Presser points | Spurs vs West Ham | Ange Postecoglou

Ange Postecoglou spoke to the media on Friday, ahead of our Premier League clash against West Ham at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday (12.30pm UK).

Here's what he had to say...

Back to Brighton

Ange was asked first, 'have you had a chance to 'explode' at the players after Brighton?'

Ange: "I was speaking metaphorically, as you can see because I am here, I haven’t exploded. It is one of those where it is as much therapy as anything else, just get things off your chest. At the same time, it is about giving the right sort of feedback. The emotion of what you are feeling straight after the game has dissipated 10 days later but obviously it is important the players get the appropriate feedback for what was a real sort of difficult game for us. As well as we did in the first half, we were really poor in the second half."

Ange was also asked what feedback he gave to the players after Brighton...

Ange: "By 'appropriate', I mean you can’t just dismiss what happened in the first half and just focus on the second half. It would be different if it was a really poor performance all round. Then, it's not easier, but the analysis can be straightforward. The question is, 'why were we so good in the first half and so poor in the second?' The second half was more around we just didn’t look anything like ourselves. We were really passive with and without the ball. We lacked real conviction and courage in everything we did. It was almost like we felt like we had done enough. I hadn’t seen that before in us and it is a good lesson for the whole group that you need to make sure, irrespective of how a game is going, you stick to the core principles of your football. It is a timely reminder for us, particularly, in any game of football, and really in the first half we should have finished them off - when you don’t it is very easy for momentum to shift."

West Ham

Ange was asked he was aware of the rivalry between ourselves and West Ham...

Ange: "I was made very aware of it last year. I know what it means, an important game. Last year we played really well but didn’t win at home, the tale of that part of our season a little bit. It's a challenging game. They have some fantastic players in the team and a new manager. They are doing things a little bit differently. We saw last game (a 4-1 win against Ipswich) what a threat they can be going forward. It's a good challenge for us, but the emphasis has to be on us reproducing the form we’ve shown in recent times and, more importantly, sticking to principles of our game."

What were Ange's thoughts on West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui?

Ange: "You have to look at the positions he’s held and that gives you an idea of how highly he’s regarded and the impact he has made. You don’t become the manager of Spain or Real or the jobs he’s held. I’m always interested when managers come in and try to take a club in a new direction. Obviously, they are trying to play a little differently. It’s not easy to do. I’m always intrigued by managers taking that path. He’s a top quality coach. He’s starting to build the team he wants at West Ham and it’ll be exciting for the supporters."

Would West Ham's new style under Lopetegui suit us?

Ange: "No, not necessarily. It is a different approach but most of the personnel is still there from when you look at last year and the line ups they’ve had the last two or three weeks. They are a big side, a physical side with real speed on the wings. There isn’t a style that suits us or doesn’t suit us. When we play well we can play well against most systems and styles, as we’ve shown, and if we don’t stick to our principles we can struggle against anybody. More important for us is how we approach things."

Djed Spence

Ange was asked about Djed Spence signing a new deal...

Ange: "I said a couple of days ago, and consistently say, most of a player's future is in their own hands. They're as much in control as anyone else. I think sometimes footballers forget that. With Djed, it could have been easy for (him) to go out on loan again, but when he came into pre-season, he was determined to make a career for himself here at Tottenham rather than wait to be loaned out. He did everything right in training, his attitude was great. He's a good footballer, I think the way we play suits him, he's knuckled down to that, and he's earned himself a spot on the roster in our squad. The rest is up to him again, because it's an easy decision for me to make when I see that. Like I said, sometimes footballers think their fate is in other peoples' hands. For the most part, it's in their own. If they're doing well and doing everything right, the future tends to take care of itself, whether that's where you currently are or you move on. And Djed's certainly done that."

Going long...

It was put to Ange that statistics show that so far this season, we've not kicked a goal-kick long...

Ange: "We might have played one or two longer, but I won't second guess your research. It's part of the way we want to play our football. The shorter pass means you're going to start off with possession. We don't want to give away possession. The kind of team we are, we want to set things up so we have control of the game and the shorter pass guarantees that and from there, you move your way forward. A big part of our build up play is to manipulate oppositions as much as we can as we move up the park rather than go long to a contested ball and hope we get the second ball. We're just not that kind of team. Within that context, there's enough variety there that we still make it difficult for teams to stop us from achieving that."

Team news

Ange was asked about the fitness of our international players, including Cuti Romero, who played for Argentina in the early hours of Wednesday morning...

Ange: "He's okay. We've got everyone back and the last one was Cristian, Pape and Biss. They are all good and reported well. We've got the early kick-off, so that's a quick turnaround but we trained this morning and they were all fine. Lucas Bergvall picked up a small knock but he trained as well so he has no problem. In terms of the internationals, everyone is available."

Richarlison

Ange was asked what the club had done differently with Richarlison this time after his latest injury lay-off...

Ange: "We've taken our time with him but it hasn't been just about him recuperating and recovering from the injury. We've tried to use it to build his fitness base up so when he comes back and to be fair to him, he's worked awfully hard. He has trimmed down, he looks really lean now and has worked really hard. We've tried to use it almost as a pre-season for him on an individual basis to not just get him to recover from his injury because he probably recovered from his injury a couple of weeks ago, but we've used the last couple of weeks to get his fitness base up and him into good physical condition so we don't have to keep going through this cycle of him coming back and breaking down. Like I said, to be fair to him he's worked really hard and he's looked really good. He's had a good week of training and he has missed playing. He is a real infectious guy as well so good to have him back with the group."

Cuti Romero

Ange was asked, 'has Cuti Romero hit the levels you want this season, or is he still working his way to his best after a busy summer with Argentina?'

Ange: "I think Cuti is probably reflective of our season, he's had some good moments for us and some disappointing moments for him, which I know he hasn't been happy about himself, but it is tough. We've spoken about the schedules and it is funny how the guys who didn't have international commitments, not that there were many of them, they look really refreshed and ready to go, not just for us but in football in general. The amount of travel and amount of games, because he always plays, we have to bear that in mind and it's something the players need to learn to cope with the best they can, but he's still really important for us. He's an outstanding defender, a great leader in our group and still contributing."

Heung-Min Son

Ange was asked for an update on Heung-Min Son, who missed our last three matches through injury...

Ange: "Yeah, Sonny is good. He's worked hard these two weeks. He was obviously very disappointed to miss playing for his national team, but I think it's been good for him these two weeks. He's worked really hard, had a good solid training week and he can't wait to get back out there. He's good to go."