Presser points | Spurs 4-1 West Ham | Ange Postecoglou

Ange Postecoglou spoke to the media after our 4-1 win against West Ham in the Premier League at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday.

Goals from Dejan Kulusevski, Yves Bissouma, an own goal and Heung-Min Son saw us recover from West Ham's early goal to run out impressive winners.

Here's what Ange had to say...

Second half display

First up, Ange was asked about our second half performance...

Ange: "It was very good. The first half, we had to work pretty hard, it was a bit of an arm wrestle. They're a big, physical team and you have to match them in certain areas. Obviously, disappointing to concede but we worked our way back into the game and had some good chances in the late first half and got our rewards for it. Second half, we went up a gear and again I thought our football was excellent, but we did some of that hard stuff we needed to do to gain control particularly in the midfield area and it gave us a good platform."

Maddison/Sarr switch

Ange was asked if it was a tactical switch at half-time as Pape Matar Sarr replaced James Maddison...

Ange: "I just felt West Ham ask you certain questions in midfield areas and I just felt Pape's running power would help us in the second half. They obviously worked hard in the first half and I thought he could give us some real energy. I thought he did really well and he gave us a platform to be really threatening every time we went forward and clinical in our football."

Dejan Kulusevski

It was put to Ange that Deki, now captain of Sweden, is a player he can count on...

Ange: "Absolutely. As I said the other day, it's not just about one or two. It was good to get the real captain out there and fair to say great to get Sonny out there. He's obviously a quality player and we saw that with his finish. I just thought it was a real strong overall performance and it needed to show us to show various facets which is probably the most pleasing thing."

Full press

It was put to Ange that the midfield battle, 'was pressing at it's best...'

Ange: "When you look at their midfield they have guys like Soucek who is a big, physical presence and Paqueta and Rodriguez who is technically quite good. You need to win that battle because if they get it to their front players then they are really threatening and all three of them are quick and dynamic. We needed to stop it at the source so to speak and I thought we did that really well. I said it was a bit of an arm wrestle at the start but I thought we maintained our intensity and eventually broke them."

Ange was then asked, 'is that your football at its best when you pick out an area of your opposition to work on and maybe exploit something and turn it over?'

Ange: "That's part of the evolution of the team and where we want to get to. It's a little bit of us making sure, I made it pretty clear about the Brighton game, there's certain principles underpinning our football which allows us to be the expansive and creative team we are. There's some real emphasis on hard work, organisation and discipline and we had to show both today. I don't think we would've been as dominant in the second half if we'd not had that underpinning of a strong foundation there."

Derby delight

Ange was asked about the importance of a derby win...

Ange: "It’s important for our fans for sure, because these are the games they want to feel good about and win, obviously. Personally, for me, any game we win I get equal joy out of it as I've always said. Part of the kind of momentum we built in the second half came through the edge the supporters gave us, especially after the second goal you could really feel the atmosphere inside the stadium lift and that pushed us along and we had a 15-20-minute spell where we were outstanding. It goes hand in hand. We need the supporters especially at home to provide that but to be able to provide that we need to give them something in return. Today is hopefully a little bit of a reward for our fans."

Big day for Destiny?

Ange was asked if it was a big day for Destiny Udogie...

Ange: "He was better. I still think for their goal he could’ve done better. We've got to continually work with Destiny as he's still a young player, it's his second year in the Premier League but I've got no doubt that he's going to become an outstanding player for us. The only way he's going to become an outstanding player for us is if we keep exposing him, playing him and letting him learn from his mistakes. It's part of the process for young players that you have to expect that it's not going to be smooth but you know eventually you're going to have a fantastic footballer. I've no doubt about that with Destiny. I've absolutely no doubt. We're constantly working at his game, constantly working at areas for him to improve and the beauty of it is that he wants to and he embraces it. I thought after the goal he bounced back really well. Bowen is not an easy player at all to play against and their front three are tough for anybody because they have the quality to beat you on the dribble, they're quick and they're all very strong. It was a big challenge for our full-backs today and I thought, like I said, I was disappointed with the goal. but they handled it really well."

Djed Spence

Ange was asked about Djed Spence's absence from the squad...

Ange: "He picked up a bit of a groin strain in training. Hopefully nothing too bad, but he missed out today."

More on Deki...

Finally, Ange was asked about Deki's switch to a more central role...

Ange: "He has been doing that all year, and the evolution of Deki as a player, that is now his role not just for us but he's playing there for the national team too. He's got this ability to get out of tight spaces and he's a really strong runner. He is relentless in his running capacity and he also has the quality. In that final third I still think we can get more goals out of him, more assists but he is constantly in those threatening areas and he's been outstanding for us all year. Today he had to show some other facets of the game, some defensive work as well which I thought he did well but I thought the whole team did well. I mentioned it to the lads, I know Brennan Johnson didn't score today but I thought that was his best performance for us with the amount of work he did to help out Pedro and help out the team in a defensive capacity and still be a threat going the other way. That is the stuff we have to keep focusing on, so what happened at Brighton doesn't happen again and the players understand whatever good things emerge from our football, the foundation is players doing some of the other things which are just as important."