Ange Postecoglou held his press conference on Friday afternoon ahead of Tottenham Hotspur's game at Ipswich Town in the Premier League and we've got every single word he said.
Spurs head to Portman Road to take on Kieran McKenna's Ipswich side on Saturday afternoon hoping to make it three victories in a row in the league. The Tractor Boys lie third from bottom of the Premier League with just three wins, but have eight draws and have given teams plenty of problems, not least beating Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the reverse fixture and drawing their last game at Aston Villa despite playing the entire second half with 10 men.
Postecoglou delivered an injury update on Friday, with the latest news on centre-backs Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven. The Australian will also discuss Tottenham's Europa League opponents AZ Alkmaar in the round of 16 and spoke about right-back Djed Spence.
Our Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to Postecoglou. Here's the full transcript from the press conference at Hotspur Way.
What's your reaction to the Europa League draw?
Yeah, obviously a familiar opponent. We played them here at home and obviously watched that game [last night] and the Real Sociedad game knowing they were likely opponents.
(A reporter walks in late) Oh I don't know, you're late. You've been let in. I thought that door bolted....So yeah, a good game for us, excited by seeing the draw today. They did really well against Galatasaray, we played Galatasaray as well away and that's a tough gig. They're a good side so looking forward to it.
If one of your players was late for a meeting, what would be their punishment?
No, they wouldn't be late, mate. They'd know better than that.
Before I came here, I just looked on the bookmakers' websites to check the odds, to see who's favourite for the Europa League. Any idea who's top of that list?
Not a betting man, mate. To be fair, I'm not allowed to be either on football. But yeah, I've got no idea, mate.
They have Tottenham as favourites for the Europa League, can you understand why?
Look, what I do know about bookmakers is they're the only ones that make money out of betting. So, they must know what they're talking about. So, obviously, there's some reasoning behind that. But, I mean, whether that sort of affects me or not, not really.
With the Europa League, there's no doubt it's been a difficult season, last week we saw protests outside, you've had injury after injury after injury, the results have suffered in the Premier League, the last two cup performances didn't go your way, but it feels like, with players coming back, there is still an opportunity to do something special this season. Is that the message that you remind the players?
Yeah, I don't have to remind them. We've been talking about that all along. I know you say last two sort of cup performances haven't gone your way, but we did get to the semi-final. So, it wasn't like we bombed out of the cups and lost to Villa away in the FA Cup. But I get from an objectives perspective and sort of tangible what's left in the season. Yeah, Europe's always been at the forefront of our minds and we did really well, and we saw how important it was that we did finish in the top eight, even finishing in the top four, because it kind of helped us this last two weeks having two games off. So, again, we were rewarded for that.
And it is, it's important, but not dismissive of the league either. There's still 12, 13 games to go and from our perspective, we're not happy with where we are in the league, obviously, and our form has been very inconsistent. But there's still an opportunity there to make an impact in the league as well. The good thing now is we know sort of the programme roughly. Irrespective of what happens, there's some natural breaks in there which will help us. I think particularly, as you said, with the injured guys coming back. So, yeah, good sort of opportunity for us.
What's the latest team news?
No new concerns. Sort of from last week, everyone sort of got through okay. The three guys who picked a knock up last week were all good. Obviously, again, having a full week to recover and prepare is good. And the other guys are ticking along well. We've got now two games in quick succession in the league. Good opportunity for us to get some match minutes into guys who have been out for a while. We saw Brennan and Wilson, obviously, Vic come back last week, Madders, but Destiny as well.
We need to get them some match minutes and these two games will give us an opportunity to do that. Then we've got a week before the first Europa game. We've got the weekend off. And again, that's about the time we're hoping that guys like Romero and Micky in particular they should be in and around that sort of mark. And Richie and Dom not too far behind, to be honest. And again, with that, we've got sort of two games before the international break. So we're kind of mapping it out and trying to sort of navigate a way where we can have f as fit and healthy squad as we have all year for the run-in.
It's been two straight weeks now where you haven't had a midweek game, so what has that done for your players, not just physically, but mentally as well?
I think it helps enormously because, I mean, there's obviously the physical toll, which we kind of know and just their bodies being able to recover as much as anything else. And then, you know, like I said, mentally it does. It takes its toll because you don't invariably get a lot of time to switch off when you've got games constantly because, again, you're in recovery mode and then you've got to prepare for another game. You don't really have the energy to do anything else. So, you know, home life probably suffers a fair bit and the ability to switch off is difficult. So we gave the boys two days off for the beginning of last week. We did a similar thing this week.
And yes, I think you can see that in them that both physically and mentally they've really benefited from it. And sort of hopefully that means that the remnants of that long run has dissipated in their minds as much as in their bodies. But it's also allowed us then to really train well because when they do come back in, they're refreshed, they feel good and it means our training has become so much more sort of meaningful in the last two weeks.
It's Ipswich away tomorrow, you lost that reverse game back in November, what do you think you can take away from that game or do you just thought it would be a completely different match?
No, you take away things. You know, they're a hard-working team. They're very well organised. They managed the game really well against us. They obviously scored and got ahead and we found it really hard then to sort of... We had our moments to get back in the game, but we couldn't. So it's really important that we kind of don't allow that to happen again.
Like I said, we know they're going to work hard. They're going to be well organised. You know, they're going to fight for everything. So we've got to be in a mindset to match that and at the same time, still play our football. I think that's important.
As I said last week, you know, it was important we won. And we played well, but I think there was areas we know we can be better. And that's the opportunity for us tomorrow.
How big an opportunity is this weekend for your team to get that momentum, if they can win, to try and get back on the track and gain some consistency?
Yeah, that's the opportunity that does exist. Obviously our last two Premier League games, Brentford away and Man Utd at home, have been two important results for us to kind of try and arrest the form in the league. But you need to keep doing that and backing that up.
And tomorrow's an opportunity to do that. It's not easy when you're playing away from home and in the Premier League, especially against a team that's fighting like Ipswich are. So we know it's not going to be an easy one, but it is an opportunity for us now to get another strong performance, get another positive result, and like I said, hopefully provide a bit of a foundation for us to kick on.
Now you've had a couple of players coming back into the team and you've got back-to-back league wins and clean sheets. Where's your head at now in terms of the squad and how you've been doing?
Yeah, look, I think, as I said, for us, it's been kind of – it's not just the guys coming back from injury, which are important, but they need time to sort of get up to speed. It's just the ability for the existing guys to also recover. It wasn't just the injuries that affected us. It was the volume of games.
If we weren't in the League Cup or the Carabao Cup or if we weren't in Europe, and even with the players we had, if we had sort of one game a week, you'd still be able to manage it better. So, it's been hugely beneficial the last two weeks that, yes, we've got some significant players back, and we saw the benefit of that with Vic and Madders last week and Brendan and Wilson being able to help. It's also guys like Kulusevski and Archie and Djed and all these other players, Rodrigo, who have been playing so much football, their ability to rest and recover. So, you know, from that point of view, we're obviously in a much better place. We kind of knew the Villa game was the finish line for us in terms of where we were heading. So, yeah, I think we benefited from last week. Hopefully we do the same again this week.
You were asked a lot about James Maddison's performance last week and England squad gets named in a couple of weeks. What does he need to do to get into that?
Ah look, I mean, that's Thomas' kind of decision. I think what's important for us is that we keep Madders as healthy as possible because we know when he's in good physical condition, he's really important for us. We saw that last week. He kind of has a real ability to make things happen in tight areas, score goals, assist goals, oo, I think that's where our focus is and I think that is where Madders’ focus is. He just wants to stay healthy. He's obviously had a little bit of a disruption in recent times and, you know, if he plays well, things like international honours tend to just sort of flow on from there.
I wanted to ask you about Mathys Tel and his start to life as a Tottenham player?
Yeah, really positive. I was happy to get him in and again for a young man who hasn't played a lot recently, obviously that was one of the reasons he was looking to kind of move to get more opportunities, I think I've kind of kept him out there for 90 minutes for both games just to build him up physically as much as anything else. He's a willing worker, which is brilliant. We’ve seen in both games, he really works as hard as he can for the team, which is massive for us and the more he plays. the more he'll get into the rhythm of how we play. Even for himself as a striker, I think he needs the games to get up to speed, but, yeah, he's done really well for us. Hugely important. Yeah, hopefully with Dom not too far away, Richy not too far away, we'll have some real good options in that front third.
Having normal training sessions again, how much does it fire up the coaching side of your brain again after just using your management side to get players through this period?
Yeah, look, it's, you know, I think there's two aspects of my role that you love more than most. One is game day and the other one is training. This (press conference) ranks a bit lower down, to be fair, this part of the job. You know having the ability and you kind of get frustrated when you're out there and you can't really do what you want to do as a coach. Not just me, but the other coaches as well. You kind of design sessions, but you know guys are going to sort of be walking through things and we're just trying to provide information. Whereas, you know, the last two weeks, the training sessions you kind of walk off and you're pretty excited about what you've seen. You feel good about the session you've put on and the coaches get a buzz out of it, the players get a buzz out of it. So, yeah, it's been good to be able to do that.
Pedro Porro and Dejan Kulusevski have played far more minutes of anyone for you this season, do they still need a game off?
Yeah, I think so. Like I said, these next two games are a good opportunity for us. Obviously we've got Saturday and then we've got City midweek and then a week off. So, I think these next two games, you know, it was great to give Archie just a moment to have a breather even though we had to put him on last week because he’s another that has racked up the minutes. You’re right, Pedro, Kulusevski, these kind of guys, we've got an opportunity with the players we've got back to still maintain good levels of performance, but also give them a little bit of a rest. Again, once Europe kicks in, we know we’ve got to play midweek and weekend again, so we want to make sure we’ve got enough in the tank and we don’t want to lose any players during this period either.
Players like Destiny and Brennan Johnson, are they ready to start?
Potentially, yeah. Whether it is tomorrow or Wednesday, particular both of them need to get their match minutes up. Wilson as well but Wilson probably, you know, he's been out the longest, so it’ll be a little bit of a slow burner with him. Again, to play and play significant minutes is important, but in terms of starting, I think both Brendan and Destiny, whether it's tomorrow or Wednesday, we'd be certainly looking to get them involved.
On Archie Gray, obviously kind of being your Mr Fix It here, he's been in so many different positions, when do you think he’ll play in midfield?
The way it's going, never, mate. You know, I was tempted to put him in goal because we were down a fifth goalkeeper. No, look, I think whatever happens, and I know people are sort of really keen to sort of put him in there, I think the experience he's had this year is going to be outstanding for him and outstanding for us. He's taken on every challenge we've thrown at him, not flustered, got on with it, performed at a really good level, contributed to the team all as an 18-year-old in his first year in the Premier League. He'll get to where he needs to get to in good time, but this period here, I think, you know, is going to be enormously beneficial for him.
Going back to Archie, him, Lucas and Djed maybe had to prove at start of the season they could handle Premier League football. They have over last two months. How much of a difference does that make with two games in four days to know you can make changes but level doesn’t drop?
Yeah, massive. You know, I think I was consistent in saying that even through the most difficult period, I still felt we were getting growth and they're the kind of guys you'd go, there has been so much growth in them. I think you saw even with Lucas last week, you know, he's becoming a man before our eyes really. You look at him now and I know he's just turned 19, but he doesn't look like a young player anymore and I think that's because of the experience he's had in recent times where we've just had to throw him in and he's had to do jobs for us and make an impact.
So, I think him and Archie and Djed, Djed’s been brilliant in terms of the way he's come in and the thing is with it, they're not just playing, they're actually making an impact. They're really contributing and that's great for us with the period coming up because hopefully with guys like Destiny back and obviously Micky and Romero are not too far away, it just gives us some real strength in squad that we're going to need if we're going to compete Europa and league. We've already seen sort of the attrition rate, so we're going to need a strong squad and those guys are certainly going to be beneficial.
How difficult was the first few months where you maybe didn’t trust Archie, Lucas and Djed in Premier League and had a group of 17 or 18 you did trust but once you got a few injuries, it was difficult to rotate as much as you needed in Premier League?
Yeah, I'm not sure about trust. I mean, I really thought that guys like Lucas and Archie could definitely contribute. That's why we kept them. We made a decision because there was an option, particularly with Lucas, to loan him out and I really felt working through pre-season that Archie and Lucas could definitely contribute to us. The same with Djed, I think with Djed, it was just we wanted to give Jed every opportunity and, you know, we knew that certainly there was a player there, but a lot of it had to be up to Djed himself.
And he's just worked really awfully hard and stayed patient through that early period. You know, it could have been easy for him to get frustrated when he wasn't playing a lot. There was opportunities for him to play and he wasn't getting a run. I think looking at his attitude through that, I think there was real growth for him personally in that maybe in previous years, he might have sort of given up the fight and said, ‘you know, right, I don't fit in here, let's just move on,’ but he just kept going. That makes an impression on people around him, me, his team-mates and, he earned his shot at it and he's just grown since then.
You mentioned last week Cristian was having a scan, has he had that?
Yeah, he's had that and it's going well. He's in a good place. So, like I said, with him and Micky, it's just picking our moment now. I'm really keen to get them back and have him back for the rest of the year. We've got a really good sort of period coming up where I think we can manage that where they're back, they've had good weeks of training with us, so that when they do come back in, they're in a good place. So, yeah, he's still going well.
Discussing the future of Tottenham's bright young stars & what changes Ange Postecoglou should make for Ipswich. Click here to listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham
