Inside Futbol

Qarabag boss Gurban Gurbanov believes that Tottenham Hotspur are now ‘more dynamic’ under Ange Postecoglou than was the case when his side last met Spurs in 2015.

The team from Azerbaijan are in London to take on Tottenham in what will be their first match of the new Europa League league phase campaign.

Tottenham as a team are not unknown to Qarabag given that they played the London-based club in 2015 in the same city and in the same competition.

On that occasion, Tottenham came away with a 3-1 win by virtue of a brace from Heung-min Son, while they also beat Qarabag in Azerbaijan.

Reflecting on that match, the Qarabag manager insisted that the current Tottenham team under Posetcoglou will be a different proposition as they are more dynamic and quick when it comes to pressing.

“I remember that match exactly. Yes, we lost 3-1”, Gurbanov said at a press conference while reflecting on the last meeting.

“At that time, Tottenham was a good team and had a good head coach. Today’s Tottenham is more dynamic.

“After the arrival of the new manager, they have become one of the fastest-pressing teams in the Premier League.

“They have a completely different game philosophy.”

Tottenham will hope to continue with their winning momentum from the Brentford game when they host Gurbanov’s team this evening.

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Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy has revealed that Spurs will end inevitably up with a young team because developing players from the youth academy and seeing them establish themselves as first-team players makes them feel like they are very close to the club.

Ange Postecoglou focused more on signing young players in the most recent transfer window as the likes of Archie Gray, Wilson Odobert and Lucas Bergvall joined the ranks in north London.

A deal for South Korean prospect Min-hyeok Yang has also been agreed with Gangwon, but he will join Spurs only in January.

Besides them, there is a plethora of young talents in Tottenham’s youth academy and they are considered top players for the future.

Levy reiterated that Spurs fans want to see youth players being promoted to the first team and he feels that seeing a youth player progress feels more organic, which is why Spurs will end up with a younger squad.

He stressed that Postecoglou though is not being told to only sign younger players.

“Our view is we want to play a certain way. I don’t think we’re dictating to Ange that he can only sign a young player. He will sign who he feels is best for his team”, Levy was quoted as saying by football.london.

“Obviously we feel that bringing young players through the academy is what Spurs fans want to see.

“That’s why we’re going to be putting more resources into the academy because we love seeing a player come all the way through and he’s one of our own.

“As a result of that, we’ll end up probably being younger than we otherwise would be.”

The likes of Tyrese Hall and Will Lankshear were in heavy demand by some lower-league clubs but Spurs chose to keep them and develop them within their academy.

Postecoglou and the Spurs chiefs will be keeping a close eye on the young players’ development to help them slowly integrate into the first team.

Qarabarg president Tahir Gozel has warned Tottenham Hotspur that his team will fight on the pitch until the end when they take on Spurs in the Europa League later this week.

Spurs are finally back to winning ways after they edged past Coventry City in the EFL Cup and beat Brentford in a league clash at the weekend.

They are now set to start their European journey in the Europa League and they will host Azerbaijan outfit Qarabarg in London on Thursday night.

Horsemen president Gozel is delighted that his side are once again in the main stage of the Europa League.

“For the eleventh time in a row, our team will compete in the main stage of the Europa League”, Gozel told his club’s in-house media.

“Our first game will be held in England, which is considered the birthplace of football.”

He insists Spurs is one of the favourites to win the whole competition but he is not ready to stop believing in his team getting a result and warned that they will fight until the very end.

“No one doubts that the strongest football league in the world is the English Premier League.

“In this competition, we will face a well-known opponent who can speak for themselves.

“Tottenham are considered one of the favourites not only for the match but also for the Europa League as a whole.

“But I believe in every player of my team, every member of the squad.

“They have always fought like heroes in meetings with such strong opponents.

“Regardless of the outcome of the meeting in London, I believe that our players will fight on the field and fight until the end.”

Spurs will be looking to start their European journey this season by capturing all three points against the Azerbaijani outfit.

Exeter City goalkeeper Shaun MacDonald has stressed that his side’s opponents in the EFL Trophy, Tottenham Hotspur Under-21s, are supposed to have some of the top talents in the entire country.

Ange Postecoglou has been able to push away some of the criticism he received after beating Brentford last weekend, but Spurs Under-21s side have not made a convincing start to their Premier League 2 campaign.

They have won only one of their first four matches, but have a golden opportunity to return to winning ways tonight when they face Exeter City in the EFL Trophy.

The likes of Will Lankshear, Aflie Dorrington and Tyrese Hall are considered top talents at Spurs and Exeter goalkeeper MacDonald is looking forward to facing them.

MacDonald stressed that the Spurs starlets are supposed to be some of the best prospects in the entire country and so while Exeter will have an age advantage, the opponents cannot be underestimated.

“In terms of age and youth, they [Spurs Under-21s] will be younger than us”, MacDonald said in a press conference before the Grecians face Spurs Under-21s tonight.

“But also these are meant to be some of the best young players in the country coming through.

“So again, age-wise, yes [we will be older].

“But ability wise no means, they will be a very good side.”

Now it remains to be seen if the talented and highly-rated Spurs youngsters will be able to see off the challenge from League One side Exeter City tonight.

Richard Keys insists referee John Brooks is off the hook for not spotting Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario handling the ball outside the box on Saturday.

Spurs made an initial shaky start to their campaign after picking up only one win from the first four games but they picked up their second win last weekend against Brentford to move tenth in the league table.

Last week there were some controversial and criticised refereeing decision from the Premier League and Vicario not getting a pulled up for handling the ball outside his technical area was one of them.

Keys stressed that the Spurs shot-stopped did not stop a goalscoring chance from Brentford so the VAR officials could not get involved in the matter.

He reiterated that Brooks got out of trouble for not spotting the Spurs goalkeeper’s offence against the Bees.

“There was a lot of confusion as to why Tottenham’s Vicario wasn’t sent off for handling outside the box”, Keys wrote on his latest blog about the Spurs custodian.

“I’m not convinced John Brooks saw the offence as Vicario got himself into a real mess, juggling the ball on the edge of his box, but it didn’t matter.

“The first two times the keeper touched the ball he was inside his area.

“The third time he wasn’t, but it wasn’t a red card offence.

“It would’ve been if Vicario had denied Brentford a clear and obvious scoring attempt, but that wasn’t the case – so VAR couldn’t get involved and Brooks was off the hook.”

Vicario’s lack of bravery to come for crosses has been heavily criticised and a red card for handling the ball outside the box could have been extremely damaging.

Former Premier League midfielder Danny Murphy has labelled a Tottenham Hotspur star ‘always brave’ and feels he often ‘takes responsibility’ within games.

Spurs eased some of the pressure on Ange Postecoglou on Saturday by beating Brentford 3-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the Premier League.

Goals for the hosts came from Dominic Solanke, Brennan Johnson and James Maddison as they had too much for the Bees.

Ex-top flight midfielder Murphy, who knows the demands of playing for Tottenham Hotspur, believes goalscorer Maddison has started the season well.

He noted that Postecoglou is using Maddison in a deeper role and feels he was outstanding against Brentford.

Murphy insists that Maddison is ‘always brave’ and is able to get Spurs on the attack so often because he ‘takes responsibility’.

“In this deeper role that Postecoglou has put him in, with [Dejan] Kulusevski ahead of him, he was absolutely outstanding”, Murphy said on the BBC’s Match of the Day.

“He’s always brave.

“He goes and gets the ball under pressure and he is always positive with his passing.

“So many times he sets them on the attack because he takes responsibility”, he added.

Maddison will want to keep his form going this week as Spurs will want to kick off their Europa League league stage campaign by taking all three points against Qarabag.

Tottenham Hotspur striker Dominic Solanke has hailed his team-mate Brennan Johnson, who he feels has helped Spurs massively in the last two games.

Johnson has been criticised in some quarters for his failure to make a big impact since joining the club for a fee of almost £50m from Nottingham Forest.

He has though found the back of the net in both Spurs’ last two games, first coming to the rescue with a winner at Coventry City in the EFL Cup and then, on Saturday, scoring his side’s second in a 3-1 win over Brentford in the Premier League.

Solanke also hit the back of the net against the Bees and believes that Johnson is making a big impact for Spurs at present.

“It’s magnificent and Brennan is a great player”, the striker told the BBC’s Match of the Day.

“In the last two games he has had two great finishes and helped the team massively so great credit to him. We’re all happy for him.”

The hitman also revealed that there is a strong team spirit in the Spurs camp.

“Everyone in the team loves and helps each other so it’s a great spirit.”

Tottenham are due to kick off their Europa League campaign this week when they play host to Qarabag.

Then Ange Postecoglou takes his men north for a test at Old Trafford against Manchester United.

Fixture: Tottenham Hotspur vs Brentford

Competition: Premier League

Kick-off: 15:00 UK time

Tottenham Hotspur have officially revealed their starting side and substitutes to take on Brentford in a home Premier League clash this afternoon.

Spurs avoided a banana skin in midweek when they came from a goal down to beat Coventry City and advance in the EFL Cup.

The game served to generate some more criticism of boss Ange Postecoglou however due to the number of changes he made to the team.

Postecoglou will hope to see the benefit of that today when his Spurs side host Brentford, but he will be without Wilson Odobert, who picked up an injury at Coventry.

Guglielmo Vicario is in goal for Spurs, while at the back Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Destiny Udogie slot in.

In midfield, Spurs go with James Maddison, Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski, while Brennan Johnson and Heung-Min Son support Dominic Solanke.

Postecoglou can shake things up with his substitutes if needed and they include Lucas Bergvall and Timo Werner.

Tottenham Hotspur Team vs Brentford

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

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

Tottenham Hotspur gave one of their top prospects 45 minutes in an Under-21s game last night as he continued his comeback from injury.

The north London outfit have made a shaky start to their campaign after registering one single win from their first four matches.

Ange Postecoglou and his coaching team have come under heavy scrutiny after losing their north London derby to Arsenal last weekend.

Tottenham’s youth side are also struggling in the Premier League 2 as they have slipped down to 22nd spot after losing to Fulham Under-21s on Friday night.

Despite the loss, however, Spurs were able to start their very highly-rated striker Will Lankshear against the Cottagers.

Even though the attacker was named in the starting line-up, he was not risked with more than 45 minutes of football as he was immediately taken off after the first half.

After Lankshear was taken off, his side failed to contain the Cottagers and they went on to win the match by a 4-1 scoreline.

Lankshear initially came through the youth academies of Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday before he caught the eye of Spurs and was snapped up two years back by the north London outfit.