Ange Postecoglou delivers honest verdict on Richarlison applauding Everton fans after Tottenham victory

Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou had no issues with Richarlison applauding the travelling Everton supporters after Saturday's clash.

The Toffees fell to a 2-1 loss against Spurs in north London as their four-match Premier League winning run came to an end. Richarlison spent four years at Everton between 2018-2022, scoring 53 goals in 152 games and was a huge fans' favourite. He left for Tottenham for a fee that could reach £60 million - and opened the scoring in the ninth minute when finishing Brennan Johnson's cross. Son Heung-min doubled Spurs advantage in the 18th minute.

Everton looked to fight their way back into the game, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin having a goal chalked off following a VAR review while James Garner hit the post before Andre Gomes reduced the arrears with eight minutes remaining. The Blues went close to equalising when Arnaut Danjuma hit the bar with virtually the last kick of the game - but Sean Dyche's troops were forced to leave the capital empty-handed.

Richarlison commended Evertonians who made the trip to Tottenham so close to Christmas - and Postecoglou thought it was a 'great' decison. He told reporters: "It’s great on both sides. It’s great for Richy to go over, and it’s great for the Everton fans to acknowledge him. These things happen in football. I don’t think anyone would question Richy’s service for Everton Football Club. I think the fans appreciate that, and he appreciated the fans. Now he’s with us, and he’s doing his best for this football club."

On the game, Postecoglou said: "Obviously the result is very pleasing against a very difficult opponent today in Everton, who have been the form team of the competition for the past few weeks. You can see why today, they worked hard and we kind of got on top of them in the first half, apart from our goals our football was good. We looked really threatening and then after we got 2-0 ahead we just eased back a little bit and I thought that allowed them to get back into the game.

"We just took a bit more time on the ball and some of it was because of them. They kept working hard and in the second half it became something of a transitional game. We had to show some resilience and some strong defending in the box and a couple of outstanding saves from Vic, who was brilliant again today. It had a little bit of everything. A different type of performance from us. I guess the pleasing thing for us is that we got the three points."