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Ange Postecoglou's unusual training decision and the youngster making a first Tottenham appearance

Ange Postecoglou will be targeting a big pre-season with his Tottenham players
-Credit: (Image: Morgan Hancock/Getty Images)


Tottenham Hotspur took to the pitch inside the Groupama Stadium in Budapest for their final training session ahead of the Europa League game at Ferencvaros.

Following James Maddison and Ange Postecoglou's press conferences inside the ground, the squad that has travelled over from the UK were put through their paces in Hungary. As per UEFA rules, the media were allowed to watch the first 15 minutes of the session yet there was still plenty to be taken from that window of time.

Here are five things we noticed from the training session:

The weather

The rain had been pouring down all day in Budapest and it showed no signs of relenting as the Tottenham players took to the turf. It was absolutely bucketing down.

Postecoglou will be wary no doubt of further potential injuries amid the wet conditions with the rain expected to continue throughout Thursday. Both clubs will also be wary over just how much rain continues to pour down during the day and night in case they get another situation like they had last summer in Bangkok when the pitch for their friendly against Leicester became unplayable and the money-spinning game was postponed.

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Who was absent and Reguilon's involvement

Postecoglou explained to football.london why Sergio Reguilon had travelled with the squad despite being unable to play as he is not in Tottenham's Europa League squad and who had missed out on the flight to Hungary.

"He's a Spurs player, mate. I mean, we've got a training session so it's a balance that we need 20 players for training, that's what we do for match day minus one. It didn't make sense to bring someone like Radu or a couple of guys who have got injuries because we won't get back until late on Thursday," he said.

"We've brought a couple of young guys in. The academy played last night and we didn't want to disrupt that, but we brought a couple of young guys and Reguilon to make sure our training is really good today. Squad-wise, from the weekend Destiny hasn't travelled. It's nothing significant, his injury but again it didn't make sense to bring him over if he wasn't going to play. Radu is suspended and Sonny is back in London doing rehab, but the rest of the squad plus the young players have travelled."

There were a couple of others missing though in the injured Richarlison and Wilson Odobert and also Djed Spence, who is presumably being kept in bubble wrap in case he's needed to play at Brighton at the weekend if Udogie is not fit. The 24-year-old is also not in Spurs' Europa League squad either.

Youngsters involved

There were a number of Tottenham youngsters involved in the session, including Mikey Moore and Will Lankshear, who both train regularly with the first team, but also academy defenders Alfie Dorrington and Dante Cassanova as well as 18-year-old winger Damola Ajayi, getting a first real chance to impress Postecoglou.

Maddison had plenty to say about 17-year-old Moore, who everyone is hoping to see more of against Ferencvaros on Thursday.

"Mikey, when he first came up I had to remind myself how young he actually is," he said. "When he first came up he was 16 and more of like a man already when I watch him play, he’s very powerful, and he’s only going to get stronger as he develops into his body. It’s quite scary, he’s got a lot of ability. But I don’t want him to feel any pressure because he’s getting a lot of people talking about him, and rightly so, and that’s down to him training well, getting in the first team and getting exposure which is what he wants. Firstly, he’s a great kid… a really polite and well-mannered young man, which is a credit to his family because as a senior player with a young lad coming up that’s the first thing you recognise.

"You don’t want a young lad coming up with that arrogance, and that who does he think he is… And then his ability on the ball. We’ve seen it in training and the Spurs fans will be keen to see more in games. But we see it in training. He’s got bags of ability and it looks to me as if he loves the game, loves playing, gets tackled and sometimes falls on the floor and jumps up as if nothing’s happened and he wants the ball again. So I’m really excited to see how his journey goes and try to help him as much as I can.

"I always try to have a little chat to him because I think ‘what would a 16 year old James Maddison want?’ and he would want one of the senior first team players to put an arm round him and one, treat him like a man, but also give him to advice to try and help him, and accelerate that success and living the journey he is going to have. He has got to go and do it when he gets the opportunity and I’m sure he will, and I’m sure he’s keen and eager to get going and get more minutes. I look forward to it."

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What they did

With only 15 minutes to view, there wasn't too much to be seen but there were a number of different drills involved even in that time.

First the squad jogged around the circumference of the Groupama Stadium pitch before undertaking some sprints in the corner of the stadium.

They then split into two separate rondos with two men in the middle trying to get the ball back. Then they took part in an attacking drill with all of the players involved, trying to score goals in the one goal with those Postecoglou favourites - the low crosses into the six yard box.

Postecoglou leading the way

Postecoglou's coaching style means that he often stands back from training sessions at Hotspur Way and delegates responsibility to his coaches to handle training sessions. The staff and the Australian then sit down for a long debrief with him in the offices over everything that happened and what he noticed during the session that needs tweaking and which players stood out or struggled.

However, on Wednesday night on the rain swept pitch, Postecoglou took charge of the attacking drill and you could hear him in the centre of the players bellowing instructions and encouragement to the Tottenham squad.

They scored goal after goal in the one goal. Some were wearing bibs but it did not look like either was the team we are likely to see thanks to the smattering of youngsters involved in both sides.

Postecoglou was leaving us all guessing about the team he will select for the game.

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