Bournemouth vs Spurs | Ange’s preview: “They will be ready for us”
Fri 25 August 2023, 18:45|
Tottenham Hotspur
Ange Postecoglou feels Bournemouth demonstrated a real sense of resilience last season and expects a tough test at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday (12.30pm).
Bottom in March after a run of seven defeats in 10, Bournemouth rallied with a remarkable run of five wins in six in April, moving them from 20th to 13th in a matter of weeks and, ultimately, securing their place in the Premier League.
Eventually 15th, Bournemouth made a change in the summer with former Athletic Bilbao playing legend and Rayo Vallecano coach Andoni Iraola taking over from Gary O’Neil. They kicked-off 2023/24 with a decent performance and draw against West Ham before stunning the Kop by taking an early lead at Liverpool before succumbing to a 3-1 defeat.
“You can already see his (Iraola's) fingerprints on the way they play,” said Ange, speaking to SPURSPLAY after training on Friday. “They will be aggressive, particularly in the press and they will be ready for us.
“Bournemouth away would be a tough trip anyway, and I think they showed as a club last season that they are really resilient. They were probably everyone’s favourite to go down, yet they stayed up comfortably, and that shows you this is not going to be an easy game.
“Look, playing away in the Premier League is always tough and it will be a really good test for us, where, after last week where we have all our supporters right behind us and you can ride through the sticky patches, this time, we’re going to have to find our own way to do that. It will be a good test. I look forward to the challenge.”
Ange's preview on SPURSPLAY
Asked in his press conference about the ‘feel-good’ factor around the Club after last week’s impressive 2-0 win against Manchester United, Ange said: “In the games we have had so far, the support has been really positive about what we're doing, so that's all I have to measure, but we're two games in.
“I am not reading too much into anything at the moment. It is more about trying to establish some principles and foundations for the team we want to be, but it always helps when there are some positive outcomes in this phase because, hopefully, that accelerates belief more than anything else.”
