Tottenham Ange Postecoglou and Kevin Danso preview Europa League clash at AZ Alkmaar
05/03/2025
uefa
05/03/2025
uefa
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00:00Hi everyone, welcome to our Matchday Minus One press conference ahead of tomorrow's game.
00:10Simultaneous translation available through the Zoom link that's already been provided
00:14and we'll take questions from the floor.
00:17Ali?
00:18Hi Ange, just the obvious one, start team news and who hasn't travelled?
00:32Yeah, so in terms of haven't travelled, Deki's the only one, Kulasevski.
00:39He's had a sort of a, got a knock on the foot, he's not really sure when to be honest.
00:46He's kind of been sore the last couple of weeks, but he's been able to train and play and still get through it okay.
00:51But it wasn't getting any better, so we did some further investigations and no real clarity again.
00:59We're just waiting on a couple of things to find out the extent of it.
01:02But yeah, likely to be back before the international break, nothing serious.
01:07There's nothing surgical or anything, but yes, so he didn't travel.
01:14I think everyone else in terms of, Ben Davies still doing some work back.
01:19Again, he's close, but he's still doing work back at the training ground with Richie.
01:27And I think everyone else is here.
01:31With the three returning players, Romero, van der Ven and Slanky, any in a position to be able to start this match yet?
01:37Oh, we'll see, we'll train today and obviously they've all been out for a significant amount of time.
01:43We'll see when we reintroduce them, but they're all here, they're all training today, so we'll make decisions after that.
01:49Hi, John. Romero, he was called into the Argentina squad.
01:53He obviously hasn't played for quite a long time and he may feature tomorrow.
01:57Are you happy with him being called up and if he features for Argentina?
02:01It's interesting. I've been in the game for 26 years, including a national coach.
02:07And the one rule you do know is that we have no say over international football.
02:11Everyone knows that. I don't know why it becomes a question every time.
02:14It's like we don't have any control over that. Even if he's injured, they can call him up.
02:18So from our perspective, that's not of our concern.
02:21What our concern is that we get him up and running and hopefully he gets some game time.
02:27If he's fit, then he should go and he gets more game time rather than not playing for two weeks.
02:32But I don't think it's on the international side of it because people have asked me a couple of times over the last couple of days
02:40and it's almost like they're not really sure.
02:42International football is pretty clear that clubs don't have control over where their players go.
02:49You don't have any control, that's fair enough.
02:51But you could have a view on whether you feel like he should play given he doesn't feature football.
02:57What's the point of that?
02:58Because you want to protect him so you can have him for the rest of the season.
03:01But again, if I express that, it doesn't change anything.
03:08At the end of the day, like I said, if he's fit, then him getting some games is good for us because he's missed a lot of football.
03:15But we can't dictate to players when they should go with their national teams or not.
03:24I never have and it's been my view my whole career and it won't stop now.
03:30Done.
03:33Hi, Ange.
03:34Just on Micky in particular, is he now kind of fit-fit or are you still monitoring him and is it a game-by-game, day-by-day situation?
03:43No, look, he's fit-fit.
03:46I don't know what that means.
03:48But he's training and like I said, we're mindful.
03:54We're mindful that obviously the last time whilst he came back and he played half a game, we still felt and he still felt like he just didn't feel right.
04:04So we've taken a bit of a different sort of road with him this time.
04:09He feels really good.
04:11He's been training now with us for a good week and a half and he's in a good space.
04:18I guess it's just about a timing thing now and how we reintroduce him.
04:22And again, we'll probably be gauged by how he feels in terms of when he does actually get out there and have a runabout.
04:30But in terms of training and in terms of how he looks at training and how he feels,
04:35he certainly feels very, very confident that once he's back in the team that he'll be all good.
04:43And Yves Persuma posted a couple of pictures of himself at a ski resort this week.
04:48So first of all, I'm assuming you gave the players a couple of days off.
04:51And secondly, did you take a view?
04:54Seriously, what sort of question is that?
04:56No, I didn't.
04:57We were training, but he decided to go skiing.
04:59So come on, mate.
05:00Better than that.
05:01That said, do you know if he went skiing?
05:05Do you have a view?
05:06Well, he obviously did.
05:07You see these pictures here?
05:09We didn't see him skiing.
05:10We saw him at the resort.
05:11I don't worry about those things, mate.
05:14Again, they're adults.
05:16They're human beings.
05:17They had a couple of days off.
05:19They can choose to use that time as wisely as they can to help them be ready for what's in store for us.
05:31You kind of hope that they're sensible about these things
05:35and go about whatever they do in a manner that befits the position they hold.
05:48But I have no concerns.
05:49And he's fine.
05:51On this competition, it seems to me like this is a competition that feels kind of good for Spurs.
06:00It feels like they could have perhaps done better in it historically in years gone by.
06:06Obviously, it's a big part of your season now, but do you feel like it's kind of there for you?
06:20Again, I'm not sure what there for me is, but it's a competition that we obviously want to do well in.
06:27We've got ourselves in a good position.
06:28We're in the round of 16.
06:30We've obviously got two tough games against Sarzed.
06:34That's the first thing to overcome.
06:37You're right.
06:38The club hasn't, in recent years, done well in this competition.
06:41But it's a major European competition.
06:44We're in the last 16.
06:46For us, there's an opportunity there to see how far we can get in it.
06:51Hi, Andrew.
06:52Would you say you've got more belief in the squad now to go all the way in this competition
06:57than you probably did at the start of the season?
07:02It's hard to say.
07:03We obviously started the season feeling pretty good about where we were at,
07:09but obviously it hasn't transpired that way.
07:11So you just don't know.
07:13Certainly, a combination of things of players now coming back, significant players for us,
07:22but also just having the opportunity to train and train really well with the whole group
07:29has been really valuable for us.
07:30So I think the time off and players coming in, time off as in we could schedule things
07:37and train a lot better, means I think we're in a good place,
07:41certainly to tackle what's ahead.
07:45So from that perspective, probably a month back we were really struggling with those kinds of things,
07:52just not enough players and no training and no recovery.
07:55Whereas now, I think from our perspective, the last two and a bit weeks have been really good
08:02for training, recovery and just the level of intensity we can put into preparing for games.
08:09I guess with Mickie and Christian, whenever you put them in there's going to be a lot of focus
08:14on them getting through that.
08:16Do you feel there isn't now an easy game, a lower tempo game that you can put them in
08:21to ease them through?
08:22It's going to be a big game either way?
08:24I never think about it that way.
08:25I don't know what a lower tempo kind of game is.
08:30I think every game, especially at this level, players go and they know they have to perform at their best.
08:35I think it's more of just making sure they're ready.
08:37I think for us, again, I've always felt that our training is a real good preparation for the way we play.
08:46I think it's the best preparation for the way we play.
08:48The fact that Romero, Dom and Mickie have been able to train with us at the intensity we usually train at
08:56rather than what we had been training at is a good indicator to me that they'll be able to cope
09:02with whatever sort of game we put on them.
09:06Ed to finish, please.
09:09Hi, Ang. You mentioned that it's been good the last couple of weeks in training
09:14and you're starting to get a few players back.
09:16Do you sense that there's a real hunger in the squad to not prove people wrong
09:21but finish the season off well and show what they're really capable of
09:25because it's not been great so far?
09:29It's fair to say that the boys really understand there's a great opportunity for us.
09:38I think they've appreciated the fact that the guys who have been playing through
09:42have now been able to recover and train and prepare themselves better for games.
09:48That's coincided with seeing their teammates come back
09:51and certainly the guys who have been out injured.
09:53I've already seen that with guys like Vic and Brendan and Mattis to a lesser extent
09:58and Wilson who have come back into the team, Destiny.
10:01They've come back with a real hunger and desire to help the team
10:06because I think they've all been really frustrated sitting on the sidelines
10:10and seeing how difficult it's been for the group of players who have been playing.
10:15They just wanted to help and now they get that opportunity.
10:19I think you sense that in the group that they're appreciating the fact
10:24that they've got some support and some help.
10:27There's a platform there for us to hopefully get back to playing our football
10:36and, like I said, just seeing how far we can progress.
10:40AZ had a great result in the last round against Galatasaray.
10:44Is it important that you quieten the home crowd early
10:48and play your football and get on the front foot?
10:51It's going to be a tough challenge.
10:54Like I said, they did really well.
10:56We obviously played Galatasaray away and they're a very good side,
11:01especially European football.
11:03But I think the key for that side was how they played at home
11:06and they set it up.
11:08Obviously with us tomorrow night we've got to make sure
11:10that whatever happens at the end of the game
11:13we've still got an opportunity to go back to Tottenham
11:16and win the tie.
11:18We understand that it's with home support here.
11:23I've obviously been here with Celtic before in a Europa game,
11:26so I know the experience of it.
11:28Like I said, they're a good side.
11:31We're going to have to make sure that we, as you said,
11:34try and play our football, dictate the tempo of the game
11:38so that we can take a result back to Tottenham.
13:11Hi, Kevin.
13:18We haven't actually asked you yet about your move to Spurs
13:21and how it looked like you were close to going to Wolves
13:23and then you ended up at Tottenham.
13:25Can you tell us what happened in your whole decision-making process
13:30that saw you end up at Spurs in the first place?
13:34I'm here now.
13:35First of all, I want to focus on it.
13:37I'm not worried much about what happened in the past,
13:40but it's...
13:44Hello.
13:45Do you want me to start again?
13:47Yeah.
13:50I'm here now and I think I try not to think about too much
13:54what happened in the past.
13:56I cannot change that.
13:57I can't do much about that.
13:59But I think when a club like Spurs comes knocking,
14:02it's something I don't think a lot of people would turn down,
14:05certainly not me, and that's why I'm here today.
14:08I imagine a big part of it was playing in European football
14:11and now you're in a position where you could potentially win a European trophy
14:15if Spurs go all the way.
14:17Tell us about the challenge in front of you, AZ,
14:20and particularly the opportunity of going all the way to the Europa League.
14:24Yeah, 100 per cent.
14:25I think Spurs is a big club
14:27and we had the chance to play in Europe
14:29and that's where Spurs belong
14:31and that's what we want to achieve every season
14:35and just continue adding to the history.
14:38Hopefully with some trophies, that's what we're setting out to do
14:41and it starts tomorrow by coming out and trying to win the game.
14:47Hi, Kevin.
14:48You obviously joined the club when Micky, Kuti and Ben Davis were injured
14:52and you've been playing the last couple of games with Archie Gray,
14:55who's a midfielder at centre-half,
14:57and now Micky and Kuti and Angus just told us are back in the squad.
15:01Now there's that competition for places in your position.
15:05How does that make you feel?
15:07Are you excited by the challenge of competing with those guys for a place?
15:11100 per cent.
15:12I think we all know what they've achieved at Tottenham so far,
15:16the two of them and how good of players they are.
15:20I'm looking forward to that challenge.
15:22I'm going to push them, they're going to push me
15:25and I think a season is very long.
15:28There's many competitions, there's a lot of games,
15:30so it's about keeping each other on the highest level possible
15:34to compete in every competition we're in
15:38and just try to win every game and take it game by game
15:42and just make sure that we're on top and just always on form.
15:47Back to Tom's question,
15:48was that part of the attraction of coming here,
15:51playing and competing with players of that level?
15:53100 per cent.
15:54I mean, I've always had to compete in my life
15:57and I thrive off that challenge,
16:00playing alongside great players,
16:02competing for places with great players
16:05and just being at an amazing club whose ambition is to win things
16:10and just be part of the history of a club like Tottenham.
16:16Hi Kevin.
16:17I asked the manager about you a couple of weeks back
16:19and he said essentially because in every game
16:22you seem to battle away, get whacked,
16:24go on the floor, limp a bit, keep playing
16:27and he actually said he thinks you like taking the whacks in his words.
16:31Is that true?
16:32I think, yeah.
16:33I like to think of myself as a warrior,
16:36just try and get my body in front of shots, block shots,
16:40just be an aggressive defender
16:43who's always trying to be getting in the way of stuff,
16:46the opposition from scoring.
16:49Getting whacked is part and parcel of that,
16:52but like you said, I just get up, limp a bit and continue.
16:57You had the rugby background as a school kid as well.
17:00Does it come from that?
17:01Is there a bit of that in there?
17:02Probably.
17:03Growing up with two brothers,
17:05always getting whacked from them.
17:11Like I said, I enjoy it.
17:12It's part of football.
17:13Everybody gets a kick here and there.
17:15You just have to get up and keep going.
17:17Dan mentioned Archie Gray.
17:19What have you made of him,
17:20an 18-year-old midfielder playing in central defence?
17:23Unbelievable.
17:25The fact that he's 18,
17:26the maturity he plays with,
17:27even the maturity he carries himself in and around the changing room,
17:31it's amazing.
17:32He's a great lad.
17:33I think his quality has been on show for many weeks now.
17:37I think he's just going to keep improving, of course,
17:41because he's only 18.
17:42To already have that maturity in the way he plays football,
17:46and like I said,
17:47off the pitch,
17:48is something that's going to take him a long way.
17:51Hi, Kevin.
17:52Whenever a player signs for Spurs,
17:53we sometimes hear about how they had a chat with Ange Postakoglou,
17:57which convinced them this was the club for them.
18:00What did Ange say to you?
18:01What was that chat like?
18:03It didn't take much convincing, to be honest.
18:06It was really short and sweet.
18:10It just quickly gave me an insight of the ideas of how he wants to play.
18:14Obviously, watching Spurs as well, I saw.
18:17It was just very brief and just taught me the idea
18:21and what his team stands for.
18:24After that, I was 100 per cent sure.
18:28If I was maybe 95 per cent sure before the chat,
18:31after the chat with him, I was 100 per cent sure.
18:35You obviously joined the squad at a really difficult time,
18:38players injured in the really two important cup games,
18:40which the team lost.
18:42As players back now, it feels like the team is starting to build momentum.
18:46Can you sense the hunger in the squad to finish this season well
18:49and try and win this competition?
18:51100 per cent, and I believe that's possible.
18:53I said before the United game, the week of training we had,
18:58I'm not sure if it was a week,
19:00but the training sessions we had before that,
19:02some of the injured lads coming back,
19:04it was just a lot of positive energy around the place.
19:07We ended up winning that game, keeping a clean sheet.
19:11It's the same feeling now with Miki and Kuti back in the squad.
19:15Like I said, I think everybody's just wanting to finish the season strong.
19:20We know what a great squad we have,
19:22and it's just down to us now to prove it every day
19:26in every training session, in every game,
19:28and just taking the next few games that are coming on with broad shoulders
19:36and going in there to try and really win the games and make an impact.
19:41Hi, Kevin.
19:42I think on the outside world people are looking at the Europa League
19:45and saying this is Spurs' big chance now, the last hope this season,
19:48and there's a lot of pressure that comes with that from the fans and the supporters.
19:52Do you guys feel that in the squad too, that this is kind of it now?
19:56I think we take every competition, every game as an important game.
20:02We go out to try and win every game.
20:04We're in the Europa League now, and that's what we're playing tomorrow,
20:09and we're going to go out and try and win.
20:11We're going to try and win the competition, of course,
20:13because it's a team like Spurs, a club like Spurs.
20:16We want to be part of a Spurs that's winning things,
20:20and I think the pressure is normal.
20:22I think all top clubs, big clubs deal with that pressure,
20:25and it's just down to us to bring a good performance tomorrow night and win the game.
20:32Thank you, everyone.