Ange Postecoglou jokes Brennan Johnson wiping out Richarlison over showboating was fair enough
Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou backed Brennan Johnson after his brutal challenge Richarlison at Nottingham Forest last season.
Spurs star Johnson was playing in red last time Forest hosted the north Londoners at the City Ground.
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Having completed a £47.5million move to Tottenham in the summer, Johnson became teammates with Richarlison - and they had some making up to do.
Back in August 2022, Johnson cynically scythed the Brazil forward down in the closing moments of a 2-0 victory for Spurs.
Richarlison had just provided a stunning assist for Harry Kane's second goal - but infuriated the home faithful with an unnecessary piece of showboating.
The 26-year-old started doing kick-ups while Spurs ran the clock down - and Johnson decided to teach him a lesson.
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The Wales winger charged at Richarlison and snapped into him after the ball had gone, earning a yellow card.
Despite the rough nature of the challenge, many pundits felt it was justified - and that now includes Tottenham boss Postecoglou.
Speaking ahead of his squad's trip to Forest on Friday night, live on talkSPORT, the Aussie admitted he would have taken Johnson's side.
“I reckon even if you did what Richy did as a kid, someone would give you a whack!” Postecoglou said.
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“That’s just part of football. It’s all good.
“We don’t want to take all the fun out of the game but every player knows there’s a line and if you cross that line, somebody will bring you back into line pretty quickly. Brennan did that with Richy.”
Richarlison announced his return from injury with two goals in the recent 4-1 victory over Newcastle and Postecoglou is hopeful the Brazilian can kick on after a difficult start to life at Spurs.
"I hope there's a lot more to come (from Richarlison), hopefully that's the platform we've given him," the 58-year-old continued.
"He'd had a fantastic impact in the Premier League with Everton, he came here and whenever significant money is invested, the expectations rise.
"With a striker there's usually just one thing people measure you by which is goals and all those kind of factors, but that's up to him now.
"He showed last week that he can be a real threat at this level both with and without the ball. He won't be starved of opportunities here and it's up to him to take those and take his football to the kind of level that we believe he can."
Listen to Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham live on talkSPORT at 8pm on Friday night!
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