Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has admitted that his wife told him off him for his confrontation with the travelling fans following the defeat at Bournemouth.
The Spurs boss approached to applaud the away supporters at the Vitality Stadium on Thursday night, but their fury over the team's poor performance was directed at the head coach and his players.
Some of the abuse was personal, leading Postecoglou to respond to those individuals before gesturing towards himself as if to indicate he would rectify the issues, before he turned away.
When asked if he regretted responding to the more abusive fans, the 59-year-old replied: "No. They felt like they needed to give me feedback, so I thought I'd get close enough for them to make sure they were heard."
However, by demonstrating that he can be provoked, the Tottenham boss may have painted a target on his back, something he admits did not sit well with Mrs Postecoglou.
"Hopefully after 18 months, you've realised that I am who I am. I don't really care. Whether people think I'm an easy target, soft target. I'm going to shy away from it. I've fought my whole life and I'm not going to race down the tunnel because some people feel like they need to give me some direction.
"It doesn't bother me, it doesn't. From my perspective, what motivates me and what drives me on a daily basis is continually staying true to my values and what I believe is the right thing to do in every situation. Maybe people thought it wasn't the right thing to do. My wife certainly didn't. So I got some feedback there as well. But that's ok. I'm not going to change. It's who I am, mate. I've been like that my whole career and I won't change."
The Tottenham boss then clarified his gesture to the fans during the heated moment. "It's on me but also whatever you've got to direct, direct it at me. And I'm listening. I'm listening, I'm looking, I'm understanding," he explained.
Despite Spurs' impressive wins including victories over Manchester City and Manchester United, inconsistent performances are a pressing concern for Postecoglou in his second season.
He expressed discontent with this pattern: "It doesn't sit well with me, nor should it. I'm not going to accept it. My role within that and my responsibility is to change that because if we're going to get to where I want us to get to, we need to break that cycle of not showing the belief and resilience in key moments. It doesn't sit well with me mate but nor should it and that's why we do what we do.
"[The fans' reaction] will be dependent on what people see, what people feel. The only way I can affect that is by what we produce on game days. I've got to concentrate on the controllables, and the controllables are the team, how we prepare, how we play and hopefully through that vehicle we get everyone on board."
When probed about whether it's a weakness in his side's mentality to be inconsistent, he replied: "It's a funny one because if you talk about mentality, you'd think mentality would be 'well, against the big teams, you come up short.' I didn't go into this job where I felt there was something institutionalised here that would stop this club having success. I just don't think that way.
"I think everything while I am here is in my control. So I'm not going to palm off responsibility to whatever we're going through to things that have existed in the past. From the moment since I've come in I have the ability and the opportunity to change things so that's what I am endeavouring to do. The key is to understand that Bournemouth is not a lesser team. They have beaten City and Arsenal at home so we knew it was a tough game last night, particularly in the spell we are in at the moment where we have a lot of football with a thin squad.
"We prepared ourselves for a tough game, that was going to be tougher than any other game we were going to face last night, and the disappointing thing is, like I said, that in a game where we started well, we once again allowed the opposition to play the game on their terms by us lacking discipline and conviction in a key moment and we can't keep doing that."
Tottenham take on Chelsea in a London derby this Sunday at home, over a year on following the enthralling 4-1 defeat to their rivals after Cristian Romeo and Destiny Udogie were both sent off. Spurs still had chances to get a result out of the game despite going down to nine men, before the visitors sealed the win late on.
The home crowd lauded their effort after the game, recognizing the squad’s unwavering spirit—a sentiment echoed by Postecoglou, who believed his side's attacking values remain the same: "No, not really and I think we have seen evidence of that this year. Nothing has changed in terms of my resolve to play the type of football I want to play and be that kind of team.
"It's just that we haven't understood the other side of that and that is that the discipline and resilience to overcome difficult moments so that the football we have can come through.
"When we have won this year, we have been pretty compelling. It's not just struggling victories. Every game we have won we have been very dominant and exactly the team we want to be so we have shown the potential of what we can be but that kind of gets diminished by performances like last night."
Postecoglou has faced criticism with some arguing he does not have a Plan B, but he remains resolute in his approach. "I keep saying I have had 26 years of that. I come in here right and I can only be really myself and answer questions the way I want to if I really believe in what I am doing. I am not going to change my values, I'm not going to change my beliefs, I'm not going to change my sense of purpose or the way I do things because then I can't come in here and defend what I am doing."
"I can defend this to the day I'm gone if I'm doing it my way. So like I said it is not unusual for me, it's not unique and sometimes you kind of understand that people are going to see what we are doing in that light. 'Well, why don't you change?' But change to what? To something somebody else is doing or somebody else did? I was brought here to do it my way otherwise what is the point of me being here.
"I'm sure at other clubs, if you stick to a plan and got through difficult moments, there's dissension among supporters in this moments. You forget about that when you're on the other side.
"It's about winning but it's about belief as well in what you're doing sometimes. You look beyond the results I think. That's what happened at the start of my tenure last year. We lost against Chelsea but there was a sense that we were building something. Obviously it kind of went off the rails after that game. It's not just about winning, but where we are right now it will certainly help.
"I'd be surprised if [the players] think I was happy with this. I don't think they are either. I don't think they're comfortable with where we're at. It's not just about anger and screaming and yelling. It's about purpose and direction and responsibility and charting a way forward. That's much more important for me."
