Tottenham Hotspurs head coach Ange Postecoglou expressed his frustration at his team’s ‘inability to remain disciplined’ after Spurs came from behind to defeat a spirited Brentford side 3-2 on Wednesday.
Neal Maupay opened the scoring for the visitors at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before a second half fightback saw Spurs score three goals in eight minutes.
Maupay’s darts celebration, an imitation of James Maddison provoked the Spurs man, resulting in the match being bad-tempered throughout. Postecoglou said his players lost focus during the match, and highlighted the darts issue as the only point of concentration shown by his players.
7️⃣ goals in his last 7️⃣ @premierleague games for @Richarlison97! 🐦 pic.twitter.com/v8ToybxcSd
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) January 31, 2024
“I think we started the game well and started with a good intensity and good tempo. Obviously, they scored and then we lost our way.
We just lost focus. I was a bit frustrated with our inability to stay disciplined and it was just too many stop-starts and it kind of plays into their hands, [there were] a lot of set-pieces and throw-ins. We spent more time talking to the referee than playing the game and I was just frustrated that we lost real clear focus,” said Postecoglou.
Maddison and Maupay shared a heated exchange after the darts celebration. Postecoglou lamented that incident and cheekily proposed a UFC Cage fight for the two.
“I hope not because that’s exactly what I’m talking about. I’m not a fan of it. I don’t like the whole bravado of pushing people around. If you’re brave about things, then my players and their players can get into a UFC Cage and I’ll see how brave they are.
We’re out there to play football and that’s what I want our guys to do. Focus on playing football and they shouldn’t get motivated by things that aren’t really that important to us.”
