Ange Postecoglou has explained why he wanted Tottenham to sign Dominic Solanke and has spoken about James Maddison's struggles to regain his form of early last season.
Spurs go into their opening match of the Premier League season on Monday night with a trip to promoted Leicester City and Postecoglou will have a new £65million striker up front in Solanke after his move from Bournemouth. The Tottenham boss was asked what role he had in the signing of the 26-year-old and whether there was a particular game last season that made him sit up and take notice of the striker.
"Well, my role in all the signings is pretty small. I just made the decision, mate. So, I'm the one that says yes or no. They're here because I want them here and Dom certainly fits that boat, but no there wasn’t one performance. I mean yeah I thought he did well against us and he gave us some real problems that a lot of strikers in the league didn’t in his mobility. His movement was really impressive," he said.
"There’s no secret we love to press and he’s got a great work ethic and he scores goals. He is a presence and scores different types of goals. I think the way we play suits him and I really liked where he was in his career. I am a big one on understanding the person, the person's motivation and he was obviously an outstanding young player. He got to some big clubs, but it never worked out for him and it’s what you do in that scenario.
"Do you think 'it’ll never happen for me' or do you work your way back and he’s done remarkably well to get himself into a position where he scored 19 goals in the Premier League last year, which we all know is a fair feat and he’s got himself back to a big club. I love that aspect because I know he has the right sort of mentality.
"It was a whole range of things that meant I was really keen to bring him in. Sometimes these things are about timing and I thought it was a good time for him, but also a good time for us to bring him in because we have a really young group. He’s one that is proven at Premier League level and he improves us."
With Richarlison missing a chunk of last season with a couple of injuries, Spurs skipper Son Heung-min came off the flank and filled in through the middle frequently. Postecoglou believes that having Solanke and a fit Richarlison as options up top allows the South Korean star to get back to the left wing where he thinks Son and the team look most comfortable.
Spurs have since added another winger in the shape of Burnley's Wilson Odobert in a deal worth £25million and another £5million on add-ons for the 19-year-old dribbler.
"I definitely think as much as the injuries at the back cost us last year and they did cost us, that was mainly because we lost three quarters of our back line for a big chunk of time, but I still felt it was up front where we were most short and could improve the most," said the Australian.
"A lot of that was that Richy when he played was outstanding, but he had a lot of injuries last year, so then we had to play Sonny inside. You know, it was Brennan's first year at the club, he's only 22 and his first year at a big club, but I still thought he did well. We had to sign Timo, we lost Perisic and Solomon first or second round. So, we were down two wingers. I really felt it was the area we needed to bulk up in the off-season and just going into the season with Dom and Richy there, two real good presences in the striking position.
"It doesn’t mean Sonny can’t play through the middle during the year, but I think we look a much better team when he’s out wide on the left. That’s the exciting bit that we were looking for improvement. We needed to improve in the front third and we have with bringing Dom in."
One player who hit the ground running last summer before going off the boil following his return from a serious ankle injury was Maddison. The 27-year-old struggled to match his performances in the opening 10 games of the campaign and that culminated in him missing out on the England squad for the Euros after failing to make the final cut just before the tournament.
The midfielder has still not rediscovered his rhythm during pre-season just yet, despite some glimpses of what he is capable of, and Postecoglou is expecting him to hit his stride in the coming campaign.
"Even though it wasn't a significant injury in terms of time out, it still was significant in that, you know, for Madders, it set him back a fair bit. Then, even when he came back, he had a couple of other smaller disruptions and I think when he came back into the team, we were kind of also struggling which doesn’t help him in terms of the kind of player he is," said the Spurs boss.
"He had the disappointment with the Euros obviously, but he's working hard at pre-season. The good thing is he's fit and he's laid himself a good opportunity and foundation to have another strong season. The disappointment of missing the Euros, well that's just again part of being a footballer.
"We take all the good stuff, but you have setbacks and it’s how you react to those, and you know, I'm sure he’ll want to go out there and get himself back into the international frame and get back playing for England. Again, that's up to him to find the right way to use that as a motivation.
"If you just deflect or at any point kind of say ‘you know it had nothing to do with me,’ then you miss an opportunity I think to improve. Yeah, I’ve sensed in Madders that he’s come back, he’s really determined to have a big season and hopefully that gets him back in the England frame, but more importantly for us hopefully gets him back to the form we know he can have."
So did Postecoglou sit down with Maddison after his Euros disappointment so ensure his confidence was not hit too hard by Gareth Southgate's decision?
"No, look I haven’t sat down with him but I don’t know what a confidence player really means. I think as a player, you’ve got to be on it all the time, mate. You can’t pick and choose. If you are physically fit and you get selected, you should be buzzing. I don’t think with Madders, he certainly doesn’t lack self-belief and he knows he can be a really dominant player. I think with Madders, a lot of it last year was the physical element," said the Spurs boss.
"When he wasn’t 100 per cent fit, then he couldn’t really perform at the levels he wanted to and even when he came back from injury, I never felt like he reached those physical levels he did earlier in the year. So, that’s a real key for him, if he’s training really well and in a good physical condition then I think his game flows from that.
"That’s what we’re trying to do with him, we’ve tried to give him a really strong pre-season to try to push him in a physical way where I think when he feels good about that, the rest of it goes from there rather than him lacking any confidence or self-belief."
He added: "It’s the reason we signed him. He’s an exciting player. When the ball’s at his feet, he is one of those creative types and you know for most people that's what rocks their boat. Others love a big tackle or a great save, but he’s definitely a player who can get punters off their seats.
"I think players feed off that as well, so yeah it’s important for us that he’s playing at his best. I think he makes us a better team and a more dangerous team. Hopefully that’s what we see."
Postecoglou has won trophies and titles in his second seasons at clubs across the world, so does he expect another big jump in year two at Tottenham or a slower burn at the north London outfit?
"Dunno," said the Australian before a big pause. "I expect what I expect all the time - to do my job and see what that brings. I'd suggest it's not by accident [that my clubs win trophies in my second season]. We'll improve and see where that takes," he said.
"What the end of last year showed is that we're still not rock solid in having a real belief in what we're trying to do. That's only natural. It's not unusual in my first year that it takes time for these things to become truly embedded and you've got to go through some tough times to reveal those things because if you don't go through tough times, how do you really know?
"It's not like I never felt the group were totally all in on what we were trying to do, it's just that it's still up to me to lead them through that. I think we're still in that phase. I'm still going to be the major driver in becoming the team we want to be. That's OK, that's part of the process.
"I feel we're better prepared. The players are better prepared, even mentally in knowing what we have to tackle this year and how we're going to tackle it if we go through difficult times, which we invariably will because every team does. Hopefully going through what we did last year means that we don't have such a big disparity between our best and our worst."
