Tottenham fans left bemused by one costly substitution Ange Postecoglou made in defeat to Fulham

Yesterday at 01:30 PM

Tottenham Hotspur supporters were left scratching their heads over one substitution Ange Postecoglou made in their defeat to Fulham.

Tottenham Hotspur were beaten 2-0 at Craven Cottage as former Spurs player Ryan Sessegnon came back to haunt his former club.

The defeat across the capital means that Spurs have now lost on 15 occasions this season, the club’s highest number since the 2008/09 season.

The Lilywhites were in the match for large parts in West London, however, the game swung completely in the hosts’ favour after Postecoglou, who questioned Yves Bissouma’s performance, made one costly error.

Ange Postecoglou’s bemusing Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven decision

Tottenham fans were left questioning Ange Postecoglou’s decision to leave both Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven for the final 22 minutes.

Meanwhile, questions could also be asked of the Australian’s decision to bench James Maddison, Wilson odobert and Lucas Bergvall, as he opted for a super cautious approach.

But it was the withdrawal of Romero for Maddison in the 68th minute which proved particularly costly as it left Archie Gray and Ben Davies as the two central defenders.

Romero and Van de Ven have just returned from injury, however, with an international break now here, there is a feeling that both could have played a bigger role at Craven Cottage.

Romero has impressed since returning and enjoying a strong 68 minutes against Fulham, but after he went off, Fulham enjoyed a much easier route to Guglielmo Vicario’s goals.

Davies got spun by Rodrigo Muniz for the opening goal and it’s unlikely that the same would have happened to Van de Ven or Romero should they have been playing.

Tottenham fans unhappy with Ange Postecoglou’s substitutions vs Fulham

Tottenham fans were not happy with Postecoglou’s substitution to take off Romero and not to bring Van de Ven into the action.

Several supporters have slammed the 59-year-old for showing “poor game management” for having the defensive duo on the bench at the same time.

After the defeat at Craven Cottage, Tottenham fans took to X to share their frustrations towards their manager’s questionable substitutions.

One fan claimed: “I don’t know what Ange was thinking taking off Romero for Maddison. I know he’s gradually coming back but I would of played Van De Ven to give him more minutes since he wasn’t called up to the Dutch squad.”

Another supporter questioned the decision: “Why's Van de Ven on the bench if he's not fit and what's the point of taking Romero off that early when there's an international break?”

There was yet more cristsim for Postecoglou’s decision: “The measure of any manager is their substitutions. Ange makes subs which make the team worse. If you take off Romero, put Van de Ven on, but he sends Archie Gray back there.”

Finally, one fan claimed that Postecoglou was overly cautious with his two best central defenders, claiming: “Maybe feels like he's being over cautious? Would have been good to see Van De Ven come on for Romero, but regardless of whether he did or didn't replace him with Micky, losing Romero was going to be an absolute killer. Thought Gray did well before he moved back to centre back.”