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Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou has played down a heated exchange that saw him booked by the referee late in Spurs’ 3-1 Premier League win over Bournemouth.
As the clash rolled into injury time, Spurs substitute Alejo Veliz suffered a suspected knee injury, and was repeatedly told by Postecoglou to stay down to receive treatment.
The Aussie then engaged in a heated verbal exchange with Bournemouth’s first-team coach Shaun Cooper, and eventually had to be restrained and pushed away from the scuffle.
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As the fracas died down, the referee gave a yellow card to Postecoglou, Cooper, and also Spurs midfielder Giovani Lo Celso.
Post-game, Postecoglou joked he and Cooper “were just wishing each other happy new year”.
“It’s all right – just a little bit of emotion in the game,” he said.
“I was more concerned with Alejo because we were trying to get him off the field and, apart from my physically going on the pitch and dragging him off, he wasn’t really going to go down.
“I think the Bournemouth staff thought maybe we were trying to make a substitution but we had none (left). It was just about getting him off.”
The win was a stunning rebound from Spurs’ heavy 4-2 loss to Brighton on Friday morning (AEDT), and moves them back to within a point of the top-four.
Earlier, Postecoglou’s men received a boost before the game as Rodrigo Bentancur was fit enough to start, nearly a month ahead of schedule after an injury.
Pape Sarr opened the scoring in the ninth minute by rifling a shot into the bottom corner
But the Senegal international left the field in tears with a hamstring injury on the half-hour mark, just two weeks before the start of the African Cup.
“Pape felt his hamstring and he’s emotional because he wants to go away with his national team,” Postecoglou said.
“Disappointing for him but I am hoping it is not too serious and he can still go away and contribute to his country.”
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Tottenham then had to wait until the 71st minute for a second goal, when Lo Celso made a superb throughball with the outside of his boot to set up Son, who found the bottom corner for his 12th league goal of the season.
Richarlison then made the points safe 10 minutes from time when he swept home Brennan Johnson’s cross in a carbon copy of his goal against Everton.
Substitute Alex Scott pulled one back for Bournemouth in the 84th minute after a cutback by Marcus Tavernier.
Spurs’ next match is a third-round FA Cup clash against Burnley on Saturday morning (AEDT).
— With AP
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