Ange Postecoglou was not in the mood to field suggestions from the travelling Tottenham supporters during his side’s dramatic late win over Coventry City on Wednesday evening.
Spurs left it late against their Championship opponents in the League Cup clash, needing an 88th-minute Djed Spence equaliser to cancel out Brandon Thomas-Asante’s second-half goal, before Brennan Johnson’s stoppage-time winner sealed a fourth-round spot.
But this came after the travelling fans booed the Australian’s decision to substitute midfielder Lucas Bergvall, who was making his first start for the club, on 62 minutes. James Maddison replaced the Swedish youngster, with Spurs conceding immediately after the substitution.
Postecoglou, whose side came into the midweek clash on the back of consecutive Premier League defeats, including last weekend’s 1-0 home reverse to bitter rivals Arsenal, was quick to bite back at the fans’ frustration following the win.
"I don't make substitutions by poll, mate,” he said in his post-match press conference. “So, I'm sure the fans have got their own opinions, but yeah, Lucas, like I said that's his first sort of significant game time for quite a while. What I didn't want was us pushing guys over the edge today, that's why we took Destiny [Udogie] off at half-time as well.
"We already had a couple of injuries, and I had some pretty good players on the bench that I thought could make an impact, but it doesn't take away from Lucas's performance. I thought he was outstanding tonight.
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"They they're going to play a lot of football for us and hopefully getting through tonight, whether it's 90 minutes for Archie [Gray] or you know, 60, 70 for Lucas, will put them in a good space."
Postecoglou can point to the fact that Spurs progressed following his decision to replace the promising Bergvall on a night where he made eight changes to his starting line-up.
"What I've always tried to do is what I think is the right thing," he continued. "The best thing for us, in terms of what we're trying to achieve, and you know that there's no guarantees with anything you do in football.
"But what I've always done is back my decisions in critical times to always do what I feel is best. And if it doesn't work out, I can live with that. But I'm certainly not going to jeopardise what we're trying to build here by doing something that's going to make me look like I'm in a safer position."
Next up for Spurs is a home clash against Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday, before the club begin their Europa League campaign by hosting Qarabag on Thursday.
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