Ange Postecoglou has been speaking to football.london and others following Tottenham's 4-0 win against Everton on Saturday in the Premier League.
The Spurs boss was in a good mood following his side's dominant display at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as they punished the understrength Toffees twice in each half. Yves Bissouma handed the best possible apology to Postecoglou and his team-mates after his recent indiscretion with a rocket of a shot in off the crossbar in the first half.
Tottenham skipper Son Heung-min then doubled his side's tally after pressing high up and catching Everton goalkeeper Jordon Pickford in possession before tapping home. It became 3-0 with 20 minutes to go as Cristian Romero headed home on his 100th appearance for the club from James Maddison's corner.
A fourth goal arrived when Micky van de Ven raced up the pitch before playing in Son who clinically fired through Pickford's legs and into the net.
Our Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to Postecoglou after the match. Here is a full transcript with everything the Spurs boss said in the press conference at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Is that the kind of performance your team has been threatening for a little while now?
Yeah, the performance was excellent. I said after the game, I thought the performance last week was excellent too, but you've got to also turn that sort of dominant performance into outcomes and results. We did today, we looked really threatening going forward all the time. We created many chances, different kinds of chances, and I thought we handled their threat which they still are from set pieces and long balls really well today. So there was a little discipline in both aspects of the game.
You brought Yves Bissouma back and you said to him in pre-season that he had only scored in a friendly, that's what you want to see in the actual games isn't it?
Yeah, Biss was good and we know Biss is a good footballer. It's about him being the best version of himself and he will only get there if, as we've spoken a few times, discipline is a big thing for him and I thought it was a disciplined performance for him today you know. Not just the goal he scored, but he had a really important job for us. He knew they'd sort of play fairly direct and he had to be there to mop up second balls and intercept things and he was clean for the most part in possession. So good performance.
What did you make of Wilson Odobert's debut today?
Exciting. Like I said, he's different from our other wingers. He goes at his opponent and, you know, even if he wasn't successful, he went at him again and I think that's exactly why we bought him to the club. I mean, he's 19-years-old, his first game for his new club at home in front of 60,000. Yeah, really exciting.
Are you pleased with the versatility of your side, adapting to the situation, Son through the middle, but he ended with two goals, and there were threats from all over the pitch?
It's what we want to evolve into and we're still in the process of that. We had Deki playing in midfield today, Kulusevski, I thought he was really good and we had Sonny scored a goal through the middle and he scored a goal when he went out wide. I think we looked a threat from varied different areas and even set pieces. So, if we're going to turn compelling performances into consistent results, you'd need to have more than one avenue of attack. I thought we showed that today.
And you had Micky van de Ven's run for Son's second which probably got the biggest cheer of the afternoon?
Yeah, outstanding. I mean he's a pretty special footballer. Last year when we had that back four up and running, we were a pretty compelling team, but we also know we can't just keep putting them out there and I think with Romero, Micky and Destiny, they're not at peak fitness at the moment and they all sort of missed pre-season. So we knew sort of this two or three weeks, we saw it last week about the 60 minute mark, they really started to fatigue and we've just got to be really careful with them.
But if we can get through the international break, then once the midweek games start, we can start rotating a little bit and, you know, because we need them at the peak of their performance because when they're like that, they're outstanding footballers.
Was there anything wrong with Destiny Udogie when he came off?
No, he was a bit sore. He had sort of tightness, both hamstrings and calves, I think. Again, he was really fatigued last week as well, so trying to get as many match minutes into him as possible through this early period just to get his fitness up. I haven't spoken to the medical team but when I spoke to him, he just said he felt tired.
Were you worried when Micky van de Ven went down?
Yeah, I was worried, obviously but I'm worried about all of my boys mate. They're all special to me. You certainly don't want anything, particularly when it's something awkward like that. There's a real fear [in that moment] that it could be something but speaking to him, he handled it ok and he said he was fine after a couple of minutes. He is important to us but they're all important. That's why we've tried to create a squad where we're not going to just be putting him out there week after week.
Son wants to be a legend at this club, is it days like this that will get him there?
There's no sort of set criteria for that stuff. I’ve got no doubt that whenever he's done and dusted - and it's hopefully a long way down the track - he will be in esteemed company at this football club. But I love the fact that he's still motivated to do more. That's the key thing for us. He was really good today. It's the reason I put him in the middle because we know Jordan is a big part of their build up play, and they use him a lot. And Sonny's the best presser that we have in the front there, he’s unbelievable. I think he relished that role and again showed his threat when he went out on the left with that great finish.”
Bissouma hadn’t scored in 56 games - were you surprised by that goal, which was a rocket?
Yeah it was. No, I'm not surprised because like I said, there's no doubt in his ability, you know. He has that ability to do something special. But, you know, he needs to make sure that he does everything, as I said, he tries and endeavours to do everything right on and off the field to give him the platform to show who he could be as a footballer. We certainly believe in him, we’re certainly giving him an opportunity. But as I said before the game, that's just not a never-ending thread, at some point you need to cut it. And it's really up to him to keep going on.
You were frustrated on Monday by not taking chances, today the team was more efficient, is that ruthlessness going to be vital this season?
Not necessarily. I still think it’s about performance. I think if you perform like we have these first two weeks and you keep producing that multitude of chances, then more often than not, you'll win games of football. I still think it's the performance. I think once you start focusing just on the outcome, on goals… because even today, I thought, you know, we created some unbelievable opportunities and could have scored more goals. But the idea is that you keep your level of performance up.
And I think what you don't want to do is after last week, change your approach, looking for goals. We haven't changed our approach. We played the same way as last week. But I just felt today we had just a little bit more variety in our attacks. We went out wide, we went through central areas, we made some fantastic runs straight through the middle. I think Madders had a couple of one on one opportunities. I think that's part of it as well. If we can become a team that's not just a threat in one way, I think that’ll help us. Set pieces is another one. Cuti is unbelievable in the air, and we usually have some good delivery in there. All those kind of things help.”
Does it feel like you've got James Maddison back because he looked good today?
Yeah, I thought Madders was really good and again, really disciplined. It's not an easy game when you play against a team like Everton because you know there's not gonna be a hell of a lot of space in the front third. But you've also got to work defensively for second balls. I thought he was really good at doing that for us. He kind of mopped up a few times when they've gone long and, and kept the ball for us. He had a really good synergy with Wilson early on, they worked really well together. And then he made some great runs.
I think the key for me with Madders, a bit like Biss in a different angle, is if he's physically good, if he's feeling 100% physically, and he's fit and he's training every day, he can produce those kind of performances. It’s when that drops off a little bit that you see his performance… I think it affects him as well, you know, if he doesn't feel 100%. There's no doubt he's at that now that he's training every day. He trains hard every day. He's had a really strong preseason and I think that makes him feel like: you know what, I can go out there, and do the stuff I do.
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