Ange Postecoglou wasn’t impressed with a reporter’s line of questioning ahead of Tottenham’s trip to AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League.
Spurs have endured a difficult season under Postecoglou, with the Europa League the only remaining opportunity for the Australian to “win a trophy in my second season” as he insisted he always does early in the campaign.
Winning the gong would also grant them entry into the Champions League, which provides a huge carrot given European football looks incredibly unlikely through the Premier League as they currently sit 13th in the English top flight.
Rather than asking Postecoglou about the upcoming clash with AZ Alkmaar, one reporter instead decided to fish for a story on Bissouma, and the Spurs boss laughed off his attempts, insisting “you’re better than that!”
The reporter asked: “Yves Bissouma posted a couple of pictures of himself at a ski resort. First of all I assume you gave the players a couple of days off?”
“Seriously, what sort of question is that?” Postecoglou said, before adding sarcastically: “No I didn’t, we were training but he decided to go skiing…
“Come on mate, you’re better than that!”
Refusing to back down, the reporter then asked Postecoglou whether Bissouma did indeed go skiing.
Postecoglou bit back: “Well, he obviously did.
“I don’t worry about those things, mate. They’re adults, they’re human beings, they had a couple of days off.
“They can choose to use that time as wisely as they can to help them be ready for what’s in store for us.
“You kind of hope that they’re sensible about these things and go about whatever they do in a manner that befits the position they hold, but I have no concerns… and he’s fine.”
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Bissouma is in line to feature for Spurs in their last-16 first leg tie against AZ Alkmaar, who they beat 1-0 during the league phase of the Europa League in October.
Centre-backs Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, as well as striker Dominic Solanke, have also travelled to the Netherlands.
“All three have been training with us and training well,” Postecoglou said. “I’ll decide whether they get significant match minutes or not, but it’s great to have them back.
“They feel good. They’ve been pretty frustrated not being able to help, but they’re in a position where they can.
“In the last few weeks we’ve had [Guglielmo] Vicario, Destiny [Udogie], Wilson [Odobert] and [James] Maddison all come back and you’ve seen the impact they’ve had. I’m sure the guys coming back now will have equally as important an impact.”
Spurs are aiming to win a first trophy since 2008 and Postecoglou says his players “really understand there is a great opportunity” in the Europa League.
“The club hasn’t in recent years done well in this competition, but it’s a major European competition, we’re in the last 16, there’s an opportunity there and we’ll see how far we can go in it.
“We’ve got to make sure, whatever happens at the end of the game, we’ve still got an opportunity to go back to Tottenham and win the tie.”