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Every word Ange Postecoglou said on whether he spoke to Dragusin and Bergvall and why Son came off

Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou checks his watch during the UEFA Europa League match with Qarabag
-Credit: (Image: (Photo by Chloe Knott - Danehouse/Getty Images))


Tottenham Hotspur won 3-0 with 10 men against Qarabag in the Europa League on Thursday night and Ange Postecoglou spoke to the media afterwards.

After a delayed kick-off, it took just seven minutes for drama to arrive as Radu Dragusin was sent off after a poor bit of play, losing the ball after some poor control and then bringing down Juninho as he ran clear. Spurs reacted quickly with 10 men though and scored five minutes later with Dominic Solanke using his strength to win the ball back, hold off his marker and put Brennan Johnson through to score his third goal in as many games.

Pape Matar Sarr doubled Spurs' lead early in the second half. Half-time substitute Dejan Kulusevski's corner was flapped at by the keeper under pressure from Ben Davies and Sarr volleyed it in off a defender.

The visitors were given a penalty after Yves Bissouma initially caught Elvin Jafarguliyev in the box but then got the ball with his second challenge. Tural Bayramov though sent the penalty on to the crossbar and over. It soon became 3-0 to 10-man Tottenham as Solanke made it two goals in two games as he followed up Son Heung-min's saved shot to fire home and the ten men held on for a clean sheet and the win.

Here's what Postecoglou said to the media after the game:

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Brennan Johnson made it three goals in three games, you can see his confidence growing after every game can't you?

Yeah, I thought again Brennan was really important for us, particularly today going down to 10 men pretty early, we're going to need some attacking outlet and I thought he, Dom and Sonny provided that and obviously we needed a goal and I thought it was a good first goal for us because we were with only 10 men, but we still pressed and forced a mistake and Brennan's been good at taking up those positions and him and Dom have a good little sort of relationship there in terms of working off each other and he took his goal well. As you said, that's three in three games for him, and long may it continue.

What did you have to say to both Radu Dragusin and Lucas Bergvall after that early red card and substitution?

Nothing specifically to them. I mean, it was just a consequence of us starting the game really slowly. It was just not a great start for us. We were really passive with our passing. Whether it was the delay to the game or whatever, but it's no excuse. We kind of shot ourselves in the foot and unfortunately Radu and Lucas paid the ultimate price for it. But as a team, we just didn't start the game in the way we wanted to and the way we needed to and made the game challenging for us. The response was great, absolutely, but disappointed we had to be in that position.

Do you think that delay will have any knock-on consequences ahead of your busy fixture period?

No, I don't think so. Like I said, it's more about you're kind of looking for reasons why we wouldn't start the game and maybe I'm grasping for straws with a late sort of kick off. It doesn't, because obviously the players are here for extra time and preparing for a game. We have our routines in place.

So having a 35 minute delay, delays warm ups, delays all sorts of things but you've just got to deal with it and we've got to deal with it better than what we did tonight.

Sonny had treatment, is he okay?

I haven't spoken to him. He said he felt a bit tired, but I haven't spoken to him or the medical team yet.

Is Archie Gray okay, he looked like he took a knock to his ankle?

He didn't stop running though so can't be that bad.

How brave were your players to keep attacking and is that down to the principles you established last season, like in the Chelsea game?

Well I think that's part of it. Obviously we want to be a team that tackles whatever challenge we have in a certain way. When you go down to 10-men invariable at times you can't be as aggressive or keep the ball as much or play as fluently but for the most part the intent was there. The first goal comes from us pressing. We were pressing with 10-men and we win the ball high up, which is what we wanted to do and we ended up scoring a goal from it. I think for the most part the boys showed that intent. That's the kind of team we want to be and whatever challenge we have before us, is to tackle it that way.

Is Brennan Johnson okay after coming off at half-time?

Yeah he's fine. It was just tactical. I thought we would need Deki Kulusevski because the way the game is going, Deki is a like a hybrid midfielder and can also break out on that right wing. It was just a tactical switch, but Brennan is fine.

Is Dominic Solanke fully fit now?

He's getting there. Like I said, he didn't do pre-season with us and then he has one game and then he's out for two weeks, while the other guys were building up their match fitness. He is getting there and probably played longer than I wanted for him to play tonight, just the circumstances of the game, but the one thing about him is he just keeps going. Great for him to get another goal but his all-round performance was really strong. When you're down to 10-men, you need your striker to be able to hold up the play and do some hard running, which I thought he did.

Guglielmo Vicario was very impressive, what was the thought process with picking him over Fraser Forster today?

Same as every other game. I just select teams that would win us a game of football and no other reason than the same reason I select him every other week or make different decisions. It was no different.

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