Richard Keys fumes at Tottenham v Southampton ‘joke’ amid Postecoglou admission
Ange Postecoglou had his reasons to be upset as Tottenham earned a 3-1 win against Southampton on Sunday.
Spurs returned to winning ways after suffering a 1-0 loss at the hands of Chelsea during the week, with a brace from Brennan Johnson and a goal from Mathys Tel giving them the victory over Southampton on 6 April.
The result saw Tottenham climb back to 14th place in the Premier League and reduce the gap with 13th-placed Manchester United to one point, while confirming the Saints’ relegation to the Championship.
The game was not short of drama, as Tel received criticism for taking Spurs’ penalty at the death despite Johnson being on a hat-trick and winning the spot-kick in the first place.
Richard Keys makes ‘poor’ Postecoglou admission
One other major talking point from the game was Lucas Bergvall’s disallowed goal minutes before Johnson netted his second in the first half.
Bergvall thought he had doubled the lead for Tottenham when he found the back of the net from close range in the 35th minute.
However, the said goal was subjected to a VAR check that lasted over four minutes and 50 seconds before eventually being ruled out, much to Postecoglou’s frustration.
| Tottenham | Stat | Southampton |
| 13 | Shots | 12 |
| 8 | Shots on target | 4 |
| 51% | Possession | 49% |
| 477 | Passes | 470 |
| 88% | Pass Accuracy | 88% |
This came just days after Postecoglou was left egg-faced for celebrating Pape Matar Sarr’s disallowed goal against Chelsea and admitted VAR was making him fall out of love with football.
Reflecting on the incident, Richard Keys has admitted his sympathy for Postecoglou and insisted that the amount of time taken to disallow Bergvall’s goal is a “joke”.
Keys wrote in a column on his personal website (7 April): “Poor Ange [Postecoglou]. 4’50” to find a way to disallow that goal at Spurs. He’s right about VAR. Operators are out of control.
“If you can’t see what you’re looking for after 60 seconds – move on. Stay with the on-field decision. It’s a joke.”
Tottenham turn attention to Eintracht Frankfurt
Tottenham have been on a poor run of form, having failed to win five of their last seven games across all competitions.
However, Spurs will take confidence from their win against Southampton as they prepare to face Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals.
Postecoglou’s side are set to host the Bundesliga club at home in the first leg on Thursday (10 April), with the return leg scheduled for 17 April.