Luton vs Spurs | Ange’s preview: “They’ll fight for everything… and we’ll have to do the same”
Fri 06 October 2023, 16:19|
Tottenham Hotspur
Ange Postecoglou is taking nothing for granted as we prepare to go to Kenilworth Road to take on newly-promoted Luton Town on Saturday (12.30pm UK).
The Hatters have endured a challenging start to the season, taking four points from their opening seven games and are currently hovering above the drop zone on goal difference.
Nevertheless, they’ve run teams close – Burnley escaped Kenilworth Road with a narrow 2-1 win on Tuesday – and Ange has warned of the threats we could face as we look to stretch our unbeaten start to the Premier League season into an eighth game and, ahead of Manchester City’s trip to Arsenal on Sunday, go top of the table.
“It’ll be a tough game, especially at their ground,” the Head Coach told SPURSPLAY on Friday afternoon. “You look at all their games... maybe the results haven’t been as positive as they would have liked but they’ve all been tight games, they’ve scored in just about all of them and they’re in a position now where they have to fight for everything and we’re going to have to do the same.
“We’re going to have to be really strong, playing our football, matching what they have and try to come away with a positive result from a difficult venue.”
Everyone is feeling good and ready for Luton.
Much has been said in the media this week about our 2-1 home victory over Liverpool last weekend but, away from the topics of discussion, we asked Ange how the players had reacted this week after another sensational stoppage-time winner.
“The lads have been pretty good at enjoying that moment but then refocusing pretty quickly, understanding that there’s always another challenge ahead and we have that with Luton away from home,” he said. “We’ve had a good week of training, everyone has worked hard, we’ve kind of had some niggles after (the Liverpool game) but having the longer week has allowed us to work through those things and everyone is feeling good and ready for Luton.”
With Manor Solomon unfortunately joining fellow attackers Brennan Johnson and Ivan Perisic on the sidelines – Ange hopes to at least have Brennan back after the international break – there could be an opportunity for some of our young, hungry talent to be involved in the matchday squad moving forward, as was the case against Liverpool where Alejo Veliz came on for his debut and Academy prospect Jamie Donley was named among the substitutes.
“There are different circumstances – Alejo we signed this year and he’s had to work through some fitness issues, he’s worked really hard to make himself available and trained well in the last few weeks or so, so it was great to get him some exposure in the first team and he’ll definitely be looking to make an impact for the rest of the season,” explained Ange.
“The Under-21s are going really well, I’m following them closely. Performances have been really consistent and individuals have done well – Jamie has been training with us, Alfie Dorrington has been training with us this week so it’s good to see that the opportunity is there for them but they’ve got to keep working hard and keep their heads down.”
