Postecoglou on Spurs emphatic 0-4 win over Manchester City
Etihad Stadium, Manchester, UK
23/11/2024
Etihad Stadium, Manchester, UK
23/11/2024
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00:00Could you quite believe that scoreline? I mean, when you came here today, I would have imagined you hoped, maybe expected to win, but maybe not for net.
00:10Yeah, look, you don't. Yeah, you don't sort of come to a place like this thinking that it's, you know, it's going to be, you know, probably as convincing as it was for us in terms of just the way we handled.
00:24Look, I've said before, City test you in every football way possible. You know, you've got to do a bit of everything. You've got to, you know, you've got to defend, you've got to work hard, you've got to be disciplined and you've got to play football.
00:34And I thought all four areas, we really sort of, you know, got to a really, really strong level today where the players just really determined to make sure that, you know, after obviously a disappointing game last game that we just got back to sort of our core beliefs as a team.
00:52And credit to the lads, I thought they were outstanding today because we knew first 10 minutes they'd come out firing, obviously the four losses they'd had were away from home.
01:00So being at home, there'd be an energy in the stadium, we were going to have to sort of weather the storm, which I thought we did fairly well.
01:06And then we just grew into the game and, you know, just so pleased for the players in that, you know, the belief they have in trying to play the way we want to.
01:16And then you get a reward like that, I think it just, you know, furthers sort of our, hopefully our progression.
01:22Congratulations, Ange. On some of those, kind of, you've got young players in that squad as well and then that team, how kind of big is this for their development, those young players and what they did out there today?
01:32Yeah, I guess so.
01:34I mean, I, you know, I said during the week, I really think we've progressed as a team.
01:39I think we're a better team this year than we were last year, but we've had some real flat spots, to say the least, that have kind of not allowed us to progress, you know, in terms of, you know, where we are, in terms of our standing.
01:56And, but as I said, I think yesterday, I've never seen some of the players that have lost belief in what we're doing.
02:03And it's very easy to, because obviously there's a lot of noise when things don't go well.
02:07But, you know, they've just, you know, today was about sort of doubling down on our football principles and we did that.
02:13And it is significant because, obviously, they've got an unbelievable record here at home.
02:20So I don't think it's something that, you know, you can be just sort of blasé about, you know, it is significant.
02:27But I think it's significant for the whole group that, you know, we can sort of, we've reached these standards before.
02:33It's about now not dropping as we have in certain games.
02:39Hello, Andrew.
02:40Just over here.
02:41Sorry about that.
02:42You just mentioned that doubling down on your football principles.
02:44I mean, it seemed to be a very kind of defined game plan to hit that your wingers were brilliant for you.
02:50How would you describe it?
02:52How would you characterise what the plan was?
02:54Yeah, I thought it was going to be important for us.
02:56As I said, you know, we knew we were going to have to defend at different times.
02:59And, you know, with Deckie and Sonny out there, you know, I thought if we could get the ball to them really early.
03:06You know, City are pretty aggressive with their approach.
03:10They like to defend almost man-on-man because they've got outstanding defenders who like to defend sort of man-on-man.
03:16But, you know, I think with Dom there as well, you know, we like that sort of set up where we can get the ball to them earlier.
03:26But, you know, that's the theory.
03:28The practice isn't always that easy because they put pressure on you.
03:31And I thought our build-up play today, at times we got a little bit stuck, especially in the second half.
03:37But we just persisted and persisted in trying to hit those areas that we needed to.
03:41And every time we did, even in the second half, we kind of, we looked really threatening.
03:45And we obviously scored some good goals from it.
03:47But, you know, for us, again, it's, you know, development as a team is about trying to, within the context of our football,
03:55find solutions that exist, you know, depending on the opponent.
03:59And I think on telly you said James Madison has had a bit of a lean spell.
04:05What have you seen from him behind the scenes, character, attitude-wise, to kind of turn it into a performance like today?
04:13Yeah, look, I mean, yeah, lean spell.
04:17I mean, I thought he was really good for us earlier in the year and then he had a couple of sort of flat games.
04:21But, you know, that's, I think the whole team has.
04:24But I also believe there's more in matters.
04:27I mean, I think that's on me.
04:30I always say, you know, that's my role as a manager.
04:33If I'm not getting a maximum out of the players, the team, you know, against Ipswich or individuals,
04:39then it's about sort of some self-reflection of, well, OK, can I do something different with them?
04:44But the thing about matters was, you know, he obviously didn't go away to national duty.
04:47So he had two weeks with us and the coaches worked really hard with him.
04:50And he was working really hard at training.
04:52But I do sense that he was, you know, he was ready for a big game.
04:56And, you know, he hasn't sort of lowered his ambitions or his kind of levels,
05:04you know, the kind of player he wants to be.
05:06And it's about us giving him that platform.
05:08And it wasn't just his goals today.
05:09I thought he was important for us in the build-up because he was always looking for it in tight areas.
05:14And defensively, he worked really hard.
05:16So, yeah, credit to him.
05:19Like I said, I still think he's had a decent season.
05:21But it's like us as a team, you know, we want to be more than that.
05:25You know, we want to be more than just a decent team.
05:30Hello, Andrew.
05:31We probably criticised you defensively at Galatasaray.
05:34You had the same centre-halves in the team today.
05:37What can you say about them two today and probably Bissouma in front room?
05:42Yeah, I thought they were all great.
05:45You have to be against City because obviously they've got big early up there.
05:49But the way they deliver the ball, the areas that they kind of consistently probe,
05:54you've got to be, you know, focused the whole time.
05:56And I thought Ben and Radu really focused.
05:59I thought Vic behind them was really positive as well, his positioning and the way they communicated.
06:04And like I said, Biss was important to that.
06:06I think the key for us was we had to do it as a collective today.
06:09I think when you play City, you know, you can't rely on individuals to kind of sort of find solutions out there.
06:17And collectively I thought we defended really well.
06:20But credit to those two guys.
06:22And not just defensively, but like I said, we had to play out from the back.
06:25It was, you know, it was the only way we were going to sort of deliver balls to the areas we wanted to.
06:30And both Ben and Radu didn't shy away from that.
06:32It wasn't always easy.
06:33But, you know, they consistently were looking for the ball and looking for us to play out from the back.
06:38So credit to those guys.
06:40Okay. Thank you very much.