Inside Futbol

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One of Tottenham Hotspur’s out on loan stars ‘will be included’ in his country’s national team squad on Monday.

Another international break has arrived and clubs across the globe are releasing players to link up with their national teams.

Tottenham will have a host of players leaving north London and heading for international duty and even Spurs stars currently out on loan will also be going.

One Spurs star who is set to be called up is winger Bryan Gil, who is on loan at Spanish side Girona.

According to Spanish outlet SER Girona Esport, Gil ‘will be included’ in the Spain national side on Monday.

Spain are due to play Nations League games against Denmark and Serbia over the course of the international break.

Gil will see another Spurs star in the squad as Pedro Porro has been called up.

Other players on the books at Premier League sides included in the Spain squad are Aston Villa’s Pau Torres, Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella and Arsenal’s Mikel Merino.

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Former Premier League midfielder Craig Burley has taken aim at one of Tottenham Hotspur’s players after seeing him in action at Brighton & Hove Albion.

Following a Europa League clash in Hungary against Ferencvaros, Ange Postecoglou took his Spurs side to Brighton in the Premier League.

They started strongly on the south coast and led 2-0 by the half-time break, with goals from the in-form Brennan Johnson, along with James Maddison.

Postecoglou named Timo Werner in the Spurs starting eleven though and the German attracted criticism from ex-top flight star Burley during the course of the game.

Reflecting on what he was seeing from Werner, Burley took to X to write: “Timo Werner’s end product really is poor.”

However, while the attacker came in for criticism from Burley, his team-mate Dejan Kulusevski fared better.

Burley is a fan of Kulusevski and dubbed his runs ‘excellent’.

“Kulusevski taking up some great positions again. His runs are excellent”, he added.

During his spell at Chelsea in the Premier League, Werner struggled to make an impression and eyebrows were raised in some quarters when Postecoglou brought him back to England on loan from RB Leipzig.

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Fixture: Brighton & Hove Albion vs Tottenham Hotspur

Competition: Premier League

Kick-off: 16:30 UK time

Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has picked his starting line-up and substitutes to lock horns with Brighton on the south coast in a Premier League clash this afternoon.

Spurs were in Europa League action in midweek, away in Hungary against Ferencvaros, and Postecoglou will be keen to avoid a hangover.

Brighton head into the game without a win in their last two games and having lost 4-2 at Chelsea last time out.

The Seagulls have been no stranger to goals though as they have scored seven across their last three games.

Guglielmo Vicario is in goal for Tottenham today, while at the back Postecoglou picks a four of Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Destiny Udogie.

In midfield, Tottenham field Rodrigo Bentancur, James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski, while Brennan Johnson and Timo Werner support Dominic Solanke.

Postecoglou can look to his bench if changes are needed and his options include Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall.

Tottenham Hotspur Team vs Brighton & Hove Albion

Vicario, Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie, Bentancur, Maddison, Kulusevski, Johnson, Solanke, Werner

Substitutes: Forster, Spence, Dragusin, Gray, Bissouma, Sarr, Bergvall, Moore, Lankshear

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Ange Postecoglou has insisted one Tottenham Hotspur star is constantly looking for more and more information to take on board as he looks to improve as a player.

The Spurs boss has a host of talented youngsters at his disposal and started Will Lankshear, Mikey Moore, Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray against Ferencvaros on Thursday.

Spurs splashed big money to sign Gray and he has been deployed in a number of positions by Postecoglou, including as a full-back and centre-back.

The 59-year-old insists that he is using the youngster in positions where he needs him and that he feels will give the 18-year-old confidence in how much the manager trusts him.

He revealed that the summer arrival is ‘constantly looking for more and more information’ as he looks to develop and learn the game.

“Training, he is constantly looking for more and more information which he helps and then he just has a great temperament. He seems to take things in his stride and not let it affect him”, Postecoglou said at a press conference.

“Last night, I played him in two different positions and both are probably the least preferred for him.

“You know he has played right full-back and in centre midfield, I had him at left centre-back and left-back last night and I thought he did brilliantly again.

“I’m not going to just put him in different positions at the moment we are using him where we need him.

“I think hopefully that gives him confidence in how much I trust him.

“Eventually, we will settle him into an area but him playing at the moment, he has played the EFL Cup game away, two European games, and exposure in the Premier League already in the first ten games of his Tottenham career which I think is brilliant for us.”

Gray has been on the pitch for a total of 301 minutes for Tottenham, 180 of which have been in the Europa League.

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Ferencvaros boss Pascal Jansen feels that his team exploited Tottenham Hotspur’s weaknesses on Thursday and believes they were unlucky with the disallowed goal of Barnabas Varga.

On Thursday, Tottenham faced Hungarian side Ferencvaros in their Europa League game and came out victorious 2-1.

However, Ferencvaros forward Varga’s goal was ruled out in the 17th minute after a VAR check, which raised some eyebrows.

Jansen pointed out that they were unlucky to see Varga’s goal disallowed but believes that his players executed their game as planned against Tottenham.

He also believes that they managed to exploit Spurs’ weaknesses on Thursday and stressed that they were well competitive against Ange Postecoglou’s side.

“I knew what the boys could do and we saw tonight that we were competitive challengers to Tottenham”, Jansen was quoted as saying by Hungarian broadcaster M4.

“We were unlucky that Varga’s first goal was ruled out, then unfortunately we made some small mistakes which had big consequences, but we played a good game and things went as planned, apart from the goals scored [against us].

“We always look forward to games like this, we were well prepared and we were able to exploit Tottenham’s weaknesses, which is a great achievement from the boys, but you play well in vain if you lose at the end of the game, so we are sad about that”.

Tottenham have now secured six points from the first two games and will face AZ Alkmaar at home in their next Europa League game on 24th October.

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Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has lauded a Spurs star for his ability to deal with pressure after he impressed in the Europa League against Ferencvaros.

Following a win in their first Europa League game, against Qarabag thanks to goals from Brennan Johnson, Pape Matar Sarr and Dominic Solanke, Spurs were in action in Hungary.

Youngster Mikey Moore played the full 90 minutes of his side’s 2-1 victory over Ferencvaros on Thursday night.

He also played a significant role in setting up Tottenham’s opening goal of the night, starting the move with a run down the right-hand side.

The Tottenham boss was impressed with what he saw from the academy graduate and commended him for multiple skills that he showed on the pitch for his team.

Postecoglou also tipped the talent to show significant growth in the future, while delighting at how he handles pressure.

“His ability to just deal with pressure and keep the ball in really tight areas and make really good clean decisions for such a young boy”, the manager said at a post-match press conference.

“It’s not easy out there when defenders fly in and he took one within the first 30 seconds, but he drives on.

“He’s got so much growth and he wants to learn.

“I couldn’t be happier with him and I’m very pleased that he’s part of our football club.”

Moore was one of four teenage players the manager played in his team for the match with the other three being Lucas Bergvall, Archie Gray and Will Lankshear.

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Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has insisted he does not know why Spurs star Brennan Johnson gets criticised and feels he is now ahead of his attacking rivals in terms of numbers.

Johnson has been a standout performer for the Lilywhites so far this season and his influence was yet again felt in the 2-1 win Europa League over Hungarian side Ferencvaros on Thursday.

After coming on in the 65th minute of the match, Johnson became a crucial addition as his goal eventually proved to be the determining factor for Tottenham.

Heaping praise on the winger, Tottenham boss Postecoglou insisted that the player is in a great vein of form right now but this season has not been a one-off for him.

Comparing him with other wingers the manager insisted that Johnson is probably ahead of other wingers with his numbers.

“He’s in a great vein of form right now. He’s really confident”, Postecoglou said at a press conference.

“They thrive on that sort of stuff, but his numbers have always been good.

“I was always curious as to why he was singled out because his numbers were always good when stacked up against the other wingers.

“Now he’s probably ahead of them with his numbers.”

The goal in Hungary was Johnson’s second in-a-row in the Europa League which comes in addition to another two in the Premier League and one in the EFL Cup.

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Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United ‘will hurt’ Rangers if the Gers produce a similar display to that against Lyon on Thursday night, former Gers star Billy Dodds feels.

Following a superb performance and result away at Malmo in their opening Europa League game, Rangers had high hopes hosting Lyon at Ibrox.

The French though were a class act and struck three times in the first half to lead 3-1 at half-time, with Tom Lawrence scoring for the Gers.

Lyon’s dominance was such that they could have scored more than just one more goal in the second period and Dodds is concerned with games against Premier League pair Tottenham and Manchester United to come.

He feels if Rangers play as they did in the first half then the English duo will hurt them.

“I think Man United and Spurs will hurt this Rangers team if they play like they did in the first half, Dodds said post match on BBC Sportsound.

Fellow former Rangers striker Steven Thompson admits that the Gers were simply beaten by the better side on the night.

He explained: “Rangers have been outclassed and outplayed.”

With Manchester United having drawn their opening two Europa League games, there is the prospect the Red Devils could badly need a win when they host Rangers at Old Trafford in January.

Rangers are due to host Tottenham, who have won their opening two games, in the middle of December.

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Tottenham Hotspur loaned out star at Matthew Craig has stated that League One can be challenging at times but insisted that his loan spell at Barnsley has been good so far.

Craig has come through the academy set-up of Tottenham and this season joined League One outfit Barnsley on loan for more regular football.

The 21-year-old defensive midfielder has established himself as a regular starter in Barnsley’s starting line-up and has already made eight appearances for them in the league.

Craig believes that League One is a good league with good players in it and added that so far he is feeling good with his loan spell at Barnsley.

The Tottenham starlet also admitted that the league at times provides him with challenging circumstances but acknowledged that he has experienced some good moments as well.

“It is obviously a good league with good players in and obviously it is going to be challenging at times, but then you also find good moments within that as well”, Craig told Barnsley TV.

“I think so far it has been good and obviously you would hope to see results and would be able to pick up more points than we have done, but I think that is obviously in an ideal world as well.

“We keep building and trying to, like I said, build on the performances and results and hopefully we can pick up more points in the future.”

The 21-year-old Spurs star will be determined to impress this season for the League One outfit to get into Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou’s plans for next season.

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Fixture: Ferencvaros vs Tottenham Hotspur

Competition: Europa League

Kick-off: 17:45 UK time

Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has named his team and substitutes to lock horns with Hungarian outfit Ferencvaros in the Europa League this evening.

Postecoglou saw his men overcome an early sending off to get their Europa League league stage campaign off to a winning start against Qarabag and there is the opportunity for more points here.

Ferencvaros lost their Europa League opener 2-1 away at Anderlecht and will hope they can use home advantage to spring a surprise on Spurs.

Spurs though are in good form and comfortably beat Manchester United at Old Trafford at the weekend and they start as firm favourites here.

Vicario starts between the sticks for Tottenham, while at the back Postecoglou goes with Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Ben Davies and Archie Gray.

Midfield sees Tottenham deploy Pape Matar Sarr, Yves Bissouma and Lucas Bergvall, while Timo Werner, Will Lankshear and Mikey Moore provide the attacking threat.

Postecoglou has a host of options to bring on off the bench if needed, including Dominic Solanke and Brennan Johnson.

Tottenham Hotspur Team vs Ferencvaros

Vicario, Porro, Romero, Davies, Gray, Sarr, Bissouma, Bergvall, Werner, Lankshear, Moore

Substitutes: Forster, Austin, Dorrington, Van de Ven, Cassanova, Bentancur, Maddison, Kulusevski, Ajayi, Johnson, Solanke