Every word Ange Postecoglou said on Tottenham's transfer plan that he's very comfortable with
How do you sum up the night?
I thought it was ok. I thought the first half was really good. It was a decent game. I thought we played really well actually. It was important because as I said to the lads before the game, it's 80,000 people here and it wasn't that long ago I was on the other side of the fence. I used to get hugely disappointed if I felt overseas clubs came here and went through the motions.
I felt in the first half it was a decent game and both teams were at it. I thought we played really well. Second half obviously we both made some changes. Some young boys got experience and the game sort of tailed off, which is kind of expected. Considering the boys literally 48 hours ago were playing on the other side of the world, and we lost in a surprise penalty shoot-out, so year disappointed.
Did anyone expect the shoot-out?
Maybe. I didn't, that's for sure. That's ok. I think it gave the punters a little bit more excitement at the end there, so there's nothing wrong with that. Unfortunately we couldn't get out on top.
For you and the boys, what does the next 24 hours look like?
The boys are straight on a plane tonight. I thought it was a tremendous effort from them when you consider the travel we needed to do to get here, straight after a pretty important Premier League game for us. So to play tonight and they're going back. A lot of them have got a couple of days off before the Euros or the Copa America and the rest will get their break, so the boys will be straight out tonight.
What kind of break will you get before you get back to the grindstone and the transfer silly season begins?
I've got the bus ride back to the hotel and that'll be it mate and then we get going. It never really stops. That's the reality of it. I'll have some time off. I'll meet up with the family at the weekend and then we'll go to Greece and switch off for a couple of weeks. It never stops with plenty to do. There's a lot of people working, doing the bulk of it. I've just got to be there to provide hopefully some direction.
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How fitting is it for you to end this wonderful 12 months of your life here in your home city?
It is. I guess the last few years have kind of moved along it seems pretty rapidly to where I am today, but yeah it was nice today because it wasn't that long ago, like I said, in an alternate universe I would have been on the other side of the fence watching the game because that was my kind of existence for a very long time. To be in charge of one of the biggest clubs in the world, bring them back to my home town in front of 80,000, it's pretty special and I feel pretty blessed to be in that position.
What were you happy with in that first half?
I thought first half we worked really hard and our pressing was really good, which is has been all year. Our football was really good as well though and we had some passage where we got through Newcastle and created some good opportunities for ourselves. I just felt the lads were really, really disciplined and tried to the best of our ability to play our kind of football, rather than just play a game with no real purpose. A lot of the stuff I saw in the first half was the stuff we've been working on all year, which was really important. The game being so close is not ideal, but we made a commitment to come out here and once you make a commitment you've got to follow it through and treat it in the right manner. We're representing one of the biggest football clubs in the world and you make a positive impression tonight and our fanbase grows even further which is important.
So I thought the players handled it really well and I'm really proud of them. They deserve a break now and that's what they'll get.
Last summer you and the club made a real drive to get players in early for pre-season, which hasn't always been the way, is that going to be the case again?
See I was asked how much time I'm going to get off and it's the next question. I've got to get players in tomorrow, they've got to be here. (Postecoglou grins) Yeah, look it is important. I think it works better Ali. Last year it certainly benefited us in having a couple of players in early to be with the whole squad. Again looking at the schedule this year with international commitments, we're not going to get them all back for the start of pre-season, but if we can get ones in early. It's easier said than done. Everyone wants to get business done early, everyone is keen to bring players in but the reality is that it takes a little bit of time.
The good thing for us is that we know what we need to do, we've had the plan in place for a while and it's just about now going through that process.
You've said that the attack is the area that needs the most growth, is it fair to say then that that's an area you'd like further additions in?
Yeah, absolutely. It's no secret. You saw the way we finished the season. We obviously lost Richy and Timo as well with injuries but we're fairly light in that area. We started last season with Manor [Solomon] and [Ivan] Perisic and we were quite healthy in that front third in terms of numbers, but as the year went on it became pretty evident that we need to bulk up. We're in Europe as well next year so we'll have more games and it's definitely an area of the park we'll need to strengthen.
When will you make a decision on Timo Werner?
I think from our perspective there's a deadline there. Again a lot of that will depend on the negotiations between the clubs and how Timo feels. Again from my perspective I'm comfortable with that situation and I'll let the other guys steer it to see what kind of outcome there is.
When you see 80,000 fans watching these two clubs, did you get to take a second to reflect on your part in growing the game here?
I think the majority were here to see the clubs, not me. Although the amount of friends I seem to have got in the last couple of days. maybe there was a few more thousand than I thought there was. It's great. I've always in the last couple of years, I was in Perth with Spurs last year and with Celtic the year before and I've got a great reception. It's certainly not lost on me and I understand that I represent the country in many respects with what I do abroad and people are following that journey.
I don't dwell on it too much and obviously I'm on the other side of the world but I'm aware of the impact it has because as I keep saying that was my experience when other people were in my position, players or other people involved in football or other sports. I lived that journey from here and I understand people are doing the same thing with my journey.
Are you anticipating you can keep everyone you want to keep this summer?
Yeah. There's no indication [otherwise], but all those things are moving parts. You always understand that things can change really quickly but we've got a plan in place that I'm really comfortable with in terms of incomings and outgoings. Whether that all comes together you just never know but having clarity about what we need to do I think helps the process.
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