Ange Postecoglou acknowledged it was “unacceptable” for Tottenham to have suffered a 15th Premier League defeat of the season, but bemoaned the decision not to award his side a penalty in a 2-0 loss at Fulham.
A crucial victory over AZ Alkmaar on Thursday night kept alive Spurs’ campaign with Europa League progression and Postecoglou shuffled his pack with seven changes in west London.
That decision ultimately came back to bite the Australian as after a dull first 45 minutes and Tottenham had squandered promising second-half chances, Rodrigo Muniz fired the hosts ahead in the 78th minute.
Lucas Bergvall appeared to be caught by Calvin Bassey in the penalty area seven minutes later, but referee Andrew Madley waved away appeals and Ryan Sessegnon made the points safe with an emotional second for Fulham late on.
It was Sessegnon’s first goal at Craven Cottage since 2018 after an injury-ravaged spell at Spurs and left Postecoglou to reflect on a 15th defeat of the league campaign – the most the club have suffered since the 2008-09 season.
“It’s unacceptable to see 15 league defeats,” Postecoglou admitted. “It’s nowhere near good enough, nowhere near the level we need to be and I understand the supporters’ frustrations with that.
“Today wasn’t so much about performance, it was just another day when we let a game get away from us that we shouldn’t have.
“I felt that up until the point they scored, we were the team that was getting on top.
“We had a couple of good chances to go 1-0 up and that would have put the pressure on them, but it’s happened too many times this year.”
Dominic Solanke’s 69th-minute miss proved costly for Spurs as the England striker fired over from six yards after being teed up by James Maddison.
Fulham broke the deadlock nine minutes later as Tottenham failed to deal with Antonee Robinson’s cross and Andreas Pereira teed up Muniz to find the bottom corner.
Bergvall’s half-time introduction lifted the visitors and he remonstrated for a spot-kick in the 85th minute after he was caught by Bassey.
When asked about the incident, Postecoglou insisted: “I’ll leave that to the officials, but I will say that we don’t carry on like a lot of other clubs and I think that hurts us for sure.
“I don’t think there’s ever any noise around us and decisions. We get one slightly in our favour and there’s national headlines for a week. Things go against us and there’s not even a sentence on it.”
Fulham toasted Marco Silva’s 200th Premier League match with a 2-0 win, which moves them up to eighth.
“I am the same type of person, but of course with more white hair, a little bit older,” Silva smiled.
“To be where we are right now is to be a privilege for us. It means we are doing something very good.
“A season where we had to rebuild our squad and we did it in a very good way.
“We know it is not always easy for us as a club, but I have to praise the guys that are in the dressing room.”
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