I know it doesn’t feel like it and it’s the most irrelevant thing ever compared to the fact that TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR JUST WON THE EUROPA LEAGUE ZOMG but yes, there’s the small detail of the final Premier League match of the season vs. Brighton. This will be the first and last opportunity this season for the Tottenham faithful to celebrate Spurs winning a trophy in their home stadium.
The one thing that we can say with certainty after watching the victory parade celebrations yesterday in north London is that yes, the players uh absolutely enjoyed themselves. And by “enjoyed themselves” I actually mean most of them got drunk. I mean shit-faced. Blotto. Better-grab-his-shirt-because-he-might-go-over-the-side pissed. It was extremely fun to watch, and if you don’t believe me just google “Brennan Johnson trophy lift parade.”
With so many hard partiers in the side, one last Premier League match feels like the least important thing in the world, but Ange Postecoglou said in his last pre-match press conference of the season that yes, Spurs will field a team tomorrow. But there will be a few people who will miss out.
“Thanks, yeah we’ll be able to field a team. As I’ve got older, I used to be a bit different but I really feel you need to celebrate your achievements properly. That was my message to the boys. It’s really important because it’s important for them, because they’re the ones who have done it and achieved it. It’s important for the people around them because then they can relax as well and then it’s important to make the experience as memorable as possible because when I ask them to climb the mountain again, there is a reason for it.
“Fair to say they took my words literally and certainly enjoyed themselves over the last couple of days. Like all parties there is one family member who embarrasses you and we want to keep control of. Fair to say we had a couple of those, but again, it doesn’t make them bad people and they are probably the first ones you reinvite to the next party. The boys are all good. We’ll be good tomorrow.
“...There will be a couple of absences, I should have mentioned that. Romero has been struggling with his toe for quite a while so we’ll leave him out and probably Sonny because his foot has still not healed. They’ve both sort of made a massive effort to get to the final. Bissouma got a knock in the game and he’s kind of 50/50 at the moment. The rest of them, physically anyway, are ok.”
Sure, Ange. I totally believe you that these are “injuries.” I saw Cuti Romero swigging directly from a fifth of fernet branca, I didn’t know Amaro could hurt your foot! Also relatedly I’d be shocked if we saw Brennan Johnson anywhere near the pitch, unless he’s hooked up to an IV drip and is allowed to wear sunglasses on the pitch.
During the parade celebrations, Ange dropped the mic with a comment alluding to how third seasons of TV shows are always better than the second. While that was an incredible line, in the press conference Ange admitted that he’s had no conversations yet about his job next season, and there’s still plenty of journalists in England who have reported that he was likely gone no matter what.
“I should have thought about it a bit more because as somebody rightly pointed out, sometimes they kill off the main character. I could be in strife there!
“I said even before the game, I really believe we’re just building something and a significant win accelerates that. I really believe that is the case and I am not going to put a limit on what we can achieve. I certainly believe it’s exciting the possibilities of next year knowing I’ve got a group of players now and staff and a club that knows how to win and wants more of it.
“No, look I haven’t had any discussions. Similar to before the game, I haven’t had any discussions with the club. Like I said before the game, maybe they were just waiting for clear air to give me some guidance. But I haven’t heard anything from the club.”
The fanbase is 100% high on good vibes at the moment, but even so it does feel like the tide of sentiment towards Ange has turned after Wednesday night in Bilbao. Postecoglou admitted that in January he decided to focus on winning the Europa League at the expense of league performance because he saw that as the most achievable path to success this season, with the injury crisis and number of fixtures. He also alluded that he did not have full support at the club for that plan. What does that mean? We don’t know! It feels slightly impossible that with club flying so high right now they’d consider firing him anyway, but we do not know the mind of Daniel Levy or if the club have had any conversations with any managers who might want to coach next season, if not Ange. We’ll find out before too long, though.
Ange said he viewed pursuing, and ultimately winning, a competition like the Europa League as having a galvanizing effect on his team. And now that the team finally has gotten the trophy monkey off its back, the club can now move on and succeed even more, because they now know how to win.
“It is significant. They are forever connected now irrespective of sort of what their futures hold. They’re always going to be connected, they will always have the night in Bilbao, they will always have always be the ones that broke the drought and hopefully there isn’t another drought like it. They’ll always be remembered for that.
“I think it does bring them closer, which again as I was saying before, that’s how you create a winning culture because I am sure they want to experience it again together as a group. They want to have another moment, they want another night like Bilbao, they want to lift another trophy, they want to have another parade, they probably want to go out again and all those kind of things. I think it does unite them to an even greater extent.”
Tottenham kick off against Brighton at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the final match of the season tomorrow at 11 a.m. ET, 4 p.m. BST. The match is not televised in the UK or USA, but is streamed on Peacock if you’re an American.