Every word Ange Postecoglou said on Van de Ven, why he substituted Bergvall, VAR and his mistake

Ange Postecoglou has spoken to the media ahead of Tottenham's Premier League encounter against Southampton on Sunday. The Lilywhites have endured a wretched season to date in the league, with their latest defeat coming away at Chelsea on Thursday evening.

The visit of the Premier League's bottom team does give Spurs an opportunity to get back on track but it will be easier said than done considering their record at home against the league's strugglers. Ipswich Town and Leicester City have already won in N17 this season and Southampton will be out to do the same as they bid to ensure they are not ranked as the worst Premier League side of all time come the end of the campaign.

Postecoglou spoke about the visit of Southampton and the Chelsea defeat in his time with the media. The Australian also discussed the latest on the injury front, VAR, Lucas Bergvall's substitution, Sunday's fan protest and so much more.

You can find a full transcript of the press conference below:

Any fresh injury concerns last night and is Micky van de Ven alright?

All good. Micky obviously cramped up as he's not played 90 minutes for a while. Positive thing is he felt really good apart from the cramping up. It was a tough game defensively and he had to work hard. Nothing significant coming out of the game.

Any fresh reflections on last night or any fresh thoughts?

Not really as we're 12 hours post it. I've not really had time to review the game as such but we will do that this morning. As I said after the game, tough game and you know when you're playing at Chelsea it's a tough venue and they're a good side. I felt we worked really hard to stay in the game which is important when you're at a tough away game.

Really disappointed with the goal we conceded and I thought we had a chance to deal with it a lot better than we did. Again, when you're playing away from home, that gives you a mountain to climb and I thought our response after that was good. We obviously scored, it got disallowed and we had a couple of good chances towards the end. Disappointing to lose but I thought there was enough positives in there.

Is unity the only way through this period and with what's to come in the rest of the season?

I get that is the main talking point after last night, which is kind of consistent as people tend to focus on the internals of Tottenham rather than the externals. I made a mistake last night in that I celebrated a goal. I purposely, I think since VAR came in up in Scotland and in the first game there was four or five incidents and we were standing around, I made a conscience decision that I'm not going to really celebrate goals as there's no point as you have to wait for everything to get checked off.

Last night I felt we needed something and getting that goal, which was a cracking goal by Pape, but the supporters obviously weren't happy with my decision which is fine. My response was to celebrate and to get them to make some noise and get behind the team. I thought it was a real momentum shifter in that moment because we did finish stronger. I guess my mistake was celebrating a goal that VAR has defeated me again and I won't be doing that again.

You said you feel such a disconnect with the world, is that with VAR or the season in general?

I'm talking about VAR. I don't get it as human beings we are just so accepting of everything these days. I don't get it. I thought we had a bit more about us in terms as a race and fighting against things that derail the core of what we believe in. It's like these things [picks up a phone], we've accepted them in our lives and now we're trying to reel them all back because we know the damage they do. Too late, the horse has bolted. The same with VAR and football but we just let it roll on.

This is not a new thing with VAR as it has been there for a long time. The fact that we're still taking six minutes and the fact from day-to-day, literally day-to-day, that you don't know whether someone is going to intervene or not, literally day-to-day, it seem like everyone is ok with that and that's where the disconnect is for me because I don't.

I thought it was a cracking game up until that moment when we were all standing around. I never grew up loving football and I see other sports when they're happy to stand around and slide in a couple of commercial breaks as well. Football for me was all about the excitement, up and down, controversies, action all the time. That's where I'm at a disconnect because people seem quite comfortable with it.

How are you generally?

Mate, I am fine. Mate, I am fine. These kinds of things, as I said after the game when they asked me about the fans, I don’t get affected. I’ve been fighting my whole career and will continue to fight, until I am made to stop by someone. I still believe we have got a massive opportunity for ourselves. I am not going to let that slip away - whether from external or internal pressure - I am totally focused on that.

James Maddison said fans are right to be angry - how do you feel about the anger?

Again, I don’t know. I feel like people want me to say something that will somehow change the mood of the fans. I’ve just never done that or felt like that is my role. My role is to produce teams and play the way that gets the support of the fan base behind what I am doing. It is not unusual that they are quite angry and frustrated - I get that.

At the same time, I understand criticism towards me because I am in charge of the whole thing, but if anyone looks at those players last night and thought they weren’t trying or somehow they resigned themselves to their fate then I am sorry they weren’t watching the right game. The players are fighting tooth and nail to try and address our issues within a really difficult season. Also, like I said, take this massive opportunity that is ahead of us. So I feel it is unfair to target the players in this situation.

Will you speak to the players and lift their spirits?

There is no other option because we have got a game in 24 hours that leads into a really big game on Thursday night. We just need to, like with all these things, we copped our fair share of blows this year and get out there on Sunday. Repeat a lot of things in terms of work rate and effort - improve in some other areas - and get some momentum leading into Thursday.

Are you going to rotate against Southampton?

To a certain extent, we are a little bit beyond that as the group is in a decent place physically where I don’t have to get players gametime. As I said, it is about getting some momentum leading into the game on Thursday. We will make a couple of changes but we won’t make too many.

Lucas Bergvall substitution booed, can you explain your reasoning behind taking him off?

I think Lucas has been outstanding all year but I thought last night he didn’t look himself physically and in terms of running power and we needed some energy to finish strong and I felt Pape gave us that.

Archie Gray started in midfield against Fulham, will he get another opportunity in what he sees as his strongest role over the next couple of weeks?

Look, we want to win games of football. We will make those decisions. I think we are past the point of looking to develop players right now. I think whether it is Archie or any of our players, all they want to do is try to address our current situation and win games of football.

Was there an issue with Dane Scarlett last night as he was not in the squad?

Dane has been a little bit sore. It has been a little bit difficult for Dane, he has come off not playing a lot from his loan, and he was a bit sore from his last few days and we decided to give him the weekend off. It’s not a big issue and hopefully he is back training today.

Am I wrong to say that because of VAR you're falling out of love with the game you grew up with?

No doubt. It's not the game I... And maybe I was influenced by England and particularly the old first division. What I loved about it as opposed to other leagues was the frenetic pace of it. There was always something happening and it's influenced me a lot in terms of the kind of football I like to watch.

There's plenty of other leagues I could watch but it was always the English first division, which was end to end stuff and not a lot of teams trying to hold onto leads. It was everyone going for it and the speed and tempo of it, I loved. I try to design a game plan which has tempo and energy because if you're going to bring people there for an hour and a half of entertainment you want them off their seats.

There was 12 minutes of extra time last time. It's not like VAR was brought in last month. It's been in for a long time and it's still taking 12 minutes. And everyone's saying, 'Oh yeah but it still came to the right decision'. But like I said that's what people want. Let's continue and we'll continue to get... I don't like it. I am falling out of love with the game because I loved celebrating goals. Last night, I did and I'm paying a massive price for it. I'll make sure I don't do it again but I think that's kind of sad.

Isn't that sad?

No because I'm the lone voice. I don't hear anyone else saying it. I'm disconnected. I don't think anyone else cares. It's like I said, we're just so accepting of everything in life these days. Maybe I come from a different generation where we use to rail against anybody who tried to change fundamentals of life. It's the same as the phone. You get a phone and think 'this is great' but then we find out it probably does more damage than good in our lives. At some point it will get regulated but it's too late now. It's the same with technology.

It was the same game here at home last season when Cristian Romero got a red card and a penalty. It changed the whole game and maybe changed our season. Twelve months later, how can you not sit there and go... And you know what, reflecting on my comments last night, I don't think I mentioned the referee once. I kept talking about the VAR. I've always had the utmost respect for the officials. I pride myself on I'll never carry on, I'll never get booked, I'll never criticise the referees. Maybe sometimes decisions. But there's no point in me criticising the referee because he had no involvement last night, apart from being dictated by somebody else to go to the screen.

You always understand there's inconsistencies because each referee is a human being and they're going to interpret things in different ways. So week to week you'll get some discrepancy. But you watch the Liverpool-Everton game and Paul Tierney was the VAR official. He was also the official for our Fulham game when I thought Lucas Bergvall should have got a penalty. It's pretty obvious that Paul Tierney has got a pretty high threshold. Fair enough. But then the next night we get Jarred Gillet who obviously has a lower threshold. So now it's not just the inconsistencies of the referees. You've got another guy now. I don't get it. So I don't think it is sad. It's sad for me because I'm kind of the lone voice but I don't think it's sad for the game because I think that's the way game headed and I guess people want that. I've got to accept that when I finally retire I will watch less football and try to find another hobby.

When you first came in, all I heard is we got our Spurs back – has it really gone that wrong?

Yeah, look again it is probably a better question for the fans themselves, but I understand it. It’s been a ridiculously challenging season on all fronts and every fan has the right to show their frustration and again. I think at times it has overstepped and when it oversteps, I will not stand for it because I am a little bit old school with that, but they have every right.

I think I said before the game it is up to us to try and find a way to get them back on board with what we’re doing. I still can’t get away from the fact we have a real massive opportunity for ourselves between now and the end of the season. I think it would be different if that didn’t exist. It would be a tougher road to navigate, but I am hoping that irrespective of how the fans feel about me, what I’m doing and the project we’ve embarked on, I hope when the games come around, they just get behind the players and the team because they can make an enormous difference.

Certainly saw work rate but thought level a bit disappointing – what should we expect from Spurs at this stage with players coming back?

Well I think the key to that is you said the players come back, that is kind of the first game. I thought we had to work really hard and irrespective of how you go, when you go to Chelsea at their ground, it is always a tough ask and not just for us but for anyone. I think for the first game where we got some of these players together as a group, I felt there were some encouraging signs but some areas where we need to improve on.

I thought our build-up play was really good. It is a tight ground, very hard to play and I just felt our front third could have been a little bit more clinical, but some work to do there because Wilson and Dom in particular have missed a large chunk of the season. I certainly saw enough there last night that if we can build on that, and Sunday is a good opportunity to do that, then we can get to the levels we need to get for the Europa.

What kind of level do you need to win Europa League?

I don’t think you think of it, in terms of what we’ve got to try and do is get to a level to get past Frankfurt. They are the first task and there is no point looking beyond that. If you look at last night in the context of an away game, that’s how difficult away games in Europe are, they are usually pretty tight.

I was disappointed with the goal we conceded but we fought hard at times to stay in the game and we needed to take that mentality into every game we play in Europe because they tend to be cagey and tighter and still improve in a couple of areas.

Is it a personal goal for you to remind people that you can put a great team out when you have tools available?

Again, it is not about me showing anything. Like I said we have this opportunity before us where we are in the quarter-finals of the Europa League and you can’t just not understand the significance of that.

We are one of eight teams in the competition and irrespective of what’s gone on before and what will happen after, don’t let this opportunity slip by us without at least us being focused on trying to achieve that.

There will be a protest on Sunday and group Change for Tottenham behind it are eager to support players during game, but are you concerned with fanbase quite toxic at the minute that it could be uncomfortable for players and be toxic atmosphere for them?

Again I can’t control that. As I said before I would like to think irrespective of people’s feelings right now, I don’t think there will be a Tottenham supporter out there who won’t want us to try and win the Europa League, I just can’t believe that they’d rather us not win to prove a point. So, I am hoping when the game is on they get behind the players and create an atmosphere at home.

We know the home game in the Europa League will be really important. We had someone at the Frankfurt game last week and they said the atmosphere at their ground was pretty loud. We know we will face a pretty hostile atmosphere over there and you do in Europe, so hopefully we get the same here at Tottenham’s stadium and give the lads the boost and leg up they need to get a result.

Concerned with attack at the moment, flashes of brilliance against AZ but struggled to break teams down over last month and feels a long way off team back in October and November?

Yeah to a certain extent. Like I said last night there were elements of that but when I look at Wilson and Dom, they’ve had a real disruptive season and again we haven’t had that consistency in the front third to get that cohesion. You know that is stuff we can work on certainly and the more we play. That’s why Sunday is important we try and get out there and improve in that front third so we can capitalise.

I thought our build up play and it makes a massive difference to have Romero and Van de Ven out there in terms of our build. I thought our build up play was really good at a really tough ground to play, but yeah the front third is the area we can certainly improve in.

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