Presser points | Leicester City vs Spurs | Ange Postecoglou

Ange Postecoglou's first Premier League press conference of 2024/25 took place at Hotspur Way on Thursday afternoon ahead of our opener against Leicester City at the KP Stadium on Monday evening (8pm UK).

Here's what he had to say...

Dominic Solanke

First up, Ange was asked how our new signing Dominic Solanke had integrated into training this week...

Ange: "Thankfully it is what we expected, he is a top pro, a good guy, he has sort of settled into the dressing room really well. Footballing wise you can see he has the attributes that kind of fit into what we want to do really well. There is still an adjustment period there as we play a little bit differently and train differently and we have seen that with every new signing that comes in. So far he has fit in really well with the group and training. We still have a couple of sessions to go but so far, so good."

Asked if he would be available for Monday night's opener, Ange replied: "Yeah, he should be."

Second season at Spurs

Ange was asked if this season feels different to his first at Spurs last term, the demands on the players, as 'many of them are your players now...'

Ange: "They are always my players, from the day I took over they were all my players. It’s been a different pre-season it’s fair to say. We feel a lot more settled and better prepared for what’s ahead. This time last year there were still a lot of unknowns for us. Having said all that it didn’t stop us from having a great start to the season. It’s one of these things where just because we are more settled and prepared doesn’t guarantee anything we still have to go out there and produce. We had a solid pre-season and for the most part everybody sort of contributed to that. We obviously had some guys in late last week and guys who are just coming back from long-term injuries Destiny and Richy, Fraser Forster. I think this last seven days when we have had everyone in you can see the level of training has gone up again from what it was on pre-season and on tour. That’s really created a really good environment for us. We still have a couple of sessions to go but the pleasing thing is is pretty much everyone on the list is available and that’s going to be important for us. Pretty much right until the international break we know the fixtures but after that Europe starts, Carabao Cup, we are going to have a lot of games and we are going to need a strong squad. The next sort of three weeks still gives us time to put some work into the guys to get them ready."

Watch - Ange's presser

Targets for 24/25

Ange took us to fifth in the Premier League in his first season, so he was asked for his targets this time around...

Ange: "I go into every season with the same kind of target of trying to be successful. The starting point for us is improvement. Improvement in our football, improvement in the consistency of our football. As you said, we had a decent season last year. We certainly improved on the season last year in terms of results alone. Obviously, we changed the football and we had some really good moments and some moments where we had to work really hard to get some results and probably the back end of last season was disappointing for us. There’s a lot in there but for us if we can get improvement in that then more consistency gives us an opportunity and a platform to try to achieve something which is what you go into every season trying to do."

Richarlison

Ange was asked for an update on Richarlison's injury...

Ange: "Yeah, Richy is good. Obviously, he hasn't played at all, so that's the match minutes, we're gonna have to try to get that into him over the next few weeks, but he's trained fully. He doesn't feel any effects of the injury, which is really positive for us. As I said, everyone else is in a really good place. Obviously, a few of the guys came in later last week, but even those guys, I think it's probably benefiting us playing on Monday, still another couple of sessions. We had a really sort of strong session today for a Thursday, if we were playing Saturday, nowhere near as as strong as we did. So we could put some little meaningful work into the guys today. So I think having the Monday game helps us so I think most of our guys should be in decent shape on Monday evening."

Archie Gray

Could summer arrival Archie Gray feature in the opener at Leicester?

Ange: "Archie has settled in really well. Again, great kid but a really, strong mindset. We’ve asked him to play different positions, but he’s handled it really well. Part of the attraction of bringing someone like Archie to our club, and it is the case for a number of players we’ve brought in, is he can play more than one position, so when it’s required, we can use him in those areas. He is going really well, I am really happy with him and he has every chance to play on Monday."