Ange Postecoglou SNAPS at a Sky Sports reporter after he was asked why his message ‘wasn’t getting through’ during Tottenham’s 2-0 defeat by Chelsea

Ange Postecoglou could not contain his rage as he watched Tottenham crumble at Chelsea, admitting afterwards that they have bigger problems than being vulnerable from set-pieces.

Postecoglou questioned the mindset of his players after a pitiful performance at Stamford Bridge with the Spurs boss as angry as we have seen him on the touchline.

Despite being decimated by injuries, Chelsea capitalised on two set-piece opportunities with headers from Trevoh Chalobah and Nicolas Jackson inflicting a third consecutive Premier League loss on Tottenham, who now face a fight to finish fourth above Aston Villa.

Postecoglou accepted the blame on his players’ behalf as he said: ‘It is on me to fix it. We had bigger issues tonight than set pieces. We lacked belief and conviction in our game.

‘I don’t know if it is low confidence but we are not playing with the mindset we need to play the football we want to. It wasn’t good enough and I have to take responsibility for that.

Tottenham suffered third consecutive Premier League loss, damaging their top-four hopes 

‘When we put in a performance like we did in the first half, it meant my message wasn’t getting through.’ 

Asked what that message was, Postecoglou said: ‘Come on mate, we didn’t play well, do you want me to write you a dossier of where it went wrong?’

On dropping James Maddison, Postecoglou said: ‘Fair to say it didn’t work.’

Postecoglou made his feelings known to his players in the first half as he lost his temper on the touchline. 

He screamed: ‘stop passing it backwards’, while pointing at Pape Matar Sarr and Cristian Romero. 

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino was thrilled with how his players stepped up amid their injury crisis, including Cobham graduates such as Alfie Gilchrist, Conor Gallagher and Chalobah. 

‘For me, it was the best game,’ Pochettino said. ‘It is the most happy I am afterwards.’