Ange Postecoglou was not about to let anything slide as he got into his press conference inside the AFAS Stadion.
There was no warning that the Australian was going to be a tricky customer on this occasion. His pre-match press conferences at Spurs rarely play out that way, they're normally quite enjoyable and thought-provoking for most of those involved. It's more his post-match interactions, which he admits are tinged with emotion, that can get spiky especially for the TV and radio interviewers who get him first before he comes into the press conference room.
At the end of this pleasant sunny day in Alkmaar, it had started normally enough. Postecoglou's answers to football.london about team news and whether Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Dominic Solanke were ready to start this Europa League match after returning from injury were normal enough.
Postecoglou spoke about the new foot injury for Dejan Kulusevski, which will keep him out until after the international break, and was a bit vague on the three returnees but that's to be expected when it comes to team selection ahead of a big game. Few managers are keen on letting the opposition know exactly what's coming.
It was a question about Romero being named in the preliminary squad for Argentina's upcoming World Cup qualifiers, despite having not played since December, that Postecoglou first got slightly irked by.
A section of the Tottenham fanbase have long claimed that the centre-back often ensures he's fit for international duty more so than for his club. Romero passionately hit back at that suggestion a couple of summers ago and perhaps Postecoglou, in trying to head off the question leading in that direction, was quickly dismissive of the whole thing.
He gave a big sigh before saying: "It’s interesting, I've been in game for 26 years, including as a national coach and one rule we know is don’t have any control over international football. Everyone knows that, I don't know why it becomes a question every time. Even if he's injured, they can call him up. So from our perspective, it's not of our concern.
"Our concern is to get him up and running and hopefully get him some game time. If he's fit should go and get more game time rather than not playing for two weeks. The international side of it, people have asked me a couple of times over the last couple of days and it's almost like they're not really sure. International football is pretty, clubs don't have any control on where they're players go."
"But you could have a view on whether he should play?" came the response. The Australian shot back: "What's the point in that?" The answer was "Because you want to protect him?".
"OK, but if I express that, it doesn’t change anything," said the Spurs boss. "And at the end of the day, if he’s fit, then him getting some games is good for us because he’s missed a lot of football. We can’t dictate to players whether they should go with their national teams or not. I never have and that’s been my view my whole career and I won’t stop now."
Next came a little retort over not knowing what "fit fit" meant in a question about Van de Ven. It was likely to do with the fact that the young Dutchman hasn't been injured but has been shifting his body mechanics to prevent him from feeling discomfort with the sprints he loves to do. So he's been fit before, but not fit to play. So not "fit fit".
Then came a question about Yves Bissouma. The Tottenham players were given Sunday and Monday off this week, in keeping with the couple of days off Postecoglou gave them in the weeks ahead of the games against Manchester United and Ipswich. Some remained at home in the UK with their families while others took the chance to get away for 48 hours.
Of those heading abroad for a short break, Bissouma decided to head off to colder climes, with an Instagram Story post on Sunday showing him enjoying a meal at a snow-covered ski resort in Courchevel, located in the French Alps. There's nothing wrong with that of course, enjoying a meal in a cold location.
Then Bissouma put up another post, showing him wearing various garments for skiing or snowboarding, albeit - and crucially - with any visible snowboards far behind him in a fenced off area.
There's no indication that the midfielder was taking part in such activities, but obviously in a year in which he's fallen foul of club rules and got himself suspended, it might not have been the best idea to advertise his trip to a place where such things are commonplace and presumably his family and friends would have taken part.
For players aren't allowed to take part in extreme sports as part of their contracts. Hugo Lloris admitted in his recent book that during his time at Tottenham when he was on holiday with his children in the mountains that "I always promise myself not to ski, in accordance with my contracts, but it's not easy to keep your promises".
The former Tottenham captain then went into a story about a fractured wrist in the summer of 2015 that came about because of a quad bike accident on holiday in Ibiza. He admitted he only told Mauricio Pochettino a week after the initial injury because the diagnosis changed from nothing broken, to the discovered fracture. It's fair to say the Argentine was not impressed, although Lloris only ended up missing the opening game of the season against Manchester United, the team he was being heavily linked with at the time.
So to ask about Bissouma was not an outlandish question and it was one that, along with the Romero question, Postecoglou would have been fully briefed was coming by his press officer.
The wording of the question perhaps did not help, phrased gently by the reporter to begin with but ultimately mixing the intention of it, asking: "Yves Bissouma was at a ski resort earlier this week, so presumably you gave them a couple of days off?".
Postecoglou laughed before saying: "Seriously, what sort of question is that? No I didn’t, we were training but he decided to go skiing… come on mate, you’re better than that!"
So what was Postecoglou's view on it if Bissouma did go skiing or snowboarding? The original intention of the subject being raised.
"I don’t worry about those things, mate. They’re adults, they’re human beings, they had a couple of days off, they can choose to use that time as wisely as they can to help them be ready for what’s in store for us," he said. "You kind of hope that they’re sensible about these things and go about whatever they do in a manner that befits the position they hold, but I have no concerns and he’s fine."
You could try to delve between the lines of that with words like "wisely" and "sensible" but ultimately all is fine and as stated above there's no evidence to suggest that Bissouma did take part in any such activities.
Even the next question about the Europa League brought a slightly needless start to the retort from the Tottenham boss.
"This competition feels good for Spurs and has been in the past, do you feel like it's there for you?" asked another reporter.
Postecoglou responded: "I'm not sure what 'there for me' is, but it's a competition we obviously want to do well in."
The Australian went into a longer answer for the journalist, but it's little things like that that get picked up by his critics and for all the amusing or fascinating soundbites the 59-year-old produces most weeks, he's also starting to get noticed for the little snarky remarks like that.
As stated above, he would have been well briefed on the subjects that would have come up, so had decided beforehand that his approach to them would have been what he came out with on the day.
It's an unusual decision, especially for a head coach who now has most of his injured players back and is relying on results turning significantly in the Premier League and with a strong run now in the Europa League. There is a danger in alienating certain sections of the media but perhaps that's something that does not concern him at this point or ever has.
It has to be said for any manager that it must be difficult to face interviews and press conferences each week when many questions will be repetitive because they've been asked by those who were not in the previous press conference but they all want the same answer.
There is also an element of reporters trying to find out information that needs to remain in-house or questions that are constructed to deliberately provoke a response.
None of the questions put to him on Wednesday evening particularly felt like that but Postecoglou may well have just been trying to side with his players.
Kevin Danso's demeanour was very different in the following press conference. The 26-year-old Austria international has quickly become a popular player behind the scenes at Tottenham and it's easy to see why. He's a constantly smiling, engaging chap with a life that shows battles along the way and it's clear that he's loving the fact that he's pulled himself up to this part of his career.
When asked about battling with Romero and Van de Ven being part of the attraction of joining Spurs, he replied without hesitation: "100%. I've always had to compete in my life, and I thrive off that challenge, playing alongside great players, competing for places with great players, and just being at an amazing club whose ambition is to win things and just to be part of the history of a club like Tottenham."
One to look out for, or listen out for, is that Danso has a remarkably similar voice to Eric Dier - perhaps a mixed accent born of having spent a chunk of his childhood in England but also elsewhere across Europe during his formative years and then adult life.
football.london put it to Danso that when they mentioned to Postecoglou a couple of weeks back that the centre-back seemed to get whacked, get straight back up and limp around for a while still trying to defend until his body moved freely again, the Spurs boss had suggested that he thought Danso "enjoyed the whacks".
The defender laughed and said: "I like to think of myself as a warrior, just try to get my body in front of shots, block shots, just be an aggressive defender who's always trying to get in the way of stuff, stop the opposition from scoring, and getting whacks is part and parcel of that, but like you said, I just get up, limp a bit and continue."
Danso was also a very good rugby player as a child after moving to Milton Keynes from six onwards and in an alternate universe his career might have gone that way. So could that rugby element be a part of his battling pitch persona?
"Probably, that and growing up with two brothers, always getting whacks from them, but like I said, I enjoy it, it's part of football, everybody gets a kick here and there, you just have to get up and keep going," he explained.
It was a confident press conference and before the Spurs defender and his head coach had come into the room inside the stadium, there had been another confident display from Troy Parrott.
The former Spurs striker spoke in England earlier in the tournament before the previous game against AZ and back then his answers were short and sharp. On this occasion, with the confidence that 17 goals this season brings, the 23-year-old Irishman was in good form and gave honest answers about leaving the north London club.
"I look back with a smile. It's a place where I grew up. I moved away from home quite young so when I went there I was in a phase of going from a kid to a teenager and then past that. It was always good for him. It helped me because the person and player I am now so I can only look back on that with good memories," he said.
"You could say that [they didn't see the best of me] but I think it was just the right time for both of us to move on. When I look back, that's not what I think. I just think about the good times I had growing up there now I'm here."
He added: "No [regrets], definitely not. For me it just didn’t happen. I’m OK with that. I’m here, I’m really enjoying myself here, I love life over here. Now I’m just focusing on where I am right now and trying to progress and keep getting better here.
"No, I never had a conversation [with Postecoglou about staying]. For me, I was ready to move on and I think the club were also ready to move on. I thought it was the perfect time to do so. That’s just the way it went and I’m here now.
football.london asked Parrott what he made of Tottenham now, struggling in the bottom half of the table after having spent most of his time at the club in the upper reaches of the Premier League.
"I'm sure it's disappointing for everyone there. When I was there, the focus was always the top four and being at the top of the table," he said. "I think looking from the outside, because I'm not in there anymore, it looks like there's a disappointment there. They're not doing as well as they want to. It seems like a difficult time for them. I'm just trying to focus on my team and what we have to do tomorrow to try to get a result."
The media got to see the first 15 minutes of Tottenham training out on the AFAS Stadion pitch before the club's media officers descended to bring a close to such proceedings, in order to keep within UEFA's rules and regulations.
What could be seen during that period were the usual warm-up drills, with the players paired up to go through their stretches. That brought the amusing sight of Mikey Moore - so good against AZ last time out - pushing and joking with Lucas Bergvall as the two teenagers began their preparations in high spirit ahead of the big game.
For most of us, our teenage years were spent at school or in far more frivolous activities around it. For this 17-year-old and 19-year-old, not to mention the other teenagers like Archie Gray and Mathys Tel, they are preparing in the Netherlands for a huge Europa League game in which they could be called upon to perform in front of thousands and a watching TV audience. Yet here they were laughing and joking, enjoying it all and taking it all in their stride.
The Alkmaar pitch was a little bit cut up, likely because AZ had trained on it for an hour before Spurs got their turn on there, so it should be in a better condition for the game itself.
What was most noticeable was the sheer number of senior Tottenham bodies now in training, something that has not been seen for a long time, with academy players often making up the numbers during the injury crisis. Even Timo Werner and Antonin Kinsky, not registered for this competition, were brought along to train with Sunday's game against Bournemouth also in mind.
Romero, Van de Ven and Solanke could all be seen taking a part in the rondos although it was noticeable that in this part of training it was a calmer, more cautious version of Romero, who was presumably leaving it all for the pitch tomorrow. Even in warm-up rondos, the Argentine has been seen by the media launching into sliding tackles in the past but this was a reserved version of the vice-captain.
After that, before the media were ushered away, Postecoglou split the team into group for various attacking drills across the pitch with that classic winger getting the ball into the six-yard box move that we've seen hundreds of times this season. There was not much to be taken from them in terms of team selection as they looked to be mix and match, with a front line of Son Heung-min, Mathys Tel and James Maddison at one point with Bergvall racing in behind them and in another group Moore and Solanke in the attacking areas and Dane Scarlett playing in a deeper role in midfield.
Postecoglou took a central organisational role amidst it all, as he often does on the day before matches - MD-1 as it's called within clubs - and he could be seen shouting instructions and trying to get the movement right among the players.
It needs to be right for Tottenham on Thursday night in what will be a tough game against an AZ side starting to find their feet this season, albeit in the midst of a little run of games in quick succession. Spurs and Postecoglou know what that's all about but for once they are the team with the extra rest and freshness. They need to make that count and kickstart their season.
Click here to listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham.
