Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou has been speaking at a special Europa League final media day ahead of the big event in Bilbao.
The Spurs boss has been out on the training pitches at Hotspur Way putting his players through their paces on Monday morning and then spoke to the media ahead of the showpiece final on May 21 in Bilbao against Manchester United. Tottenham secured their place in the game in Spain with a 5-1 aggregate win over Bodo/Glimt in the semi-finals.
Postecoglou spoke on Monday about a freak training ground moment between Brennan Johnson and Sergio Reguilon, the latest on Dejan Kulusevski's injury, Son's return and a chat he had with Rodrigo Bentancur and Pedro Porro, among plenty of other topics.
Our Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to Postecoglou. Here's the full transcript from the press conference.
You've had a busy schedule since Thursday night, have you had any time to reflect on reaching the final and are your two boys happy about getting a couple of days off for the final?
Yeah, happy about getting a couple of days off school. It's been pretty busy but there's also some planning that needs to happen and some sort of some practicalities around it. A lot of it is just logistics and making sure that particularly with the players we give them the best preparation possible, so you've got to do a few things pretty early on around logistics and making sure that everyone's organised, so, that takes your mind to that final, but obviously like you said, we had a game in between, so it's more been around the practicalities of it than anything else.
That speech in the dressing room, which we don't get to see, it gave us a sense of what you've all been through to get here, will that make it even more special when you get to Bilbao?
No, I think, you know, I've said before, I think whenever you, irrespective of the circumstances, when you get to such a significant moment, I think there's always understanding of both on a personal level, but more importantly as a group, what we've had to overcome to get there and I think every team's got their own story and in those kind of moments, it's the emotion of it and how you've overcome the odds to get to where you are. Really important to recognise for the group and I guess for myself individually, so I was really proud of the fact that against the backdrop of some real difficulties and massive challenges that the group still found a way to get to the final and give us an opportunity of something pretty special.
Will you follow in the previous footsteps before the 2019 final of Spurs players walking over hot coals and breaking arrows?
We’ve got enough injuries! I’ll put them in cotton wool for the next ten days. Seriously, with the way things have gone this year, any extra curricular activities are going to be at a minimum. I don’t know if you saw training today but we had Reggie tackle Brennan and they are on the same team. That goes to show how we’re going!
Can we check on Sonny and how he's going as well as the emotional factor of him not winning anything in his time here?
Firstly, from a physical standpoint he's good. It's important he got some minutes yesterday, he needed them. More for himself psychologically more than anything else. He had a good session today. He was never going to do the whole session because he played yesterday. He feels good so we've still got eight or nine games to go and a game on Friday where we can build him up. It's great to have him available. He's been a big catalyst this year and a driver of... he understands better than most what a trophy would do for this football club and for him personally because he's had an unbelievable career here in which he's done just about everything. But the key bit, that silverware which every player craves, he knows how significant it would be for the club and him personally. So the fact that he's back available is good.
We were there just in front of Reggy and Brennan when it happened, do you watch training at the moment half wincing?
It seems to be how our season has gone. You want to protect the integrity of training and you have to train at a certain level. There are the quirks of things that happen. Thankfully nothing too serious. You’ve just got to hope and pray that the football gods have run out of challenges to throw to us this year.
Any update on Dejan Kulusevski?
We'll see. He was a bit sore this morning with his knee. It looks like a knock at this stage but we're going to let it settle for 24 hours then assess it. But the initial thing was it's more of a knock than anything more significant.
How big a player does Kulusevski feel in the absence of Maddison and Bergvall?
We've obviously lost Madders and Bergvall in the last two weeks, so yesterday I only had three players back up and they were all going to play 45 minutes and you know, Sod's law, it's one of those that gets injured and look he is important, but you know, where we are right now they're all important. The thing with Deki was that he obviously missed a fair bit of football, but I could just sense he was getting back into the groove of things. I thought there's some real promising signs.
At Bodo he had to do a really disciplined job for us in terms of defensively, but he started to show some of that attacking creativity and I thought he started the game really well yesterday. I thought our first 10 minutes were actually okay, and then he gets injured, so yeah, he's pretty important to us in the context of where the squad is at the moment, so fingers crossed he's OK.
You've talked about the twin realities and there does seem to be a kind of different approach in Europe, particularly for these away games than you're taking in the Premier League. Can you talk about that and why the approach has felt so different in Bodo and Frankfurt to how it felt against Palace yesterday?
Some of it's just personnel and when you're putting teams together, it's a sum of all the parts that make it effective and when you make so many changes, it invariably becomes disjointed and you're not able to play with the same sort of fluency and rhythm. If you look at our back four in Europe, along with Vic, the reason I think that it works so well is that they all complement each other, they all sort of fit the pieces. We've got speed, we've got the power, we've got technical ability, we've got the calmness we need, so it kind of all fits together and that's why I think we look so effective.
Same sort of with our front three and and midfield, so you're kind of always looking, whereas when you're just putting 11 players on the park we're all very good and and capable but there are elements of that that go missing where they don't sort of complement each other when they're out there, so it doesn't allow you to play in the same manner and doesn't allow you to look as fluent, but again that's the situation we've been in .
Yesterday we didn't really reach the levels in any of our football, whether it was our press or with the ball and I think it was the effect of, The changes we made. I also think It was a big emotional night for the whole group on Thursday night, and we got back obviously late Friday morning. We didn't train Friday, which we usually do. So the preparation was limited and all those kind of things, they're not excuses but they're reasons why maybe the lads didn't perform at the levels we wanted them to.
A lot of your style and system is based around the players really believing in the process and the tactics, how easy or hard has it been to keep everyone believing the way that they played through the season?
I think I've said all along, as a manager, I guess that's the key to everything you do, just how much belief the people, not just the players and the staff have around you. Now, when things are going well, all that kind of takes care of itself, you know, but fair to say we haven't had smooth waters this year where there was the opportunity for players to question and maybe lose a bit of faith or belief in what I was doing and what I wanted us to do.
But I just never sensed that, I really felt the players even in the most difficult of times still embrace the fact that if we continue down this road, we could still achieve something and so easy in the respect of there was never any point where I felt, jeez, I've got to sort of address this at any point. But also testament to the group of players and the staff because they're just as important, that at no time when there was an easy option to waver on what we're doing did I sense that that was, and we wouldn't have got to the final if that was the case, I don't think,
Even during Europe we had some real challenges with players missing and they still found a way to overcome those things and I think when we got to the knockout stages from probably the Alkmaar away game wasn't great, but from Alkmaar home those last five games, they've really sort of said, OK, well, everything we'll work for has been for this purpose and been really clear on what we need to do.
You spoke about trophies earlier this season, it got taken out of context, but how important is winning this trophy for you?
For me personally, well you know great, it’s another trophy I can reminisce in my old age about, but more importantly what it means for the club. I’ve always said it’s the significance of what it does to people that really impacts you. A lot of the success I’ve had has been stuff that’s pretty significant. It’s been at clubs where Yokohama hadn’t won a Championship for 14 years, Australia had never won a continental championship, Brisbane had never won one, South Melbourne - my first job – hadn’t won in seven years, Celtic had been one year but trust me that’s a long time in Scotland.
They had to wrestle back the dominance they had for so long, so it’s the significance of them all because you know what it does to the club and to the people. When you look at the historical backdrop of this club and what it’s been through on the last 20-odd years, I feel like it could be a turning point in terms of the way the club is perceived but also more how it perceives itself which I think is the biggest thing. Until you do that, irrespective of what else you accomplish, people will still say you haven’t won anything and in our game, in life in general, that’s the things that matter most when people assess where you’re at.
You've got plenty of history with finals, is there a different energy around the final and do you draw on previous triumphs?
Yeah, I do, and they are different, they're kind of standalone events, there's nothing like them, every experience I've had, you walk into it knowing that it's going to be different to any other game you're going to play. Every game's important but the significance of what's at stake, you're never too far from the eye line of the trophy that you're going to get.
It takes a lot out of you emotionally, physically on the day, I know the players obviously need to try and prepare as they always would, but you can't ignore the fact, I mean, we're 10 days out and today already you've got to start talking about it. So there's a different feeling and I guess I've had a lot of experience in it, so I kind of know, I try and navigate that sort of fine line between trying to keep it as normal as possible, but also understanding the players that, you know what, it is a special opportunity that we need to take and, It takes sometimes something more than just the normal to get you there.
How do you prepare those players for something that maybe some of them haven't experienced?
Yeah, you can, I think you can, I think it's just about just tapping into... I mean they've all got different personalities, but you get to know them pretty well and I think that there's always for me, a greater purpose than what's before you is always the key. Can you create a narrative where OK, yes, it is a final, yes there is a trophy at stake, but that's the same for the opposition as well. Is there something greater that can drive you beyond that, just winning a trophy, and that's something you build into long before you get to this point, but if it's been consistent and it's resonated with the group, I think it can be powerful on the day.
There's been a lot of narrative about Man United, how they win these finals and Tottenham tend to lose them, how do you prevent that from filtering through to the players? Do you use it as fuel or do you try and block it out?
I mean sometimes. There's no doubt that the comments of the Bodo players had an impact on the group, and they were quite keen to make sure that those questions got answered, but I guess that's the hurdle this club has to overcome because it'll always be there, you know, until you actually do it, then you're fair game for people to say 'well you've always kind of fluffed it on the big stage'.
So irrespective of what the opposition say or what anyone else says, what you’ve got to try and do is break that cycle. Whatever motivation you need to do that, you tap into. So there may be things we do tap into but to really do something as significant as what you want to do, there has got to be a higher purpose than shutting people’s mouths up. I think it is more about ‘can you make an impact?’
I often say to the players that at the end of your careers, what you want to be able to do is go back to the clubs you served and know you’ve made an impact. The photos I see up on the walls at the stadium are all of Bill Nicholson, the 1984 winning team. Fair to say a lot of them are in black and white. Can we get this group up on that wall?
With the Son decision for the final, is it very much black and white over whether if he's fit enough, he's ready or is there an emotional pull there as well, what he represents to the club, his service over the year, what he means to the team?
No it comes down to getting him ready to play and then making a decision. It's nothing more than that. One thing I do know about finals is there are always moments and players who can change it. But it's going to take a collective effort, it's what we do as a team that will be much more important than individuals on the day.
You mentioned the 84 team, they had loads of injuries, struggled in the league and they missed Glenn Hoddle for the semis and final, there are so many parallels, have you spoken to the squad about that team and did you know of that history?
I think from when I arrived, I've spoken a lot about the history of the club and what the challenge was for for this group of players as it has been for every group of players since the club's had the success it did. There's been some fantastic players, world class players who've played here and world-class coaches, managers who have been here and you need to understand the history and the magnitude of the task at hand to understand how difficult it will be, but also how significant it can be.
Talk about narratives, I mean that's been one of the constants from the time I arrived is how do we as a group make the impact that others haven't been able to. We know it's not just about ability, because like I said it's world-class players, world class managers and sometimes it's just a bit of luck that you need to go your way, but to get that luck you've got to put yourself in the position to have that success, so I've kind of made sure the players are well aware of the significance of what they're trying to achieve.
We saw you out at training, talking to Rodrigo and Pedro for a long, long time, that kind of image seems a world away from the kind of image that's built of you not doing small talk and not getting close to your players, have you got closer to this squad than any other squad?
No, I think as you get older, I mean a lot of that stuff references when I was a younger manager and just the way, but you know as you get older you mellow a bit and you understand also that the world's changing and people need connections these days, it's important. So it was a nice day. It's not often you can sit out in the grass out there, mate, and have a chat with the boys. It was just a general chat and they're both great guys, not just good footballers, but great guys and it's always good to get some feedback from them as well. They obviously played a bit yesterday and could see where the group's at. So yeah it's a fairly common occurrence, mate.
Son thanked for the medical staff for getting him back back so quickly, how is his injury and will he be 100% match fit and were you surprised he's back so soon?
In terms of his fitness, he's progressing well. He played 25-30 minutes yesterday, we should get him some game time against Villa on Friday. if he trains right through he should be in a good condition. He's worked hard to get back with the medical team. It was a funny injury. There was no kind of pre prescribed length of time, it was just how he felt and progressed. But he worked hard with the medical team. It was important he gets some game-time so hopefully he kicks on now.
Sonny and Ben Davies played in the 2019 Champions League final defeat, will that heartbreak inspire them?
Ben and Sonny have been here a while and understand that the opportunities don't come along too often. It's not like you get in a final every year. the last one was six years ago. So when they do come along, you want to take that opportunity. You can't assume it will come next year or the year after. Both of them are good reference points for the other boys.
You mentioned Spurs needing to break the cycle and and when you talk about how you've broken that cycle at the clubs in the past, is Tottenham the toughest version of that situation that you faced in your career?
It is hard to say. I guess the challenges of this year have made it feel like its harder for sure. Stuff that’s happened this year has never happened before in my career, around events that are out of your control. And I think obviously the attention that the league gets, the attention the club gets make it feel like its more of a push to get it to where you want to, Maybe at some of the other clubs, the circumstances, there was less barriers to overcome. It seems like here there are a lot. You just have to look at where the club has been for the last 20-odd years. It is not because of a lack of quality players or managers that have all been through here. You realise that, But I realised that when I took the role. I knew it was going to be a massive challenge but we’ve given ourselves an opportunity. The other key bit is to try and take that opportunity.
Has it been more psychological?
Some of it, not all of it because you can’t dismiss the fact that I’ve also had to change pretty much everything at the club in terms of playing style, in terms of the squad. It’s not like I took over a team that finished third and is constantly in that echelon. The year before I took over, we were eighth. We weren’t even in Europe. So it’s not just been ‘OK, this is the final bit’. We’ve had to do a whole lot of other things. We’ve done a lot of heavy lifting in the last two years. We’ve signed a lot of young players with the right kind of thinking for the future.
That’s costing us now because we don’t have a squad that can cope with what’s going through now. It is not just psychological, it is about trying to change a whole range of things but also have that piece. My view was that’s what I’ll get judged on. I could have been sitting here fifth last year, fifth this year – maybe people wouldn’t be waiting for the white smoke to see if it’s my last one – but they’d still be saying ‘You know Ange, that’s great but its all been done before. Until this club wins something, you haven’t made an impact.,’ I kind of knew throughout my tenure last year, that’s what I was going to be judged on so now we have an opportunity to do that.