Spurs 5-1 Shakhtar Donetsk | Ange’s post-match analysis with Clive Allen and N17 team
Mon 07 August 2023, 15:00|
Tottenham Hotspur
Ange Postecoglou gave an fascinating insight into where he believes the squad is at after Sunday’s impressive 5-1 win against Shakhtar Donetsk and with the big kick-off in the Premier League approaching fast.
Harry Kane led the way with four of the five goals as we eventually overpowered the Ukraine champions in the second half at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
It was Ange’s first match in charge in N17, and he soon took part in his first post-match on our matchday show on SPURSPLAY, where we were joined by legendary former striker, former Club coach and current co-commentator and SPURSPLAY pundit, Clive Allen.
Here’s some of what he had to say...
Clive: “The intent right from the start with the forward passes, the movement, players getting into the box, chances created which all started early, really positive, that set the tone for the way the team plays. I understand the disappointment of conceding in the way we did, but I thought the way we dominated the second half was really good...”
Ange: “You’re right Clive, the intent is certainly there. The players are trying to put in place everything we’re talking about, everything we’re working on. Those kinds of things, in my experience, they don’t shift, it’s a fairly dramatic shift from the way the guys about their business in the last couple of years… as I said, it’s not a better way of doing it, just a different way of doing it, and it takes time. I can see they are trying to do it, there’s just still elements of it where I need to be a bit clearer in the way I’m putting it across. As you said, the second half was much better, we played the game in the opposition’s half, we didn’t let them get out. They tired a little, because when you play high-tempo football, it puts pressure on the opposition, and we need to understand that when we try to take a breather, we’re giving the opposition a breather as well. We don’t want to do that.”
Clive: “Barcelona are next on Tuesday night, with everything geared towards next Sunday and the Brentford game - do you feel happy with where we are? I know no coach says he’s totally happy, but in terms of the way we’re progressing, I think it’s looking positive...”
Ange: “I think we’ve made progress, for sure. Look, we had a game cancelled (against Leicester City in Bangkok) and with Roma pulling out (of a friendly in Singapore) we didn’t have the same opposition, so, we feel as a coaching group, we’re maybe a little short of match conditioning. Hopefully today’s game gets us closer to that, Tuesday in Barcelona we’ll give some other guys a run and get their match minutes up and hopefully that’s enough to get us to being in a good place. I’m really happy with the way the players have embraced what we’re doing. Everything is new for them - new staff, new way of training, all these kinds of things, the beauty for me is that I haven’t felt any resistance along the way about what we’re trying to do and as long as that’s there, whatever our starting point is next week, we know we’ll keep getting better as the year goes on.”
Ben Haines, presenter: “Things that all fans love to see – attacking football, creativity, the intensity, the high press – what moments were you standing there thinking, ‘that’s what I want to see’?
Ange: “When you see the intent of the boys... it’s not just about having one attack, it’s about having waves of attacks. It’s when you have the opposition on the back foot that you don’t take a moment to slows things down, and there were a couple of moments in the first half we did that really well. You could see how aggressive our back four were, and there will be times when we’re caught on the counter, but, again, as long as we’re willing to run back... I thought especially in the second half we clicked into that really well. Deki and Sonny worked really hard with our full-backs to shot down those wide areas. I thought Madders’ pressing... his football is unbelievable, but his pressing as really good in the second half and that set the tone for us. For all the team, when you see your attacking players doing those things, it inspires everyone else to work hard. Those are the things I look for. It’s not the stuff we know they can do, being creative, scoring goals, but when you see them working hard, it gives me the encouragement that they are getting what we want to do.”
