“Ange Postecoglou Slams Referee’s Decision, Defends Lucas Bergvall and Explains Why His Red Card Against Liverpool Was Unjustified”

“Ange Postecoglou Delivers Powerful Rant, Defending Lucas Bergvall and Explaining Why His Red Card Against Liverpool Was Unwarranted”

The Tottenham manager criticized the current state of English football.

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou has defended referee Stuart Attwell following his controversial decision not to send off Lucas Bergvall during the match against Liverpool.

Attwell made history at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium by becoming the first referee in England to publicly explain a VAR decision to the crowd after Dominic Solanke’s goal was ruled out for a marginal offside in the second half.

Moments later, Bergvall, who had already been booked, collided with Liverpool’s Kostas Tsimikas. Despite protests from Liverpool players, play continued with Arne Slot’s side launching a counter-attack. The move did not lead to a goal, and Bergvall was not shown a second yellow card.

With Tsimikas off the field receiving treatment, Spurs capitalized, scoring the only goal of the match to secure victory, with Bergvall netting his first goal of the season.

Arne Slot, in his second defeat since replacing Jurgen Klopp as manager, was booked for his protests on the sidelines.

In his post-match interview, Spurs boss Postecoglou was asked about the decision and insisted that Bergvall was not fortunate to still be on the pitch when he scored the match-winning goal.

“Great question. He wasn’t. No, he wasn’t,” Postecoglou told Sky Sports.

“Because people misunderstood my comments the other day, the rule is, and we’ve been told for a while now, that as long as advantage is played and it’s not a cynical tackle, the yellow card doesn’t come out.

“We’ve been asking for this for the last two months. It’s happened to us consistently, just look at our games. We’ve asked the officials about it.

“If you play advantage and it’s not a cynical tackle, then the yellow card doesn’t get shown. To me, that was pretty clear.”

Postecoglou elaborated on his comments during his post-match press conference, taking a strong stance against the direction of English football and the constant push for change.

He referred to the English as the “custodians of the game” and expressed concern over the influence technology is having on the sport.

“I’m really surprised at how people in this country are so easily letting the game change so much, so quickly,” Postecoglou said. “It’s changed more since VAR came in than in the past 50 years. We never used to debate offsides, we never used to debate handballs, we never used to debate holding in the box, we never used to debate so many things.”

“I mean, did everyone really love the announcement today? Did that give you a real buzz? I mean, seriously. My understanding is that this is what the people want. That’s what I keep being told.

“I get that, and I understand VAR is here to stay. Technology is part of life, but it’s like my wife and our kids. We know about technology, but she limits their screen time. Why? To slow things down, I think.”

“We’ve just got to be careful about constantly… why do we want to change the game so much? And I know I’m going to be the old bloke in the stands shouting ‘boo’ every time, and I’ll probably be the only one, but I thought people would be more protective of the sanctity of the game.

“I think there’s a lot of confusion right now. That’s what I believe — the game is changing because of technology, and I’m asking, ‘Why isn’t anyone speaking up about it?’ Especially in this country, where, for all intents and purposes, you guys see yourselves as custodians of the game. You’ve got a song that says, ‘It’s coming home’.”

“This is your game, and yet it takes an Aussie from the other side of the world to be the one who’s most conservative about the changes. I’m happy to be the lone voice saying, ‘Just leave the game alone for a bit.’”

“Even extra time now, minutes added on, we never used to talk about these things before. Yet now, everything is changing, so that was my point. Today, I can understand why Arne [Slot] would be very disappointed with the Bergvall decision. If that were me, I’d be disappointed too, but apparently, those are the rules.”