Ange Postecoglou held an Easter press conference on Saturday morning ahead of Tottenham's Premier League match against Nottingham Forest on Monday night.
Spurs reached the Europa League semi-finals on Thursday night with a mature display at Frankfurt and will take on Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt across two legs next month. First Postecoglou's players must return to Premier League duty with Nuno Espirito Santo returning to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with his Forest flying high in fourth place in the table.
At his press conference, the Tottenham boss gave an update on James Maddison after he was forced off following the first half collision in Frankfurt that brought the penalty Dominic Solanke scored from to win the game. There was also the latest on Son Heung-min's foot injury as well as discussing how many chances the Australian will make against Forest.
Our Tottenham reporter Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to Postecoglou ahead of the game. Here's a full transcript with every single word the Spurs head coach said at the press conference at Hotspur Way.
What was the feeling like in the dressing room after the game on Thursday?
It was good. Obviously there was a fair bit of joy in the dressing room after. Obviously we needed to pack up and get going pretty quickly because we had a flight back. But it's important you enjoy those moments when they come along and fair to say particularly after a difficult season I didn't want to miss the opportunity to allow the boys to enjoy it. The players and the staff, everyone who travelled, did [enjoy it] and thoroughly deserved.
Does the result give you belief for the rest of the semi-final and the remaining six league games?
Yeah, I think it's important. I've said all along, it's not always easy to stay united through difficult times because invariably people are affected in different ways and a lot of our group have had to sit by the sidelines and watch it all, without being able to contribute. So on Thursday night pretty much the whole group - Sonny was a significant absence and a couple of the other boys who weren't part of it - but the whole group who travelled felt like they were part of it and contributed to it. It is going to be important because we've got the semi-finals coming up but also important league games. The fact that we've got a healthy squad for the first time, we're going to need them for sure.
How is James Maddison and how are the rest of the squad?
We had the day off yesterday as we didn't get back until the early hours of Friday morning. But fair to say he'll probably be a bit sore so he's probably a doubt for Monday. The rest of the group worked hard so they're a bit sore but should be OK for Monday night. Sonny will still be out. He's been dealing with this foot problem for a while so now is as good a time as any to give him time to get over it, so he'll definitely miss Monday night as well. But everyone else should be OK.
How long will that injury keep Son out for?
Not really sure. Like I said, it's something that he's been dealing with for a little while, and we've got to the point where it not only was not improving, it was deteriorating. It's one of these things, I think probably rest is going to be as important as anything else with that kind of injury. So we'll give him that time, because Sonny’s the kind of guy that always wants to train. We'll just have to put him on ice for the next few days and see how he responds to that.
Did Son have any contact with the team on Thursday night?
Yeah. I mean, he wasn't in contact with me, but he was with the boys, obviously, and yeah he’s still a big part of it. We discussed whether we should come along, but like I said, I think for to give us the best chance of Sonny being available for the semi’s and beyond, it just made sense that we left him at home. But yeah, I'm sure he was very much part of the group.
What do they call them, group chats, or whatever they are? They are part of some group. I'm not in any. I just saw him this morning, actually, I just caught him in the hallways as I was coming over and he's delighted for a number of reasons, and real motivation there to get back as soon as he can.
How big a challenge is it to continue the same level of performance after Thursday?
Yeah, look, it's fair to say it's been challenging. But I think part of that challenge is, obviously the rotations in the team. I think, to be fair, it's going to be similar Monday night, we're going to have to make five or six changes to the team, because we just want to make sure that everyone's sort of in the right space. But, you know, I think at the same time, we're obviously disappointed with the performance, not the performance against Wolves, but certain aspects of the Wolves game.
And you know, we need to have the same levels of concentration and focus that we did on Thursday night, because there's no doubt Forest are tough opposition. They’re having a great season. They've got huge motivation to win on Monday night. And yeah, for us, as much as we understand that the league has been very, very disappointing, and Europa offers us a magnificent opportunity to achieve something special, I still think the best preparation for that is us to play well in the two games preceding it.
What have you made of Forest's season?
Brilliant. Exciting. I think they've always had the quality in the team but since Nuno's got there, they've come up with a game plan that suits the players they have. They've been really consistent with their approach and obviously they've got massive motivation like I said, it looks like the Champions League spots are going be very, very competitive in these last few games and I'm sure that's something that they want to be a part of next year. So it'll be a good test for us.
You were able to bring on Kevin Danso on Thursday, he looked like he'd never been away, how important is he to allow you play a really balanced back three when you need to?
Great to get Kevin back. He worked awfully hard. He probably wasn't due back for another week or so, but you know him and Kulusevski sort of had that game as a bit of a target for themselves and great to have him back. It was important in that last part, I mean, you know, we've done that before. We did it last year a number of times, towards the end of the games, but fair to say this year sometimes we only had one centre-back available in total.
So having him and Ben on the subs bench, it gives us that flexibility with what we need in moments in the game and yeah, I thought he came on and like you said it looked like he hadn't missed a beat, he's worked awfully hard at training and great to get him available. In the next couple of games, I think it's important we get him some game time because I think he will be important.
Another massive performance in the defence came from Destiny Udogie, people forget he's only 22-years-old, there's been a bit of noise and speculation around interest in him, how important is it the club ensures he's part of the long-term future?
Yeah, I mean I don't know about the noise of speculation, but he's outstanding. From the moment I arrived I felt he's going to be a real outstanding player for us. So much growth still to come, physically he's got outstanding attributes for that position, but he's improving his game all the time.
He's obviously had two seasons where he's had some injury issues that have disrupted him a little bit, but even that, I just think it's part of his growth physically and coping with the levels.
He's hugely important to us. His profile as a left back, in particular the way we play, but in general is pretty unique in that he's big, he's powerful, technically he's good going forward but also a very good defender. Yeah, he's in a good space at the moment and I still think him, with a number of others, I just think in the next two to three years they're going to be really, really important players for this club.
More someone behind the scenes, I wanted to ask you about Scott Munn, he's been in the news recently with Vinai Venkatesham coming in, his future has been the subject of speculation....
He's not the only one, mate.
As you've said, we don't hear from people behind the scenes so the fans don't really know what he does or who he is, I just wondered what interactions you have with him and exactly what he does?
I don't think it's that much behind the scenes, pretty evident what he does. He's in charge of pretty much all the football matters, particularly from an administration standpoint. He's in charge of various departments that reporting in, you know football operations. I deal with him probably on a daily basis, you know, he works really, really hard.
He's very diligent with everything he does. He's very focused on what we need to build here and he's an important part of what we're doing. I don't think he does it in the shadows. I think it's pretty evident. Like I said, obviously you don't hear from him, you don't hear from a lot of people at the club, you just hear from me, but I'm certainly not the one that does all the work around the football operations. It's a massive, massive part of any football club, particularly this one, and Scott plays a huge role in that.