Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou has criticised his players for getting "sucked in" to scuffles in their 3-2 win over Brentford and has claimed that footballers should try UFC if they are "that brave".
The North London giants rose back into the top four of the Premier League table on account of seeing off their London rivals, who drew first blood at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium through Neal Maupay.
The Frenchman touched a nerve with James Maddison by mimicking the Englishman's dart-throwing celebration, leading to an on-field clash between the two which has since spilled over to social media.
Postecoglou's men could not find a response before the break, but within five minutes of the restart, Destiny Udogie and Brennan Johnson turned the tie on its head for the Lilywhites with two quickfire goals.
Richarlison added to Tottenham's tally in the 56th minute, before Udogie went from hero to zero 11 moments later, gifting Ivan Toney a second for Brentford by selling Guglielmo Vicario short with a backpass.
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Spurs nevertheless saw out the remainder of the second half to send their capital counterparts home empty-handed, but Postecoglou was less than impressed with players squaring up to one another and protesting to the officials on the night.
"I think we started the game well, started with good intensity and good tempo, obviously they score and then we lost our way, we lost focus," Postecoglou told a post-match press conference, as quoted by football.london.
"I was a bit frustrated with our inability to stay disciplined, just too many stops and starts, it kind of plays into their hands, lots of set pieces and throw ins. We spent more time talking to the referee than playing the game. I was a bit frustrated we lost our real clear focus.
"We just needed to get back to concentrating on what's important to us, not spending time arguing with the referee or the opposition, or doing things that aren't going to help us achieving our objective. I don't like the whole bravado, pushing people around. If you're that brave about things, my players and their players, get into a UFC cage and I'll see how brave they are.
"We're out there to play football. And that's what I want our guys to do, focus on playing football. And they shouldn't get motivated by things that aren't really that important to us. Like I said, we got sucked in first half. Second half was much better."
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During his own post-game interview with TNT Sports, Maddison lifted the lid on his clash with Maupay, revealing that he told the Brentford striker that his attacking output did not justify him having his own celebration.
Johnson and Richarlison made light of the incident by also throwing pretend darts after their goals, but Postecoglou took particular issue with Maddison for spending too much time remonstrating with the referee in the early stages.
"He got more and more into the game and I think he's one of the guilty ones who spent more time in the first half chatting to the ref than getting on the ball. That's not what we want him to do," Postecoglou added.
"We want him to play football and I thought in the second half his quality shone through and when he's like that, and I'm sure that game will do him the world of good, it just gives us so much more flow through that central area."
Tottenham are first up in the weekend's batch of Premier League fixtures, travelling to relegation-threatened Everton for Saturday's lunchtime encounter.
Ben Knapton
