Presser points | Spurs 3-0 Qarabag | Ange Postecoglou

Ange Postecoglou spoke to the media after our 3-0 win against Qarabag in league phase, Matchday One of the UEFA Europa League on Thursday evening.

Brennan Johnson, Pape Matar Sarr and Dominic Solanke ensured our 2024/25 European campaign got off to a winning start as we overcame the loss of Radu Dragusin to a red card after just seven minutes against the Azerbaijan champions at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Here's our match report, and here's what Ange had to say...

Brennan Johnson

With three goals in three games in the space of eight days, Ange was first asked if he could see Brennan Johnson's confidence growing...

Ange: "Yeah, I thought again Brennan was really important for us, particularly today going down to 10 men pretty early, we were going to need some attacking outlet and I thought he, Dom and Sonny provided that. Obviously we needed a goal and I thought it was a good first goal for us because we were with only 10 men, but we still pressed and forced a mistake and Brennan's been good at taking up those positions and him and Dom have a good little sort of relationship there in terms of working off each other and he took his goal well. As you said, that's three in three games for him, and long may it continue."

Radu and Lucas

Radu was sent off and Lucas Bergvall was sacrificed in the restructure of our 10 players - what had Ange said to both players?

Ange: "Nothing specifically to them. I mean, it was just a consequence of us starting the game really slowly. It was just not a great start for us. We were really passive with our passing. Whether it was the delay to the game or whatever, but it's no excuse. We kind of shot ourselves in the foot and unfortunately Radu and Lucas paid the ultimate price for it. As a team, we just didn't start the game in the way we wanted to and the way we needed to and made the game challenging for us. The response was great, absolutely, but disappointed we had to be in that position."

Sonny, Archie and Brennan

Ange was asked the following questions on the fitness of Heung-Min Son, Archie Gray and Brennan Johnson...

Sonny had treatment, is he okay?

Ange: "I haven't spoken to him. He said he felt a bit tired, but I haven't spoken to him or the medical team yet."

Is Archie Gray okay, he looked like he took a knock to his ankle?

Ange: "He didn't stop running though, so can't be that bad."

Is Brennan Johnson okay after coming off at half-time?

Ange: "Yeah he's fine. It was just tactical. I thought we would need Deki Kulusevski because the way the game was going, Deki is a like a hybrid midfielder and can also break out on that right wing. It was just a tactical switch, but Brennan is fine."

Principles

Ange was asked, 'how brave were your players to keep attacking and is that down to the principles you established last season, like in the Chelsea game?'

Ange: "Well, I think that's part of it. Obviously we want to be a team that tackles whatever challenge we have in a certain way. When you go down to 10 men, invariably at times you can't be as aggressive or keep the ball as much or play as fluently, but for the most part the intent was there. The first goal comes from us pressing. We were pressing with 10 men and we win the ball high up, which is what we wanted to do and we ended up scoring a goal from it. I think for the most part the boys showed that intent. That's the kind of team we want to be and whatever challenge we have before us, to tackle it that way."

Dominic Solanke

Ange was asked if Dominic Solanke was fully fit now...

Ange: "He's getting there. Like I said, he didn't do pre-season with us and then he has one game and then he's out for two weeks, while the other guys were building up their match fitness. He is getting there and probably played longer than I wanted for him to play tonight, just the circumstances of the game, but the one thing about him is he just keeps going. It was great for him to get another goal, but his all-round performance was really strong. When you're down to 10 men, you need your striker to be able to hold up the play and do some hard running, which I thought he did."