Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou reacts to their win over Eintracht Frankfurt to reach the UEFA Europa League semi-finals
Frankfurt, Germany
Courtesy of UEFA
Frankfurt, Germany
Courtesy of UEFA
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00:00Congratulations, Ange.
00:23You must be delighted with the maturity of your team tonight.
00:27Yeah, I'm delighted with many things.
00:30And, yeah, super proud of the lads.
00:32Look, yeah, you're playing away from home, quarterfinal,
00:37against a very good side.
00:39You know, you're going to have to work really hard
00:41and be well-organised and disciplined.
00:43And also, you know, we needed to score tonight,
00:47so we needed to show the quality we have as well.
00:49And to a man, I just thought they were outstanding.
00:52Yeah, so proud of them that, you know, in such a big game,
00:57they delivered a performance that, you know,
01:01means we're through to the semifinal.
01:02And, you know, I think over the two legs,
01:05I think we deserve to go through.
01:06You know, Ty could well have been over in the first leg,
01:09but, again, we've earned the right to be in the semi.
01:15Gary.
01:15After a difficult season with injuries, et cetera,
01:20do you kind of have a sixth sense that Tottenham's name
01:23might be on this trophy?
01:25No, I don't think that way.
01:27But, you know, from our perspective,
01:31look, you know, it's...
01:34We've had a difficult season.
01:36And I think there's some reasoning behind that,
01:40that, you know, which was pretty evident tonight,
01:43that, you know, when we got our strongest team out there,
01:45a lot of the things that we've sort of suffered with this year,
01:48I'm sure we wouldn't have,
01:50because, you know, the spine of our team,
01:52you know, at times, Vicario, Romero, Van de Ven,
01:59Benton, Corsalanke, like, these guys,
02:01we were missing all of them at different times this year.
02:03And, you know, we've got the whole group,
02:06and it's not just them, it's the whole group together.
02:08You know, we know that we can be a team
02:11that's, you know, pretty compelling against anybody.
02:15And, you know, we're in the final four now,
02:17so we give ourselves a chance.
02:19Jay.
02:21Hi, Ange.
02:22Congratulations.
02:22I saw you walk down the tunnel at the end of the game
02:24with your arm around James Madison.
02:26Just wanted to check in on how he's doing after what happened.
02:29Yeah, he's fine.
02:31Unbelievable courage.
02:33In that moment, you know, to put his body on the line,
02:38knowing full well he was going to, you know,
02:41got my pretty severe knock.
02:42I mean, I was surprised it wasn't a red card,
02:44but, yeah, super courageous from him.
02:48And, look, he's sore,
02:49but I'm sure that's all been numb,
02:51knowing that, you know,
02:53he's helped us progress to a semi.
02:54Matt.
02:56Hello, Ange.
02:57I was going to ask you about that as well.
02:59Are you warming Tavar tonight?
03:01Are you pleased with the intervention?
03:03Or are you still a bit cross that it wasn't a red card?
03:08Well, you know, I mean,
03:10we can be a bit sort of facetious about that, Matt,
03:12but I thought it was a clear penalty.
03:14I'm not sure why it needed VAR.
03:16I mean, when a player wins the ball and it gets cleaned up,
03:19if that was a defender,
03:20it would definitely be probably a red card.
03:22Now, it's a goalkeeper, so maybe,
03:23but it's definitely a penalty.
03:24I don't think it needed a review.
03:26So, again, I think we got what we deserved.
03:29George.
03:32Hi, Ange.
03:33And, Jim, congratulations.
03:34You've always had belief in this squad and this team,
03:36but I'm guessing you probably couldn't say really strongly,
03:39you know, to everyone,
03:40you're going to win the Europa League before this two tyres.
03:44How much confidence do you have in this squad now
03:46to go all the way and deliver what the fans have wanted for so long?
03:50Well, look, I mean, I think, you know,
03:51we can't get too far ahead of ourselves.
03:53You know, we're in the semi-final
03:54and, you know, we're going to have a difficult opponent in the semi.
03:57But it's not about my belief in the team.
03:59I think what's more important is the belief the team's had, you know,
04:02because after a season like ours,
04:05it would be very easy for the players and the staff to, you know,
04:09I've said before, you know,
04:10that they could have left me in a pretty vulnerable place
04:13in terms of, you know, them splintering and any,
04:15but I've never felt that, you know,
04:16with all the noise around, you know, our season.
04:19You know, they've been so united in believing
04:23in what we're trying to achieve here.
04:24And that's what gave me heart all along that, you know,
04:29if we've got our own little bit of slice of luck
04:31in terms of just getting some players back that, you know,
04:34I really believe that this team, you know, could achieve.
04:38And that's what, you know, keeps driving me.
04:42It's not so much my belief in them.
04:43It's their belief in what we're doing and both, you know,
04:47and the players and staff have just been outstanding.
04:50Like I said, you know, I'm the front man for it,
04:55but, you know, they take responsibility for it as well
04:58for all my decisions and everything I do,
05:00but not at any stage have I felt that they've lost any belief in me
05:07or what we're doing.
05:08And that's just crucial when you're having a difficult season,
05:10but there's also a season of opportunity there.
05:14Ryan, to finish, please.
05:17Hi, Ant. Congratulations.
05:18I just wanted to ask about your own kind of personal feelings.
05:21Obviously, it's no secret it's been a tough season
05:23and coming into this game,
05:25it must have been quite tough having to deal with all the noise.
05:29So to win in the manner in which you did,
05:31how are you kind of feeling?
05:32Is there relief or...?
05:34I think I said yesterday,
05:36I'm the same manager today that I was yesterday.
05:38So if people think that us winning tonight makes me a better manager,
05:43whoever didn't think I was doing a good job yesterday
05:44should be feeling the same way today.
05:46I don't care.
05:47It doesn't bother me.
05:48It doesn't affect what I do.
05:52For me, it's always about the dressing room, you know.
05:57Do the players believe?
05:58Do the staff believe?
05:58That's much more important than what others may, you know, make of me.
06:03So unfortunately for a lot of you,
06:05you're going to have to put up with me for a little bit longer, mate.
06:07So we'll just see how that goes.
06:09All right.
06:10Thank you very much.
06:10Thank you very much.