‘Too easy’: Ange Postecoglou makes history with a Liverpool miracle
The best story in Australian football keeps getting better after Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham won a thriller against Liverpool.
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Ange Postecoglou is living the dream.
The Australian manager remains unbeaten in the English Premier League and now has wins against football giants Manchester United and Liverpool after knocking off Jurgen Klopp’s men 2-1 overnight Saturday.
Postecoglou became just the second manager in Premier League history whose side has scored at least two goals in his first seven games as Spurs continue to play arguably the best football in the competition.
“Big Ange is finding it too easy,” tweeted pundit Chris Sutton, as an avalanche of praise followed a win that moved Tottenham within a point of Manchester City at the top of the table.
On a wild day of premier league action, the league-leaders lost 2-1 to Wolves to end their perfect start to the season and Brighton was thumped 6-1 by Aston Villa.
Manchester United slumped to another damaging defeat as Crystal Palace won 1-0 at Old Trafford, while Arsenal joined Spurs a point back of City with a 4-0 win at Bournemouth.
Postecoglou’s men left it late against a red-card ruined Liverpool outfit.
Victory would have taken Liverpool top, but Klopp’s men had a mountain to climb when Curtis Jones was shown a straight red card for going over the top of the ball and making contact with Yves Bissouma after just 26 minutes.
Son Heung-min put Tottenham in front, but the 10 men hit back when Cody Gakpo levelled in first-half stoppage time.
Liverpool were then reduced to nine men as Diogo Jota was shown two quickfire yellow cards.
Yet the visitors held out until the 96th minute when Joel Matip turned Pedro Porro’s cross into his own net.
“I am trying to process everything at the moment. We played a top class opponent, but we done it late. Winning it late always adds belief. We are going to have some major challenges and in those moments we need to have that spirit within the group and days like today help build that,” Postecoglou told Sky Sports.
“We didn’t handle it too well when they went down to 10 men. Liverpool and their game doesn’t change, even if they go down to 10 men. We were better in the second half. The second red came from us continuously putting them under pressure. We still probably didn’t vary our attacks enough. We just didn’t vary it enough, but I am being picky. We remain in our infancy.
“I am [happy] but these things can unravel quickly. My role is to keep pushing them. These results allow me to keep pushing.
“I have not given us a target. If I had goals and dreams then I would have surpassed them 15 years ago. My thing is keep improving and see where it takes us.”
Controversy as Liverpool wrongly denied goal
Liverpool will feel hard done by after a Luis Riaz goal in the 34th minute was incorrectly disallowed for offside.
After the official’s flag went up, VAR ticked off the offside ruling despite there being offside lines displayed on the review screen.
The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) acknowledging the error after the game.
A statement issued by PGMOL read: “PGMOL acknowledge a significant human error occurred during the first half of Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool.
“The goal by Luiz Diaz was disallowed for offside by the on-field team of match officials. This was a clear and obvious factual error and should have resulted in the goal being awarded through VAR intervention, however, the VAR failed to intervene. PGMOL will conduct a full review into the circumstances which led to the error.”
After a dismal run of one win in their previous 23 meetings with Liverpool in all competitions, Tottenham could finally savour a rare success against the Anfield outfit.
It was Tottenham’s first win against Liverpool since 2017 when the north Londoners were using Wembley as their temporary home.
For Postecoglou, it was an especially sweet success after he grew up in Australia idolising legendary Liverpool boss Bill Shankly as a childhood fan of the Reds’ great 1970s teams.
The former Celtic boss has done a remarkable job reviving Tottenham following their woeful campaign under his predecessor Antonio Conte.
While it is too early to label Tottenham as title contenders, they have already beaten Liverpool and Manchester United, as well as drawing with Arsenal, to underline Postecoglou’s impressive impact.
– with AFP
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