Presser points | Spurs vs Qarabag | Ange Postecoglou

Ange Postecoglou faced the media at Hotspur Way this afternoon ahead of our UEFA Europa League league phase Matchday 1 clash against Azerbaijan champions Qarabag at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Thursday evening (8pm UK).

Here's what he had to say...

Team news

First up, Ange was asked for a squad update...

Ange: "Nothing else from the weekend in terms of injuries. Everyone has pulled up really well, there are no issues there. Obviously apart from the injuries the obvious absences are Romero, Spence and Reguilon, who trained today, but for different reasons are ineligible."

Back in Europe

Ange was asked how much he's looking forward to being back in European competition...

Ange: "I am really pleased to be back there and excited to be back in it. I spoke about it last year that it was a real gap in our calendar and didn't help us at certain times of the year not having regular football, that challenge of playing different types of opposition and exposing our whole squad to some meaningful game-time. And the worst thing was sitting around watching other teams play in it. It didn't sit right with me so being back in a European competition is important."

With or without the ball?

Ange was asked if we could go back to the time in football where you don't need to have the ball to compete at the very highest level...

Ange: "I think football's always going in those cycles. I think there's always been sort of dominant teams who are more possession-heavy and other times where it's been teams that, as you said, require less of the ball. I think in football there's always that kind of counterbalance in terms of what can be successful at any given time. A lot of that comes down to the strength of teams that execute that. If you get the best teams who have a period of domination playing a certain way, it invariably means that others try and follow that method and it hits the flip side and then it goes the other way. So, I've always felt there's always been a kind of cycle that football goes through, where a certain kind of tactical play ends up dominating for a period of time until somebody comes along and comes up with something different and then it changes."

The 'dark arts'

It was put to Ange, 'people seem to be congratulating Arsenal on their way of playing and using the dark arts, your team plays entertaining football and that's how you're going to win a trophy this season or at some other point, how come you don't have to use dark arts?'

Ange: "You make it sound like it’s good versus evil, Batman versus... whoever, I don’t know, I don’t know my superheroes that well. Look, I think it’s just part of the game and it’s always existed. I’ve said before I don’t believe in the dark arts, I don’t know how to do it, it’s just not in my make-up, but I’ve seen it be a very effective tool. My thing has always been if teams are going to go down that way, we need to be even more disciplined to make sure we don’t get distracted by that. Ultimately, the role of every manager and every team is to try to unsettle an opposition one way or another. Some do it by trying to disrupt and curtail any momentum from the opposition, others want the momentum, they want the dominance. It depends on what side of the coin you fall down. The reason I do what I do is because that’s the space I’m comfortable in, I know how to do that. To change my approach would mean to delve into an area that I don’t really have a lot of emphasis in the way I coach or the way I talk."

UEFA Europa League

Ange was asked about the Europa League - new look, eight games, no drop outs from the Champions League, and we're favourites - what did he think?

Ange: "I think it is interesting. Obviously, early stages and it will be interesting to see how it develops. I said it before, just a gut feeling that there will be more in the games. You know in the group stage, after about the second or third game, you kind of knew who were going through so there were maybe some dead-rubbers in there, but all games will be meaningful because all teams will have something to play for. It's not that standard home and away, you will play eight different teams, eight different styles of football, so it's an interesting challenge. I guess at the end we'll see if it's had the effect everyone wanted it to have by being more exciting all the way through rather than the knock-out phase, but the most important thing is we're in it and because we're in it, we've got a chance."

Qarabag

A journalist from Azerbaijan asked Ange which Qarabag players he was most concerned about...

Ange: "We've had a very good look at them. We had someone fly out at the weekend and watch them play. They are a very good team, they dominate the local competition, but just as importantly in Europe they've always made an impact. We had a good look at their two games against Bayer Leverkusen (in the Europa League Round of 16 last season), they did very well and pushed Leverkusen all the way. We all know how good Leverkusen were last year, so it's not about individuals, it's about understanding and making sure we reach the level of performance we do against a very good, experienced European opponent. I think experience in Europe counts and Qarabag have been consistent whether it's Champions League or Europa League and always made an impact. We'll be ready for that."

Will you play attacking football?

Ange was also asked by the Azerbaijan journalist, 'the English press say Tottenham will play attacking football towards Qarabag, is that true? Or will you take a more cautious approach?'

Ange: "Never believe the English press" Don't make that mistake! We'll just play our football. I think Europe gives us another challenge, because in European football you are meeting teams who probably play a little differently. Obviously, tomorrow it is at home but sometimes you will face up to conditions you wouldn't normally face up to. I think it will help us develop as a team by facing some different types of opposition, but ultimately, it is about playing our football, being as aggressive as we can and hopefully overcoming the challenge Qarabag will have tomorrow."

James Maddison

It was put to Ange, 'James Maddison seems to be playing a slightly deeper role, can you tell us what you're seeing from him in that position?'

Ange: "I wouldn’t say he’s changed his role, he’s doing exactly the same as last year. I think if you look back early last year, very similar. I’ve said all along the key to Madders is if he’s physically good and he’s getting to that level where he’s able to cover ground to receive the ball wherever we need him to, whether that’s deep or wide, but then the ability to really beat players on the dribble and then contribute to attacking play, not just one phase of play. He’s getting involved in two, three phases of play. To do that physically that’s really important for Madders. If you look back to early last year he was doing very similar things for us to what he was doing at the weekend. It was only when he was came back from injury that he kind of struggled because I don’t think physically he was where he needed to be. He’s had a good, strong pre-season and I can just sense every game he’s feeling better and better about how he’s feeling. When he does that I think he’s able then to play the role we need him to."

Rotation

Asked was asked if the changes to the Europa League have made it as possible to rotate and give players game time they need...

Ange: "Yeah, I think so. I think as I said, we have a squad of players that we've gone into the season thinking that we're going to potentially, hopefully play 50 plus games in a year, and you're not going to expect, hardly any players to play in all those 50 games. If you can get sort of 30/35 games out of everybody.  Your European games, your cup games are an opportunity for us to develop players and get them ready. What you don't want to do is make too many changes every game we did that obviously against Coventry because we needed to, but that tends to disrupt. But this early part of the season, I think it is important that we give some game time to guys so that when we need to make changes and we will need to, it's not bringing in players who haven't played for six or eight weeks. They played two weeks ago, so if we make changes tomorrow night, the guys coming in played against Coventry a week ago that it's not like they haven't played for four or five weeks. So I still think that you have that opportunity in the Europa."

European football

Ange was asked why being back in Europe matters for the club and how he viewed European competition...

Ange: "I tend to look more from my role. In terms of revenue and prestige, it helps the club, but just from a footballing perspective it’s a different challenge to what you face in the Premier League and even cup competitions, for the most part. Whenever you can expose individuals or the group to different environments there’s greater opportunity for growth, whether it’s playing an opponent you’ve never played before or in a country or a stadium with a different kind of atmosphere. All those things present opportunities for growth, and that’s what European competition enables you to do. For us, I kept saying last year, if we had have been in Europe we would have been able to evolve a bit quicker in terms of what we expose our players to, especially with a young group. For a lot them it will be their first time in European competition. For us as a group it will be the first time, and the squad has changed a lot in the last 12 months. For all those reasons I see it as a fantastic opportunity to evolve as a team in a footballing sense and hopefully gets us closer to our goal."