“I’m happy but I enjoyed today. At the beginning of the day until now. Football is nice because if you give your best, maybe today. Maybe tomorrow. after tomorrow, you receive back everything from football. It’s incredible. And we deserve this day. We deserve this game. We deserve this win. We deserve everything of today.
“I think we deserve to stay up, because we made 11 points in seven games and we deserved more. My players played a fantastic game, as a spirit, as a behaviour, as an attitude, but also as a quality of the play. Especially in the first half. They played very well and I’m proud.”
“And from tonight we have to start to organise and to build a new team. I think we have now to change too many players. We have 10, 11, 12 players good enough to stay. Good enough. Like players. Especially like people. And then we have to complete the squad with the first level of players.
“First level of players because we suffered too much. I suffered a lot but I think the fans, the club, the board, the players. They suffered too much. We are Tottenham and we can’t suffer like this until the last second of the last game to stay up.
And I will be stronger. I will be stronger. I don’t want to decide alone because football is a group - sporting “director, scouting, CEO - but my target now is finished to stay up. My target is to start the pre-season with the team I have in my dream. Next season the target is to make them happier than this season for sure. I would like to compete, I don’t know for what, but stop suffering like this.“
“Yes, I would like to keep [Palhinha], 100%. We have to start from these people, before to speak about the players, we have to speak about the people.
“And we have to start. Then, I can’t give the place for everyone in the first eleven. Because I want to build two players in each position. But for sure, I would like him to stay with me. Like Conor Gallagher and Bentancur, the same.”
“Dragusin. [Radu] Dragusin was top because he didn’t play, but he was always positive inside the dressing room. Inside the pitch. Bentancur. Because Bentancur, when he came back from the injury, he wanted to play. He came to me to say, ‘hey, I want to play. I’m ready to play.’
“Joao Palhinha, because at the beginning of my time, he didn’t play in Sunderland, here with Brighton and Wolverhampton. Ben Davies. Yesterday, he came to the Lodge with us.
“Djed Spence. Before the Chelsea game he came in my office. Another one to say ‘I want to play.’ He said, ‘You always speak about the personality, the courage. I’m here, if you want to play with one player,’ and he was fantastic, I love it.
“Micky van de Ven. Great guy, sensitive guy. I spent a lot of time with him, because I consider him the best centre-back, left-centre-back in the Premier League, with Levi Colwill, because he was my former player and I can’t forget him. But a lot of other players. Richarlison, Archie Gray, I can’t say one.”