Presser points | Spurs 1-1 Fulham | Ange Postecoglou

Ange Postecoglou spoke to the media after our 1-1 draw against Fulham in the Premier League at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday.

Here's what he had to say...

Overview

First up, Ange was asked for his thoughts on the game...

Ange: "Tough game, tight game, not a lot of openings for either side, just a few opportunities to score. We started the game well and probably should have been 1-0 up. We put some pressure on. They had their spell and Fraser made a couple of good saves. We got our nose in front and just couldn’t push on, not for the lack of trying. The players gave everything they could but we just couldn’t push on. It was a decent strike for their goal. We tried to get some momentum late in the game when they went down to 10 men but there wasn’t a lot of football being played at that time. There were a lot of stoppages. We just couldn’t get on top of them."

Dominic Solanke

Ange was asked how much the late withdrawal of striker Dominic Solanke to illness impacted his plans...

Ange: "It doesn’t help. That on top of Richy, Mikey Moore and Wilson being out leaves us pretty thin up top and we are trying to manage that process. I think from my perspective the players, the ones who are out there anyways, have given absolutely everything and that is all you can ask for. They are working their socks off and digging in as deep as they can to try to keep us progressing. That’s all you can ask for."

Injuries x fixture list

It was out to Ange, 'is it a case of there will be difficult games like this with the fixtures piling up and given the injury list?'

Ange: "We are playing tough opposition and it is not always going to go smoothly for you. I know people are going to keep using City (our 4-0 win last weekend) as a reference point but against City I was able to put on Timo Werner and Brennan Johnson. We had Vicario in goal. I guess people are looking for easy targets but if people don’t understand what we are dealing with at the moment and how the players are coping with it, I think it’s fairly self evident. We are going to have to have days like today where things are not running smoothly. All you can ask is for the players to give everything and I think they did that and more today."

Dom back for Bournemouth?

Ange was asked if he thought Dominic would be fit to face AFC Bournemouth on Thursday evening...

Ange: "I hope so. He trained yesterday, but he came in today and didn’t look well at all, so we sent him home. It’s obviously an illness not an injury, so we need to see how it settles down in the next couple of days, but hopefully it’s nothing too significant."

Heung-Min Son

It was put to Ange that Sonny, 'seems to be struggling in front of goal'...

Ange: "You could say that about a number of our players. The key to it is to stay focused and Sonny will. It’s not like he dwells on these things. That’s what the best goalscorers do they don’t dwell on it for too long and I don’t sense in him that he is worried about it because you know he has proven himself for year after year at this level. We have had different players go through those spells at different times. The key for it is to maintain focus and not dwell too much on what has happened before. I’m sure the goals will flow again for Sonny soon."

Archie Gray

Ange was asked if Archie picked up an injury...

Ange: "Yeah, he got a knock, a bit of a dead leg so, hopefully, nothing too significant."

Dejan Kulusevski

Deki started on the bench - Ange was asked, 'was it just a case of playing so many games he needed a breather?'

Ange: "Yeah, we're going have to protect our players because as I said, we're within our numbers and Deki has played every minute. I mean, I've rarely subbed him off. So we've just got to be careful with him and with a few others, but, you know, at the moment we just don't have too many options, so we've just got to try and manage them the best we can and obviously that affects performance. I think he got through the game well, and I guess for Thursday should be in good shape."

Cristian Romero

Ange was asked if Cuti might return from injury to face Bournemouth on Thursday night...

Ange: "Potentially. He still hasn't trained with the team, so he's getting closer, but he still hasn't trained with the team. So, him and Micky are still working with sport science staff. So, hopefully, not too far away."

Fraser Forster

Ange was asked about Fraser Forster's performance... 'that was Fraser Forster's first Premier League match in 18 months, it's like he's never been away?'

Ange: "He was good. We needed him obviously in some big moments today, and I think when you lose your goalkeeper and somebody as significant as Vic for us, I think the key to that is to have somebody experienced who's not going to be sort of overawed by filling those shoes. Fraser, certainly, he's done it for a number of years. We see him every day. What you saw out there, we see every day training and he still has a really strong work ethic and we had a couple of big moments today which were important for us and again, he will be important moving forward."

Easy targets?

Ange was asked to clarify what he meant by 'easy targets' in his earlier answer...

Ange: "I'm just saying, you know, I've had already probably three questions on the Man City game and why can't we repeat that? And like I said, I think if you can't see that even in seven days, we've copped a couple of significant blows since then I think, you know, it's too easy to say, 'well, let's just play like we did against Man City every game' and it somehow, again, seems with this club that whatever it is that we do well is then used as a millstone to bring us down at every other opportunity. From my perspective, as I keep saying, it's really important that we don't react to any of that and just stay focused, because I just sometimes feel like, especially the players we've got at the moment, they're just working really hard for this football club to try and progress as to where we want to be. We're in good shape, we're still in a decent position in the league. We're still in the Carabao Cup, we're in a decent position in Europe, so it's about us maintaining our focus and continuing to develop."

Davies and Dragusin

Finally, Ange was asked about the performance of our central defensive partnership, Ben Davies and Radu Dragusin...

Ange: "Fulham ask you a lot of questions. They've got some pretty aggressive full-backs and wide players and I think they're number one in the league for crosses in the box. We had to deal with that today. Benny and Radu have been outstanding throughout this spell, I mean there aren't too many teams in the league who have both their centre-backs out. I mean, I've seen so much violin playing over one centre-back out, but we're just supposed to get on with it. And the beauty of it is these boys are and I love that, I love the character they're showing. I love the fact that they're not seeking excuses or wanting me to make sort of allowances for it. But at some point, I need to also acknowledge the massive effort that all these guys are putting in. Radu and Ben were outstanding again today."