Angry Ange Postecoglou accused a reporter of “questioning his integrity” over the absence of Eric Dier from the 1-0 win over Burnley. A Pedro Porro piledriver put Tottenham into the FA Cup fourth round but earlier in the day reports emerged from Germany that the England international had reached a verbal agreement to join Bayern Munich.
The 29-year-old is a free agent in the summer although Postecoglou confirmed he could be allowed to go this month despite Ben Davies picking up a hamstring injury during the game. However, he was adamant that Dier was missing from the squad purely through injury.
“He pulled up sore and did not train yesterday,” the Tottenham manager said when pressed on the coincidence. “Bayern Munich is a separate issue, mate, but don’t question my integrity. When I say he is injured, he is injured. He didn’t train yesterday. I didn’t make that up.
“Ask him if he is injured. It has got nothing to do with anything else.” Postecoglou’s mood was strange given the sublime way Spurs had won the game with just 12 minutes of normal time remaining.
Porro claimed his 25-yard strike was “luck” but team-mate Brennan Johnson disagreed. “There was no luck about that,” he said. “It was an unbelievable strike. He shoots a lot in training and misses a lot but it came off.”
Burnley manager Vincent Kompany added: “I’ve never known the mood of the camp to be joyful after a defeat. We are disappointed with the result, of course, but I said to the lads about key moments.
“If you concede a goal like we did today, sometimes you have to shake hands and say: ‘A top goal and that’s it.’ But we’ve got to take our chances.” Probed about the goal conceded, the ex-Manchester City skipper said: “I look back at it and think it was 0-0, and we are trying to go for the win.
