Presser points | Spurs vs Manchester United | Ange Postecoglou

Ange Postecoglou spoke to the media at Hotspur Way on Friday, ahead of our Premier League clash against Manchester United at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday (4.30pm).

Here's what he had to say...

Ange on our latest team news...

"It has been a good week, it’s fair to say, in terms of the health and wellbeing of the group of young men I look after. The guys who have been playing have benefitted a fair bit from having a couple of days off and regenerating. That has been really important for us. On the injury front, it is certainly good to have some significant players back, for training purposes to start with as it raises the level and quality of our training but also in terms of helping us from a playing perspective. Vicario has trained really well and is good to go. Madders is good to go. Then we have had Destiny, Wilson and Brennan also training with the group. They are in a good space as well so it’s been a good training week."

On Micky and Cuti...

"With Micky we made a decision, and I was certainly the catalyst of that, to just have a look at exactly beyond the injury how we can get him back in a good spot. He is doing some different things and working with some different people. It’s not as much about the injury as about the mechanics of him, because we want him back and we want him back in a real good space. He is training and feels really good. We are still confident his return is imminent but we want to make sure we get it right. With Romero it has been a healing issue. The injury hasn’t healed up as quickly as we thought it would which, again, we could have pushed him and risked it but we have waited to give him a bit more time. We will get some clear indication as to his healing and depending on that, his return could be imminent as well."

On United boss Ruben Amorim...

"I have said before I have respect for all managers because I know how tough it is. I’m sure if you ask Ruben he would just say that he is doing what he was brought in to do. Obviously, they have scouted and identified him, the way he plays and goes about his business. You don’t just make these appointments because you like the look of someone. You do actually a lot of work and you bring him in with a purpose. If anybody believes anything can change significantly in a short space of time then you are living in an alternative universe that is not based in reality. I’m sure, and who am I to advise anybody, if Man United stuck with Ruben for the next two years, they would see progress, absolutely, because that is how long it takes. If anybody can show me somebody who has done it quicker without significant investment, by all means put it across my desk and I will follow that blueprint. I have only spoken to Ruben for maybe 30 seconds at a game, I’m sure he is going, ‘I’m going to do what I was brought in to do', and that is what he should do."

On 'being more specific' on Micky and Cuti...

"No, because I am not a doctor and also, as I keep saying, there is a barrier you can’t cross when you are talking about people, whether that is injuries or medically. Unless you want to call me a liar, what I am saying is both of them are training. There is evidence of that if you want that. Both of them are in a good place in terms of their recovery. Different reasons we’ve held both back and again once they are right, they’ll be in."

On saving Micky and Cuti for the Europa League...

"No, and we’re not 'all or nothing' on anything. We still want to progress in the league. We’re not happy with the position we’re in. There are still significant games. It’s not like there is a few games to go. There is still a lot of football to be played in the league and we want to address our league position and finish the season strong. Alongside that, obviously the Europa League now is a great focus for us with us being out of the other cups, but we’re not saving anyone for anything because, ultimately, Micky and Romero have had disrupted seasons in that they’ve got injured, come back and got injured again and I don’t want the same scenario. You know whilst it may look with Micky like we had a false start with the Elfsborg thing, I think it gave us an indication of where he is at. We could have pushed on absolutely and we could have pushed on with Romero, but my view is let’s get them back and get them back right until the end of the season so we give them a chance as well to make a contribution to hopefully a strong finish for us."

On having a week without a midweek fixture, needing a break and 'being grumpy'...

"It’s fair enough, too. I’ve sometimes had to do this (press conference) three times a week with zero sleep, cut me a little bit of slack. I can’t be bubbly and cheery all the time. No, it’s fair to say I appreciate the fact that there wasn’t a game this midweek, for sure. I had dinner with my family last night and my boy said it seems like you haven’t had a game for a while, dad, and it has been four days. That’s the cycle we’ve all been in. Not just me, the other coaches. Certainly, when you are going at it all the time, it does become a bit of a grind but you have to do it. I have to do it, there is no alternative, I can’t not do things I am responsible for. You know, having the opportunity, like this, not to front up the same kind of questions allows you to take a breath and hopefully I am back to the same man as I was before."

On being that same man...

"I’ve always been the same. I am sure that grumpiness will emerge at the appropriate time when it is needed."

On having Madders' and Vic's leadership back...

"Yes, it is massive. Both of them, particularly Vic, it is not just that Vic is an outstanding goalkeeper but in training he is such a presence among the boys. He gets everyone going and it has been tough without him because we’ve used three other goalkeepers. They’ve all contributed, but none of them have let us down. It’s just that Vic is experienced and has a strong personality. Madders is the same. He has enormous self-belief and that filters through the team. The energy and experience they bring to training will certainly make a difference for us."

On if Madders or Destiny could start against United...

"Madders is a possibility. Destiny, with the guys who have missed a little bit more, Madders has been a shorter term one, we will see. They may be on the bench and we look at our schedule when next week we have no game and can train and then the following week we have got a midweeker, so what I really want is when we get to that midweeker that Destiny, Brennan, Wilson and Timo, at a stretch, can all get some game time, so when we need to rotate from Ipswich into City that these guys have played significant minutes."

On the 'mechanics' of Micky...

"It is just him understanding his body. Look, it is not my space but you look to the experts in that space and there are people looking at different ways, because he is an elite athlete, but he is also at the extremities of speed and with those athletes you look at how they perform at the optimum level without putting their body at risk. You know, he is still a very young man in terms of footballing experience, and his career. What you want is Micky to play 10 years at the best possible level, this gives us the opportunity to address what we can while in the middle of the season to get him to the best possible level he can get to."

On Europa League squad changes...

"It's pretty straight forward. Obviously, with Radu going down, we're short a central defender there and with Micky and Romero, we've got to see when they come back in there, it made sense to bring Kevin and Djed into the squad. Obviously, keen to bring Mathys in there as well. That's why we signed him and we could only make the three changes. We're obviously limited because we don't have club-trained (players) and that's going to be an issue for us for the next couple of years. So, that limits the opportunities for us to tinker any more, but with the three changes I thought they were the logical ones."

On Vicario being number one...

"He's still the number one. I mean he got injured when we beat Man City and we were fifth in the table, so he wasn't dropped, he was injured, so he's back now and certainly we're happy to have him back. I've been really happy with with Toni (Kinsky). Even at Villa, I mean, obviously you know he made the mistake, but his reaction to that was I thought outstanding for a 21-year-old in that environment to bounce back from a mistake like that. I mean, we've thrown him in and given him some enormous tasks with very little sort of preparation and I just think he's going to be an outstanding goalkeeper. Brandon as well has really grown through this period. I know Burchy's (Rob Burch, GK coach) really happy now in that we've got a really strong goalkeeping group now that can push each other. Really, really pleased to get Toni into the club, because we think he's going to be an outstanding goalkeeper and no better one to work alongside than than Vic."

On 'going back to what you believe in'...

"We never stop going towards what we believe in, it's just that we weren't able to do it. As I said after the game, you're talking about players who are fatigued, tired, mentally, physically, facing enormous challenges with 60 hour intervals. There hasn't been a change of approach. What the week does give us, it does give us a chance to re-energise and hopefully allow us to execute the kind of football we want to play."

On playing our style of football...

"That's always been the aim, it's never wavered from that. That's the kind of football we want to play. It's the kind of team we want to be, and the next two to three weeks allows us to get some players back, which will help with our training, help with our preparation, help with our ability to rotate, but also not having midweek games gives us a good chance to recover between games to reach those levels."

On Sonny's leadership...

"I think with Sonny, the main thing is he sets the standard in terms of the way he trains, the way he prepares himself. He sets the example with everything he does in and around the club and outside the club, and he tries to be a positive influence on everyone, keep everyone's mind focused in a positive way and it hasn't been easy because he's probably feeling, he has been feeling, the same as the other players, you know, fatigue. It's hard to put that to one side as an individual, because you're a leader and try to transfer that positiveness to others. I think him and some of the other guys have stepped up as well in this period. The fact that the players have stuck together through that whole process, at no stage did they splinter off or look to absolve any responsibility of themselves as individuals is a testament to the fact that there's a good bonding there that's been laid down by Sonny and and the other leaders. Hopefully now he gets a bit of help, like I said with guys like Vic and Madders who are on our leadership group, Romero's the other one, that could help him carry the load."

On Sonny feeling a greater sense of responsibility, as captain...

"I'm sure he did, but that's the nature of leadership. There's no point in taking on a leadership role if you don't want that responsibility. That's an essential, core part of leading people. During tough times you have to carry the extra load, otherwise you're better off not being in that position. It's not easy and requires a lot of discipline and internal fortitude to make sure you're constantly putting aside your own personal feelings for the better of the group."

On speaking to people outside the club about Micky...

"We've had a couple of people externally have a look at him and give him some guidance and information and speak to our staff as well about things he can do differently which will help him as much around not the injury but making sure his body is better equipped to handle the kind of the athlete."

On Micky being frustrated...

"He was frustrated, but I had a good chat to him. I guess he just wanted to keep going but I said to him he's still got a 10-year career ahead of him and once he's well into his career and flying, this period will seem insignificant, an extra two or three weeks, for the benefit hopefully of him coming back and playing to the levels. Look, he's a big part of this football club, not just now but for the future as well. It's in our interests, you've always got to protect your assets and he's a major asset to this football club. His career is much more important than one or two weeks of doing some extra work."

On whether Micky or Cuti may have needed surgery...

"No, never close. Neither of them have ever been discussed. I don't know why people think I'm hiding stuff, maybe I don't explain myself clearly. The injuries were the injuries, Cuti had a quad strain, Micky had a hamstring. When Wilson did his hamstring, he had surgery. There was no issue there. He was out for three months. Micky was never even close, never discussed, it was never... but when you re-injure something, there's invariably a more cautious approach. When it's someone like Micky, who's an extreme athlete, I think you need, in my experience, to take it a little bit further. But surgery has never, ever entered any discussion with either player. Now, if we pushed them back early and they weren't ready, that becomes a real issue and we tried to avoid that. But it was never surgery. The injury was the injury. With Micky it's a hamstring, Cuti's it's a quad. With Micky there's no issue around the injury any more, it's just about mechanics. With Cuti, it's just healing slower than we thought it would."