Ange Postecoglou has revealed that he was unhappy with Pedro Porro for putting Fraser Forster ‘under pressure’ in the closing stages of Tottenham’s 1-1 draw with Rangers in the Europa League on Thursday evening.
Spurs looked on course for their third straight defeat after Hamza Igamane put Rangers ahead early in the second half at Ibrox before Dejan Kulusevski rescued a draw for the Premier League side with 15 minutes remaining.
Porro was caught out of position for Rangers’ goal and Postecoglou was seen speaking with the Spurs right-back on the pitch just moments after the full-time whistle.
However, Postecoglou says he was urging Porro to make ‘better decisions’ after the Spaniard put goalkeeper Forster under pressure with a back-pass in injury time as Rangers pushed for the winning goal.
When asked what he told Porro after the game, Postecoglou said: ‘Again, just feedback.
‘He’s played a volley back to Fraser in the 92nd minute of the game. It’s kind of… Fraser’s unbelievable last night and you’re putting a teammate under pressure.
‘It’s about the context of what we’re doing right now. I spoke on the weekend about individual moments, desperation, giving away penalties in a big game where we’re playing really well, you’re kind of allowing the opposition.
‘That was another moment and it’s just about, again, feedback, to say in this moment you’ve got to make better decisions, we’ve got to be really calm, we’ve got to be clear-headed because, again, we’ve done so well to get back into a difficult tie, we were in a good position, why would you put that in jeopardy.
‘That’s my role, to give players feedback.’
Postecoglou was also asked for his verdict on Antonio Conte’s rant about Tottenham’s squad after they let a two-goal lead slip in their 3-3 draw against Southampton in March 2023.
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Conte, who left the club ‘by mutual consent’ eight days after, accused his Spurs players of not wanting to play under ‘pressure’ or ‘stress’.
‘I was on planet earth at that time, I was well aware of it,’ Postecoglou said.
‘I think you know when a manager gets to that point that there’s obviously some underlying issues.
‘Antonio is a top manager, a world-class manager and I think most of the time when managers do that they’re trying to get a reaction, they’re trying to get some sort of impact on the team. In difficult moments, what you want from your leaders is action rather than inaction of just letting things drift along.
‘He did it to try and get a positive impact on the group, one way or another. We’ve all been in that situation as a manager where you feel, ‘okay, this is the time to send a message’.’
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