Ange Postecoglou pledged to continue fighting to turn around Tottenham's fortunes after receiving 'some direct feedback' from dissatisfied fans following a lackluster 1-0 Premier League defeat to Bournemouth. Spurs manager Postecoglou was booed and heckled by an irate away crowd at the Vitality Stadium, as his side's toothless performance led to a loss due to Dean Huijsen's 17th-minute header. The Australian declined to elaborate on the heated exchange but acknowledged the supporters' emotional response.
'I didn't like what was being said because I'm a human being but you've got to take it,' said Postecoglou, whose team has won only one of their last six games in all competitions. 'I've been around long enough to know that when things don't go well, you've got to understand the frustration and the disappointment. They're rightly disappointed tonight because we've let a game of football get away from us. I'm OK with all that. They gave me some direct feedback, which I guess is taken onboard. All I can say is, I'm really disappointed with tonight and I'm determined to get it right and I will keep fighting until we do.' When asked what was said by the traveling support, Postecoglou replied: 'Probably not for here, mate.'
Tottenham started brightly in Dorset but created little during the 90 minutes and were lucky not to lose by a larger margin. Bournemouth midfielder Ryan Christie hit the post, and the impressive hosts failed to capitalize on several other chances to seal the victory. Spurs slipped below the Cherries into 10th place, with Sunday's London derby at home against high-flying Chelsea looming after the latest setback in a patchy season so far. Adding to the evening's misery for the injury-hit club, defender Ben Davies limped out of his 300th Premier League appearance and faces a spell on the sidelines.
'It looks like he's done his hamstring,' said Postecoglou. 'Him and Radu [Dragusin] have played every game, it's the one sort of position we can't rotate. He'll obviously be out for a period of time now, we'll just have to wait and see how long it is. It's kind of the consequence of us having the squad we have at the moment.'
Match-winner Huijsen became Bournemouth's youngest Premier League goalscorer by heading in Marcus Tavernier's corner. The 19-year-old Spanish Under-21 defender, who is aged 19 years and 235 days, was making only his third top-flight start since a summer move from Juventus, filling in for the injured Marcos Senesi.
Cherries boss Andoni Iraola said: 'Dean has shown from the beginning that he is someone with confidence in himself. With the injury of Marcos, for sure he will have to play more. It's a very good win. I liked especially the second half; the first half we were playing decently, we were not conceding chances but probably we were not being a threat as we've been in the second one. Now we will not regret it because we finished winning but when we started missing the chances in the second half it was a dangerous moment. Luckily for us, we could finish the job.' Speaking about Senesi, who sustained a quad injury in Saturday's 4-2 win at Wolves, Iraola added: 'It's quite significant so probably he will be out for some time but we still have to do more assessment.'
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