Ange Postecoglou spoke to the media at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the wake of our 3-1 victory against Southampton on Sunday.
Here’s a look at some of the things he had to say...
Ange on whether the result sets us up well for Thursday’s European clash with Eintracht Frankfurt
“To a certain extent. I was really happy with the first half. In the first half I thought we were really disciplined, well organised and sort of limited them to one chance. Every time we went forward we looked dangerous and as threatening as we’ve looked for quite a while, really fluent, obviously scored two goals, one disallowed and Aaron (Ramsdale) has pulled off some good saves. I was really pleased but the second half, not so much as I thought we became way too passive without the ball. We allowed Southampton to get a little bit of rhythm, we were really sloppy with ball and the substitutions we made didn’t really make the impact I wanted. That allowed them to get a goal at the end which was disappointing and something we need to improve on. Overall the important thing is we got the win, scored three goals and everyone got through unscathed and ready for a big night on Thursday.”
Ange on James Maddison’s performance
“Especially in the first half, all our players embraced both their attacking and defensive roles and we need to take that into Europe. We know in European football every moment of the game is important. I thought Madders was really good with the ball but really disciplined without the ball. In the first half I was really pleased with the lads. It can be a game when you go out there and sort of urge yourself or rush yourself to victory but I thought there was a really controlled way we went about it without diminishing the intensity we want to play at. Like I said, in the second half that wasn't the case and we need to improve.”
Ange on Brennan Johnson’s consistency
“It’s tough but I think whenever Brennan plays, he’s always a goal threat. He has been really good for us in terms of goals and, even though I don’t rate them highly, even his assists have been important to us as today he won the penalty. He’s really important for us in the way we play and I don’t think he has been inconsistent this year. The disruptions we’ve had in the team and the ability to get some real cohesion in the group has disrupted everyone this season. It was great for him today, I was really pleased for him, not just the goals but his general play was really good. He’s important for us as a wide player – there aren’t many around that are a constant goal threat like he is. I’m really pleased for him today.”
Ange on Brennan’s confidence
“With Brennan, he’s always in the areas we need him to be. He’s probably one of the most disciplined players we have in terms of making sure he’s always in the right positions and that’s why he gets his goals. There have been times this season when his form has suffered because of the team more than anything else. I think if we play like we played in the first half, Brennan becomes a really important player for us as we’re a constant threat, breaking lines, making half-space runs, we were getting balls into the box in the areas we need to and every time we went forward we looked like scoring. If we do that then I think it’s not a matter of confidence for Brennan, it just gives you more opportunities as the one thing about him is that he will always be in those positions so it’s up to us to match his discipline in that.”
Ange on whether he’s concerned by the types of goals we’ve conceded
“To a certain extent, but it’s more how we got to that point. If you allow the opposition to kind of get into a rhythm, they’re going to find those opportunities whereas in the first half we never really allowed it. They had the one but aside from that we rarely let them into our half, but in the second half we sat back and maybe the guys were thinking about Thursday but I don’t think you can play that way. It was disappointing to concede because again in Europe every goal is important. The ones you score and the ones you concede count for a lot more in terms of the outcome of a tie. It was disappointing to concede a goal today but I thought it was more disappointing the way we went about it in the second half.”
Ange on our unused substitutes against the Saints
“Destiny and Micky are fine. They have missed a lot of football this year so it made sense to put them on ice today. Richy is good. We’ve kind of done this with a few of the boys coming back and getting them involved on the matchday and the possibility of him getting a run today but I just thought when they’re involved in a matchday it gets rid of a lot of the nerves of coming back or anxiety from coming back from a long time out. He’ll get a few more days in training and play a part from now on.”
Ange on Mathys Tel’s penalty
“It was good for him to get a goal. The guys coming on are really important. I thought Wilson today didn’t look ready when he came on and only came to life the last 10-15 minutes but sometimes these guys coming on are going to be really vital for us in Europe because you know the ties are going to be really intense and you’re going to have to make changes, not just because players are not performing but because we need that extra energy. Guys like Mathys and Wilson are young guys and we’re going to need them. They have the quality for sure. I thought Archie and Biss came on and helped us a bit in terms of getting a bit more control of the game. For all those guys, now that we've got a healthy squad, they’re ready to play.”
Ange on our first goal starting from Romero at the back
“Yes, it is a goal that we have done a number of times, but we haven’t done consistently. I think in the first half we had many, many, many of those moments and with Cristian back there and Ben, when Micky plays, we have centre-backs who are comfortable on the ball and can give us the right pass and find really good solutions. Then it is about making sure the guys further up find the right spaces. I thought in the first half we did that a lot and it was an excellent team goal from start to finish. I think that was a byproduct of us being really disciplined with our football in the first 52 minutes.”
Ange on Lucas Bergvall’s physicality
“He looked a bit leggy on Thursday night but I thought it was important for him to get it out of his system because he hadn’t played – because he didn’t play the internationals – for two-and-a-half weeks. With Thursday in mind, I thought giving him 60 minutes on Thursday (against Chelsea) and another good block, he looked a lot better today, physically stronger and in the first half I felt the midfield three of Rodri, Madders and Lucas were really, really good defensively but also when we had the ball, they were really strong and it worked well.”