Ange Postecoglou, the manager of Tottenham, quipped that he would have to train “armless defenders” after Cristian Romero’s handball resulted in the concession of a disputed penalty during Sunday’s 2-2 draw against Tottenham’s rivals, Arsenal. The game took place between two teams from north London.
At the beginning of the second half of an exciting derby at the Emirates Stadium, Romero was given a yellow card for blocking Ben White’s shot with his hand. This decision left Postecoglou feeling angry.
When White took his shot within the six-yard box, Romero had very little time to get his hand out of the way since White was quite near to the Tottenham defender at the moment.
After receiving advice from the video assistant referee to look at the pitchside monitor, the referee, Robert Jones, ultimately decided to award the penalty kick after originally declining to do so.
Son Heung-min scored his second goal of the game to keep Tottenham’s undefeated start to the Premier League season alive. The penalty kick was converted by Bukayo Saka to put Arsenal up 2-1, but Son Heung-min scored his second goal of the game to keep Tottenham unblemished.
“I have no notion what the regulation is for playing handball. In all honesty, I do not. “It just seems like sometimes if it hits your hand, it results in a penalty, and other times, if it hits your hand, it does not result in a penalty,” Postecoglou said.
“It is the one rule in the game that I am completely unable to comprehend. If we don’t start producing armless defenders soon, I have no idea how you’re going to be able to block things and still be in a natural position.
“Things are as they are. You have to sort of hope that these things would balance themselves out over the course of a year, but the handball rule is beyond my comprehension. I believe that any clarification would be beneficial.”
Before the drama of the penalty kicks, the game was tied at zero until Romero scored an own goal in the 26th minute to break the tie. Spurs responded with Son’s first equalizer, which was assisted by James Maddison’s pass.
Postecoglou, who came to Tottenham from Scottish champions Celtic, has already revitalized a club that concluded the previous season in a state of disorder. This is Postecoglou’s first season at Tottenham.
From heel to toe
They matched their reviled neighbors by playing with equal parts silk and steel, and it seems that they will be able to compete for one of the top four spots in the standings.
“It’s not about being happy with the result, but for me it was all about the performance,” Postecoglou said.
“You can get a result here, a draw, and as I said before, you can walk away knowing that ‘you know what, we escaped,’ but I don’t have that feeling now. There is a possibility that this will end in a tie.
“I believe that we competed head-to-head with a top squad, and there were occasions when I believed that we really imposed our dominance on the game. They did so at times, but that is what happens when you compete against elite sides.
The Gunners are still undefeated, but manager Mikel Arteta expressed his disappointment that his team was unable to make it three victories in a row in the derby.
According to Arteta, the game took a decisive turn when Gabriel Jesus regained control from James Maddison inside the penalty area, but he missed a wonderful opportunity to put the Gunners up 2-0 by shooting high over the crossbar.
“We are very disappointed not to earn the three points, that much is certain, and especially when you go ahead twice in the game and have the opportunity to win it,” he added. “We went ahead twice in the game and had the chance to win it.”
“We had the game under control, and Gabi had a chance to make it 2-0 for us, but when you give up a goal, you have to find a way to come back from it.” We were able to do it and score the goal, but it’s unfortunate that you were able to score another one inside the same minute.
“I think that emotionally affected the team quite a lot, and as a result, we lacked some composure to make more passes in the final third.”
Arteta also rushed to the defense of Jorginho, who had been substituted for the injured Declan Rice at the halftime break. Jorginho had lost control to Maddison in the buildup to Tottenham’s second goal. Arteta came to Jorginho’s aid.
“Mistakes are inevitable in the game of football. They are permitted to make mistakes since we are not participating in the game whereas they are. “I love him, and so do all of us,” Arteta said of the individual.