Ange Postecoglou has insisted he was not trying to goad Tottenham fans after cupping his hand to his ear during short-lived goal celebrations.
Spurs fell to a 1-0 defeat to Chelsea on Thursday night, their 16th Premier League loss of the season and a fourth on the trot to the Blues.
Enzo Fernandez gave Chelsea a deserved lead early in the second half as Spurs served up another toothless display.
Postecoglou replaced Lucas Bergvall with Pape Matar Sarr soon after the goal, which was met with boos from sections of the travelling Spurs support and chants of “you don't know what you're doing".
Soon after, Spurs looked to have equalised when Sarr beat Robert Sanchez from distance, and Postecoglou was spotted cupping his hand to his ear.
The gesture was interpretted by some as a reaction to those boos, which the Spurs boss denied after the game.
"I wanted them to be happy, mate,” he told. “I wanted them to cheer as they haven't had much to cheer about recently.
"It's not the first time my substitutions have been booed, if you've followed my tenure. They're allowed to boo, but I wanted them to cheer."
The goal was eventually disallowed for a foul by Sarr in the build-up, with VAR taking more than four minutes to come to a decision.
Sky Sports reporter Patrick Davison asked Postecoglou if he agreed with the decision, to which Postecoglou snapped back: "Look Pat, you can try and force me into a corner ... you are.
“Did you think last night was a red card? Clear and obvious? Yes, okay, how many minutes did it take this referee to figure out it was clear and obvious?”
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