Postecoglou bemoans VAR after defeat
Ange Postecoglou has admitted he doesn't celebrate goals any more after VAR denied Tottenham Hotspur during its north London derby defeat to Arsenal in the Premier League.
Spurs were beaten 3-2 by their fierce title-chasing rival, despite a late rally having trailed 3-0 at half-time at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Trailing 1-0 to Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg's own-goal, the hosts thought they had equalised when Micky van de Ven slotted past David Raya, However, the decision to award the goal was overturned after a VAR review with the defender adjudged to be offside.
Arsenal took advantage of that let-off with Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz increasing the lead, while second-half strikes from Cristiano Romero and Heung-Min Son proved academic for Tottenham.
"Games aren’t refereed in the stadium any more," Postecoglou said during his post-match press conference. "I don’t celebrate goals any more.
"You've got to wait for somebody down the road. It’s a shame, I don’t like it, but I’ve got to accept it."
The Spurs boss was pleased with his side's response after the break, and hopes his players will benefit from the disappointment of losing the derby.
"It's a big day for our club and our fans, and we didn't get the outcome we wanted, so it's obviously very disappointing," he said.
"You can go out in the second half and accept your fate that it's not your day, but we had to show some resilience and fight - just for our supporters more than anything else. To be fair to the lads, they did that.
"We just lacked some focus today in key moments, particularly in the first half. Sometimes, you've got to feel the pain of it to learn that lesson properly."
