going to happen.”
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