Furious Ange Postecoglou says Tottenham would have beaten Newcastle on ‘fair and even playing ground’

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A fuming Ange Postecoglou said his depleted Tottenham side would have beaten Newcastle had the match taken place on a “an even and fair playing ground” after the visitors scored a controversial equaliser in their 2-1 win.

Spurs remain with just one win in eight Premier League games after Newcastle came from behind to climb into fifth in the table. The hosts were without several first-team players due to illness or injury and were forced to field a second-choice defence and third-choice goalkeeper, but battled well and had chances to claim a point late on.

Postecoglou said he was “proud” of his team’s “outstanding” efforts but was furious with Newcastle’s equaliser in the first half, which came just two minutes and 20 seconds after Dominic Solanke’s early opener. Tottenham lost possession playing out from defence but the ball struck Newcastle midfielder Joelinton’s hand in the build-up as Anthony Gordon went on to score.

Anthony Gordon expertly equalises for Newcastle 💫

2 goals in 7 minutes... 👀

📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/eazc7DMMJQ — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 4, 2025

The incident was reviewed by VAR and the Premier League Match Centre explained that Joelinton’s arm was “by his side, in a natural position and the contact was accidental”. Postecoglou was further aggrieved when potential handballs from Tino Livramento in the box and Dan Burn, who was on a yellow card, went unpunished.

When asked about the incident leading to Gordon’s goal, Postecoglou said: “I know what everyone wants me to say. But all I will say is on another day, on a fair and even playing ground we would have won that game, it’s as simple as that.

“Don’t keep asking me about the decision. If you have no opinion about it, that’s fine. I know what my opinion is and as I said, if that was a different day and it was an even and fair playing ground, we would have won that game.”

Postecoglou added he was “angry that football wasn’t what denied us getting the rewards we deserved today” and in further cryptic comment to TNT Sports said “that’s the way they want to do things”.

"If that was a different day and an even and fair playing ground, we would've won that game" 👀

Ange Postecoglou with a fiery response to Tottenham's 2-1 defeat to Newcastle...

📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/E8NncBW0OH — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 4, 2025

“Hugely proud of the players - outstanding considering the situation we are in,” the Australian said. “We deserved to win that game. All things being equal we would have.”

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe, who saw his team win a fifth consecutive Premier League match, admitted that the ball did strike Joelinton’s hand in the build up to Gordon’s equaliser and said the handball rules were “slightly unclear”.

"There’s no denying the ball hit Joe’s hand or arm but I’m not sure of the rules,” Howe said. "For me the rules are slightly unclear. I don’t know where the cut off point is. Of course it hit his hand, I cannot deny that. But from that point onwards I thought it was a really good goal."

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