Presser points | Spurs 4-1 Villa | Ange Postecoglou

Ange Postecoglou spoke to the media after our 4-1 win against Aston Villa in the Premier League at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday.

Here's what he had to say...

Overview

First up, Ange was asked what pleased him most about the performance...

Ange: "Well, I guess, just about all of it. You're playing a top team and you know with Villa that they're always going to have a real strong performance because they're very, very consistent. They rarely have off days and you've got to be ready for that. I thought we had to match it with them in the first half. We had to sort of draw on their energy and make them work really hard. Obviously we conceded a goal, but I still felt like we made them work really hard in that first half. And, you know, the thing with us is we've got another gear in us, two or three gears and we keep going and we felt like we could really break them open in the second half if we just really stayed focused on making sure the football was up tempo and there was intensity in the game. Credit to the players after a massive effort on Wednesday night, at least they know that physically, they did it again."

A week in football...

Ange was asked if this was a big moment for the team having lost to Palace last weekend, and beating City in the Carabao Cup in midweek...

"I guess it's my point from seven days ago that you don't fall off cliffs and you don't climb mountains within a week. It's all part of the same process for me. We're going to have bumps along the way. It's how you address them, how you cope with them, how you rebound and learn from them. That's the key thing and, you know, we had a disappointing day last Sunday, but when you're coming in on Monday, we had two big games this week, really important games, so there's no point in feeling sorry for ourselves. We had to come in and get our head straight, and work back towards being the team we want to be and that's what happened, but it doesn't mean that that's the end of it now. We've still got to push on, we've still got to get better, we've still got to improve and keep pushing on."

Heung-Min Son

Ange was asked about his thinking in taking off Sonny after 55 minutes...

Sonny: "He was never going to play more than that today because, obviously. he had an injury, came back and last time it was around the 60 minute mark where he kind of got fatigued. So, he was never going to play more than sort of 55/60 minutes irrespective of how the game was going. The great thing was that he made a pretty important contribution, before that, the great ball in for our first goal and we got our equaliser. So, you know, again, we've got more battles ahead and we're going to need him. So, he was never going to play more than that."

He seemed a little surprised to be coming off, were you okay with his reaction and did you explain it to him as he came off?

Ange: "No, no, no, I didn't see any difference in Sonny. I'd be surprised if any player likes coming off and they're feeling all right. But no, no, I didn't need to discuss it with him. And you know, like I said, for us, what's more important is the overall picture."

Dominic Solanke

Ange was asked if Dom's two goals underlined his faith in him...

Ange: "No, it had nothing to do with that, as I said during the week. I just think the enormous effort he put in on Wednesday night to help us win a game of football, not just physically but mentally, and his capacity to help the team in every way he can, to back that up today with such a massive effort again against a pretty difficult team to play against in that sense, it's just unbelievable. Yeah, the goals are great and of course as a striker I am sure he loves the fact he can score a couple of goals, but even if he didn't, again I can't speak highly enough of what he is contributing to our team at the moment. Long may it continue because with him playing that way, it just makes us a better team."

The hard work

Ange was asked, 'how impressed were you with the physical and mental effort of the players after this week?'

Ange: "Yeah, obviously we made two or three changes but when you consider it was a big physical toll on Wednesday night and we're obviously a goal down at half-time, it can easily play on your mind, but I never sensed that at the break. The players were really determined to go out there again. They couldn't wait to get back out on the pitch and start playing again and raising the tempo, raising the intensity, and credit to them. It's not easy. We work hard obviously to get them to those levels, but you still need mental capacity to push yourself to those levels. Sometimes it's easy to leave that in reserve but they left nothing in the tank on Wednesday night and they left nothing in the tank tonight."

If we're putting Wednesday and today together, does this feel like one of your best weeks in charge here?

Ange: "If you don't include last Sunday, you're saying? Okay yeah, because that's a week really, technically. It doesn't affect me. It really doesn't, you know. I'm totally focused on the long game here of who we want to be and the little bumps along the road hurt but you kind of know that that's part of our growth and the good performances and the good moments are there for our growth as well, because you've got to deal with both I think in the same way with your eyes sort of firmly fixed ahead on where you're heading."

Injury update

Ange was asked if he had any news on Richarlison and Cuti Romero, who both went off injured...

Ange: "Richy obviously felt something in the action of setting the goal up, his hamstring, so we'll see. Romero yeah, it was in that challenge again. He felt his foot was sore. I don't have any sort of further information. obviously, he's a pretty tough cookie for him to come off, it must be sore, but yeah, look it's not ideal. But again it's another game where we've had to reshuffle our back line."

Pape Matar Sarr

Ange was asked about Pape Mater Sarr's performance and form...

Ange: "I rate him so highly. His capacity again to work for the team but also the quality he has in breaking open oppositions with his running with the ball. I knew he'd be important today because they've got such a hard-working midfield with Onana, Tielemans, McGinn in there, Rogers. They don't really play with wide players, they work awfully hard in that midfield area and you've got to match that. You're never going to break them open unless you do that. He just put in another enormous effort. Along with Rodri and Biss when he came on, and Deki of course."