Fulham vs Spurs | Ange’s preview: “It’s a great challenge for us, no different to last week”
Fri 15 March 2024, 19:02|
Tottenham Hotspur
Ange Postecoglou has called for a similar level of performance to that which saw us defeat Aston Villa when we go to Fulham on Saturday (5.30pm UK).
A terrific all-round display saw us register a comprehensive 4-0 win at Villa Park last weekend in what was billed as a significant game in the race for a top four finish, leaving us two points behind Unai Emery’s men with a game in hand.
Ange expects another tough away day when we go to Craven Cottage this weekend and wants the players to make sure they continue our wave of momentum as we head into the final international break of the season.
“Mostly, we’ve been pretty consistent and it all came together on the day last week, the players obviously enjoyed it, they understood that it was a significant game for us and I thought they handled everything really well – not just the game but everything leading into the game – and executed the stuff we work on on a daily basis really well, and we’re looking forward to the challenge tomorrow now,” he told SPURSPLAY on Friday afternoon.
You look at their front three and there’s goals there, recently they’ve scored goals, so it’s a great challenge for us but no different to last week.
“Fulham are pretty consistent, particularly at home, Marco (Silva) always has them well-organised, they’ve got some threats up front, you look at their front three and there’s goals there, recently they’ve scored goals, so it’s a great challenge for us but no different to last week – if we play our football, concentrate and have a clear focus on what’s important to us, we can make ourselves hard to beat.”
We’ve already been to Craven Cottage once this season, losing on penalties in the second round of the Carabao Cup with a much-changed side back in August. Ange feels we’ve come a long way as a group since then.
“I think there’s been progression both for us as a team and for the boys within the squad,” he said. “I think it was a bit of a different game, that one – early in the season, a cup game, having made quite a lot of changes – but I think for us what’s really important is recently we’re starting to really get some consistency in the quality of our play. Last week was an excellent performance and again at a tough away venue we’re going to need a similar performance.”
With Micky van de Ven sidelined this weekend, Radu Dragusin is set to come in for his first start in central defence, with Ange full of praise for the January signing after his performance in the second half at Villa Park: “He did well, he’s been training well, obviously he hasn’t had a lot of game time since he arrived but he’s been training hard like everyone else,” he explained. “The players have just got to make sure that when the opportunity comes, they’re ready and I thought he was, he handled it really well, the team was in a good rhythm at the time, Romero next to him obviously helps that and Vic behind him, but I thought he performed well and I’m looking forward to him getting going tomorrow.”
