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Every word Ange Postecoglou said on why he didn't sign Ivan Toney, Odobert injury and Solanke

Ange Postecoglou has been speaking ahead of Tottenham Hotspur's Premier League match against Brentford
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


What are the latest injury updates?

Wilson doesn’t look good, we are still waiting for it to settle down and get all the information but he will definitely be out for the next period. Bissouma trained today so he should be available for tomorrow. Timo is okay. He recovered okay. Everyone else from the game who didn’t train last week is good.

What's the exact nature of Odobert's injury?

Hamstring.

Any update on Richarlison?

He is a fair way off, I think you should stop asking me about him until I give you a bit of an update. He has still not trained with the first team so he is still a bit off.

Does one win from four Premier League games increase the pressure?

It doesn’t change. It is the same whether you win the first four. I hate to think people go into this game thinking you could lose it. You try to win every game. We are at home. We have also played well in those first four games. That’s the first thing. We need to perform as we have been. As I said in the league, performances have been really consistent in terms of dominating games but we haven’t really got a reward for our dominance and that’s the area we are kind of still trying to focus on in that front third to make sure we get rewards for our good play.

With five games in two weeks, how important is this period?

I think that is going to be our period probably until the end of January so we kind of planned for that. This is probably the shortest in terms of turn around because it is a Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday. Most of the others are Sunday, Thursday, Sunday for the most part. Probably a day less in this little three game stretch. The good thing is we got some game time into some guys on Wednesday night who hadn't played for quite a while. They are ready and should be available if we require them. That’s going to be key for us, the ability to bring guys in who are fresh but also have played recently.

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With the expanded European competitions there's talk of players striking, what do you make of it all?

I think I said last week it is something that needs to be looked at. Obviously it’s not just club football it is international football. It is as much about how much recovery players get even between seasons. I think that is where the biggest problem lies for me anyways. If you give players enough time to recover between seasons it gives them a better opportunity to play the games that are in the schedule now. But it seems like the windows of recovery for players are getting smaller and smaller and I definitely think that is an issue.

How important was Wednesday’s win?

It is important. It’s always important. You know in a cup competition if you don’t win you don’t progress so that’s the first thing. Progressing to the next round is great. The performance, as I said on the night, we had to work really hard and it was a different kind of performance. We just had to hang in there and we did and I think showed tremendous spirit at the end. Some good input from guys coming on to make sure we won and progressed to the next round.

Your substitutes scored and changed the game, does that show better squad depth?

It will be important for us. As I said, I think that’s why Wednesday night we got a lot of players who played 90 minutes or 70 minutes who hadn't played a lot recently. Archie, Lucas, Ben Davies, Radu got another 90 which is important. Even Destiny’s 45 and Dom’s sort of 60-70 are really important for us minutes wise. Like I said, it’s great having a squad but if you are throwing in guys who haven’t played for three/four weeks it is very hard for them to contribute. They are not as sharp as they should be match wise but also physically you are worried so just getting more guys game time, and we are going to have plenty of opportunity, is going to be incredibly important.

How big a challenge is Brentford and how good is Thomas Frank?

A great challenge. Thomas has turned them into a really difficult and challenging team for everyone in the league. I saw them last week against City, I thought they played really well, took the game to City. It’s always a challenge, but that’s the Premier League. I don’t think there’s any games you go into thinking they’re going to be any easier than any others. We’ll have to be ready for Brentford tomorrow, but we are at home and we’ve just got to make sure we continue with our strong performances in the league but turn those performances into results.

How important is it to get a result and regain the feel-good factor of last season?

I just think if you start thinking in those terms, you miss the priorities of what you need to do to stay competitive in this league. Every week is a challenge. If you had have got four wins so far — which we could have, with the performances — dropping a game tomorrow wouldn’t have made us feel any better. The challenge is always the same. That’s the beauty of the competition we’re in; every week you’ve got to be up for it, and we’ve got to make sure we do that tomorrow.

Why have you not hit the level of last season?

I guess it depends on what you mean by ‘level’. I certainly thought our first four games we were about as dominant as we were last year for any series of games. All four games, we’ve outpossessed the opposition, created double the chances of the opposition, played the game mostly in the opposition half. But because you win, people always look at the outcomes which is understandable. I think we need to maintain our focus on what is important to us and the principles of our play. If we just show a bit more conviction in that front third, I’m sure we’ll get the rewards for it soon.

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On Solanke, what have you made of how he’s settled in?

He’s settled in really well. There’s plenty more to come from him… because he got injured! He’s only played two-and-a-bit games for us. He just needs to get some games under his belt. But what I’ve seen in the games he has played, he’s going to be a real asset for us. I’ve got no doubt he’ll be a great contributor.

There were boos from the stand in Coventry when you took off Lucas Bergvall, does negative fan sentiment seep into your environment?

It doesn’t seep into mine, but I’ve always said fans are more than free to feel what they feel. I’m not going to dictate the mood of what they do. It doesn’t impact me or what we’re going to achieve. We’ve just got to stay clear-eyed and focused on what we’re trying to achieve here and the kind of football team we want to be. If that’s swimming against the tide sometimes, that’s alright, nothing wrong with that — it makes you stronger.

You said you don't use social media but players do – do you have to talk to them about it?

Not specifically. I like to think players are well aware of the pitfalls of falling into that world. But everyone has got their own choices around that. If you start seeking validation from anonymous people then you are going down a rabbit hole that is probably going to end up in tears rather than anything else.

You're making big changes at the club – do you feel that’s part of the tension, people aren’t getting used to it and it isn’t all going to be good?

Yeah that’s a big part of it. Whenever there is change, significant change, it unsettles people. It is human nature, you kind of want comfort and security but again, I came in here to try and do something that hasn’t been done for quite a while. My view is – and I’ve done that wherever I’ve gone – you can’t just think me walking in is the answer. You’ve got to change things and when that happens, it is unsettling for people both internally and externally but I think it is a necessary part of trying to achieve what we need to.

Were the first 10 games of last season a false dawn?

No, I don’t think it was a false dawn. I think we deserved it. We played well in the first ten games. I guess I could sit down and go historically as to why after that ten games, when we lost three of our back four for two months after that. Madders for pretty much most of the year. But if people want to look at it in isolation of just results, yes, ten games we did well and then afterwards we didn’t do well but I think there were legitimate reasons for that.

Could Bissouma start tomorrow or will you need to be cautious?

He trained today. He trained fully. It is his first session so we’ll just have to see how he pulls up. But if he’s available, he’s available.

You're no doubt aware but you're the first manager to last a full season in the past half a decade at this club...

Yeah they had a cake for me the other day.

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With that in mind, how difficult is it to put in real long-term change at a club that has had so many different directions and changes over those years?

It's not difficult for me because that's how I've always worked. I keep saying I know I'm not going to be here forever and but I work like I will be and I make changes that I think are going to set the club up for success for a sustainable period. Every decision I make is along that backdrop. Sometimes if you get caught up in this kind of timeline scenarios I just think you end up making results that potentially okay short-term might feel good, but long-term you're not going to get to where you want to. That's all I'm interested in. My brief and my focus and my ambition is to bring success. Every decision I make is made against the backdrop of that.

If you'll permit me one non-football question, you said when speaking about Brennan Johnson this week that when it comes to social media 'I can switch off and my one follower doesn't get upset by it'. Do you have a social media account in order to dip in from time to time?

(Laughs) No I don't. Look, there was years ago I used to be on...just generally because I liked the information that I was getting initially, especially on Twitter as it used to be called. I thought it was a great resource for information and some pretty smart young people on there, especially around the football analytics and stuff that I used to get excited about. But mate it went downhill pretty quickly and in the last two or three years I don't look at it any more. I don't think there's any use in it, for me anyway with my life. So my one follower is gutted about that.

How disruptive was Dominic Solanke's injury in terms of getting that front three play to come together?

Well it has on the back of Richy not being available either. We working with the idea that we thought Richy would be available round one and he had the setback which has put him out. Yeah, that hasn't helped us because the whole plan was to have two really robust strikers who really give us a threat up front. With both of them out it's made it a bit difficult and we've had to juggle things a little bit. Played Sonny through there, Deki through there so it hasn't been smooth, but I'm hoping that's behind us now.

Solanke came in for big fee, club record £65million – is that an adjustment he will have to make and need to deal with?

I don't know because people are just so quick to judge, mate. It's a small sample. The guy has played less than two games for us. If he has gone 15 games without a goal then I can answer that question or 15 games where he hasn't contributed, but I just think take a breath. Do a bit of yoga. Think about the world for a second and make an assessment after that. We don't have to rush to make judgement all the time because the alternative is he may have got off to a great start, he is fit, scored in all four games, is flying and then he goes through a patch like all strikers where he doesn't score. I just don't look at those things. What I look at is he has come in, fitted really well and quite logically has picked up an injury that has disrupted the way he wanted to start his career, but he's still got plenty of time for that.

Take a breath, do a bit of yoga, is that the same for the whole team, have we seen an over reaction to the first four games?

No, I've said a few times that is just the way of the world today. People would rather be first to make a judgement even if they are wrong rather than wait for someone else. That is the way we live our lives these days. There is far more judgement than real reasoned, opinionated analysis, but that is the way of the world.

Did you look at Ivan Toney in the summer?

We did look at him but I have said Dom was the one I wanted and it took pretty much the whole summer to get him in because he was the one who fitted the profile of what we were looking for at the time.

Do you still sense Dom is calm despite being a few weeks without a goal or have you noticed him being anxious about getting his first goal?

Like I said, he has just played a couple of games. Not even four games. No, I haven't sensed that. I don't sense that (anxiety). In his mind, I think he just wants to be in a good physical condition so he can contribute. That is where he is at and the space we want him in. Hopefully he gets a bit of confidence out of the game time he got during the week and builds on that tomorrow. I am sure as the season goes on he will be a real strong contributor for us.

You made eight changes for Coventry and explained those eight players needed minutes. Now they have those minutes, are you less likely to make as many changes during the Europa League and Carabao Cup moving forward?

It just depends how we're going. It was a bit different this week because we have a day less. Europe is Sunday, Thursday, Sunday. This is Sunday, Wednesday and Saturday so with a day less than is quite significant because Wednesday to Saturday, there are guys who had to train today who played the other night the day before a game. We were always going to make as many changes as we could Wednesday night just to protect the lads but also to get some game time into the guys. It will be horses for courses. We'll see how we go.

I'm sure you saw overnight that Graham Arnold has left his role as Australia boss, what did you make of that decision?

I am not really close to it, but he has had a really great stint as national team boss. He took them to the World Cup, got the best ever result at a World Cup. For anyone when you manage your national team, it is a proud moment and I am sure he is proud of his achievements, but like all of us he passes on the baton now to hopefully somebody who can take the nation forward.

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