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Presser points | Man City vs Spurs | Ange Postecoglou

Fri 22 November 2024, 21:55|Tottenham Hotspur

Ange Postecoglou spoke to the media at Hotspur Way on Friday, ahead of our Premier League clash against Manchester City at the Etihad on Saturday (5.30pm UK).

Here's what he had to say...

Cuti Romero

First up, team news, and Ange was asked about Cristian Romero's fitness...

Ange: "Romero won’t be right for tomorrow’s game. We are hoping he will be right for next week."

City and Pep

It was put to Ange that the return of players from injury, plus news of Pep Guardiola's extended contract could make this a tough game for us...

Ange: "It is tough yeah, you are playing City at their place and they have a pretty imposing record there. Those four losses have all been away from home. Irrespective, it is always a great test and a great challenge for us to go there and see whether we can disrupt things again and hopefully put some pressure on them but we know it is never an easy task. It is great that Pep has resigned. It is fantastic for the Premier League. He keeps setting the standard which is great for all of us trying to mow him down."

How did Pep Guardiola revolutionise football?

Ange: "I think in many varied and different ways. One is through a sustained excellence. It is not easy to win in different countries and I know that he has been at big clubs but again, as we have seen recently, that is not necessarily transferable to winning things all the time. You still have to do it. So he has maintained a ridiculous level of excellence. The way his team plays, they are always challenging every opponent they face and just his energy to maintain that for so long is outstanding. He will go down as one of the greats already but the indication that he has resigned probably means that there is more to come."

State of play

Ange was asked, 'are you where you were hoping you'd be at this point? How far along are you?'

Ange: "It's kind of mixed because we are definitely a better side than we were last year. That's what you're looking at, to progress as a football team. Within that context a lot of our players have developed more but within that context our results haven't reflected that which is a major part of what you do. You want to prove your standing in the game and our results haven't reflected that. I am still very, very bullish and excited about our progress as a team. We've just got to push on from where we are now to get that consistency that will reflect in more positive results."

Are the leaders key in your team?

Yes, that's very important. In every dressing room your leaders, are in difficult and good times, ignore the noise on both fronts. Certainly, with us, it is part of our growth. The leadership in the group is constantly challenged by them moments when we have a drop off in performance. They are the first ones to look at what they can do differently. Within that, I think you get growth and, not just with Sonny, Romero and Madders, but I think Deki is growing all the time and captained Sweden. Ben is captain of Wales, Biss is captain of Mali, we've got some leaders in there but t is making sure that the dressing room maintains its focus.

More team news

Ange was asked about Micky van de Ven, Richarlison, Dejan Kulusevski, and offered an update on Mikey Moore...

Do you have to be careful with Micky van de Ven after three or four hamstring injuries within 18 months or so?

Ange: "You try to treat it as it is. We'll get the advice from the medical team and the people working with him. I think there's always a natural cautiousness with somebody who has a reoccurring problem but at the same time you don't want to treat him with too many kid gloves around him because otherwise he's still go to go out there and play at some point. But it's fair to say we're taking all the appropriate steps and Micky will be a good judge of that as well and where he's at."

You've got Richarlison and Wilson out for a significant amount of time, will that force you to change your transfer plans for January?

Ange: "It just depends. Again, January is always a tricky one. You don't really plan for significant things in January, but a lot of that will be dictated by how we are at that time. Obviously Wilson will be out for a fair chunk of the season, Richy hopefully will be back in the new year but similar to Micky we just need to be careful every step of the way and Mikey will still be out for a little bit of time. So, we're a little bit short there but it just depends if by January we get two or three back we may not need to but we'll kind of see as it goes."

Was Mikey Moore hit badly by that virus?

Ange: "Yeah he was and because he's young as well, we just need to be careful with these things. He's back up and about, back in the building and everything, but we'll take our time with him."

Dejan Kulusevski impressed for Sweden but hurt his shoulder again for the third time in recent weeks, is that something that needs to be fixed?

Ange: "No, it's nothing major and actually he's improved since he went away. Coming back today he actually feels better, it's just he's had a couple of significant knocks all in the same area in the last couple of weeks, but nothing permanent or major that needs any attention."