Ange Postecoglou revealed that Tottenham Hotspur spoke to PMGOL to obtain clarifications regarding the pushing and kicking that Guglielmo Vicario was experiencing during set pieces.
Over the last few weeks, teams have blatantly attacked the Italian while taking corner kicks and indirect free kicks, with no team doing it more blatantly than Everton last week.
Sean Dyche’s charges put the Tottenham goalkeeper in front of Jack Harrison during each of the corner kicks, making it difficult for him to get off his line.
Postecoglou believes that Spurs would previously have been awarded free-kicks for obstruction for the incidents against Everton and Man City, but suggested that the referees suddenly decided not to protect the goalkeeper so much anymore.
The Tottenham manager told Football.London of these incidents: “I haven’t [spoken to officials]. I find it difficult to deal with these things. As I said before, I’ve kind of always been one who says you have to respect the decision of the referee or the umpire, but I think we’ve sent a few things out to get some clarification.
“I’ll be called for that, but it was quite an obvious thing in the game that the goalkeeper was a protected type. I don’t think that was just me. People were saying that because if you really obstruct the goalkeeper in any way in a six-metre box, you’re going to get a foul. I knew that as a player, I knew that as a manager.
“There seems to be a shift. Someone will tell me that the rules haven’t changed, but I think there has been a shift because now … in my opinion it’s obstruction. If you stand in front of the goalkeeper and stop him before the ball has arrived, that is, in my words, obstruction. Now someone will tell me that this is not the law either, which would not surprise me.”
Vicario is not protected by the referees
Postecoglou admitted that it was “strange” that at a time when defenders have to be particularly careful in the box because of the VAR system, referees suddenly stopped pulling players for obstructing goalkeepers.
He continued. I saw it in the general game, I saw our guys being blocked by other guys when they were trying to close people down, and it’s weird to me that it’s not being pulled anymore.
“What is it going to do to the goalkeepers now? Well, it’s opened it up quite a lot to be able to go round the goalkeeper and squeeze him into a crowd, impose balls on him and just wait for the fight to be over and see what happens.”
Vicario has been the subject of much criticism in recent weeks, with some pundits insisting that his weakness in set-pieces has been highlighted (TNT Sports 1- 03/02/24) via The Mail).
However, Postecoglou refused to criticise his number one and insisted he was proud of the way the 27-year-old handled the angles at Goodison Park.
Asked about the Italian, he replied: “The Italian was a very good player: ‘I was really proud of Vic on the last day. I think they had nine corners after we conceded and I think he dealt with every one of them by coming out and actually trying, rather than standing on his line and saying, ‘No, I don’t want to expose myself’.
“I can’t praise him enough for the way he’s dealt with it, and the whole thing about people saying you’ve got to be stronger, well, what does that mean? If he pushes or does anything to a player, you have no chance with VAR. There will be a penalty against you.
“Now we say to our players: ‘Be careful in the box, with VAR they are looking for everything, a little tug on the shirt or a little push will not get you out of a penalty’. So how can goalkeepers be stronger in that sense when there is someone standing next to you who is hindering you from doing your job? If there is contact before the ball comes, I thought that was obstruction.
“As I said, I will be called for probably being behind the time and maybe there has been a rule change, but in my opinion there has definitely been a shift because we have definitely scored two goals, maybe three [against us], which in the past might have been a foul on the goalkeeper, and not only in our games, I have seen it in other games as well.
“We just have to adapt and adjust to that and deal with it in the best possible way because obviously there has been a change in the way we deal with it.”
Although Postecoglou’s comment is fair, he and his coaching staff should have seen what was going on last week after Everton’s first few corner kicks and put a man between Harrison and Vicario.
It was their failure to see the danger and react quickly that ultimately cost them the goal. It is to be expected that Spurs will make this change for this afternoon’s clash with Brighton.