Ange Postecoglou gave plenty of updates to the media after Tottenham's 1-1 draw at West Ham United on Sunday in the Premier League and we've got every single word the Spurs boss said in a full transcript below.
Postecoglou made eight changes on the day with one eye on Spurs' Europa League semi-final second leg at Bodo/Glimt on Thursday night but it was the visitors who opened the scoring within 15 minutes. Max Kilman hit the ball against Mathys Tel and the Frenchman fired it across the box for Will Odobert, who took a touch and slid the ball home.
Just before the half-hour mark, Jarrod Bowen was able to waltz down the right-hand side of the Spurs box and saunter towards goal before nutmegging goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario. Neither side could find a way through in the second half with the visitors creating more half chances during the period before a late save from Vicario from Bowen.
Our Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to Postecoglou after the draw. Here's a full transcript from the press conference at the London Stadium.
Understandably a much-changed team today, what did you make of their performance?
Yeah proud of the players' efforts. It's not easy making so many changes and it's going to affect fluency and even the rhythm of the team. But even the individual players haven't played a lot regularly and it wasn't just the changes, I mean I only made one sub so a lot of them played a lot more minutes than they have recently. I thought the efforts that they put in today were outstanding.
They were really disciplined and organised. We were disappointed with the goal we conceded but aside from that I thought we nullified their threat as well as we could and they had some decent firepower up front and I still thought we were dangerous going the other way.
So I'm glad the boys get some reward. It's obviously not a win but get some reward for their efforts because I thought on a difficult day they handled themselves really well.
Do you have an update after the scan of James Maddison's knee?
No, it doesn't look great, but we're just waiting for further information. We'll just wait and see. Hopefully we'll probably get some clarity tomorrow. It's fair to say it doesn't look promising but I'll just wait and see.
How about Dominic Solanke?
Dom's improving. We obviously left him out today but the medical team are pretty confident he should be right for Thursday.
Did you see anything from the players today that might come into your thinking for Thursday?
Yeah I did. I think it's part of the process to make sure these guys are ready. Last week we certainly weren't preparing for Lucas Bergvall to get injured the day before the game. So the guys have got to be ready and Biss was ready and was one of our best players on the night.
The beauty about today was that a lot of our guys who haven't played a lot of minutes recently, we've got some real meaningful minutes and I thought we did well on the day. It's important for Deki to play. He's missed so much football with his injury and he's just getting back into some rhythm.
Pape, Archie Gray, the two wingers, Mathys and guys like Djed and Kevin, I just think it's really important those guys play and have Biss back up again for another 90 minutes and even Richy to play again. It's been a juggling act for sure to try to get to a position where we've got a squad that's capable of tackling what's ahead. We're still cursed with some bad luck along the way, but I was really pleased the guys that got the minutes today. They're actually meaningful minutes. They had to work hard and I think they showed that they're going to be ready for Thursday.
Where do you think Dejan Kulusevksi is compared to this year in terms of his sharpness and fitness?
He's getting better. There were moments in the game where you started seeing he's moving a lot freer. It takes time. You're missing a couple of months of football. For any player it takes a while. It's just about getting fitness and getting some match rhythm. I was pleased for him today. The thing with Deki is he just works his socks off all the time.
I just felt you could see some of that ability to beat people and turn in tight areas and run with the ball, it was coming back. I was also pleased with his discipline today. They had a really aggressive attacking line-up out there. He had to do a really important defensive job for us and I thought he did that well.
What did you make of Mathys Tel today, it seems like he's starting to fit into this team?
Yeah, again, we're asking some big jobs of him, playing on the left and then in the centre. He's constantly learning. A lot of our guys I know will develop into top footballers. They have to go through this process of learning and adapting and understanding the demands of the Premier League and the demands of this football club.
We've asked a lot of Matty since he's come in. He's pretty much played in every game at some point. He's taken in the information and he understands the role a little bit better, especially out on the left. Again, important for us. These last few weeks we've obviously had Sonny out. We've needed him to fill that void and I think he's done that job well.
You completely rotated the back four today, what did you make of them?
I thought they handled themselves well. I thought Archie was really good, good to get him back. He was disappointed with Liverpool last week, but again, that's part of his learning. I'm sure he'll have reflected on that day and he's going to make sure that the next time he gets that opportunity, he'll handle it differently and better.
I'm sure he will because he's that kind of personality. I thought he was really good today. Kevin again, it's so important to have him back. The fact that he got through 90-plus minutes was excellent.
Benny and Djed have been important for us all year to be available. Like I said, you can have the best laid plans like we did last week, but then we lost Lucas on the eve. I need to know guys are ready. That's why we've been giving them game time. I'm comfortable that whether it's the back four or the rest of the boys who played today, if we need to make a decision that means one of them starts, I'll be more than comfortable in them doing that.
