Presser points | Spurs vs Liverpool, Carabao Cup | Ange Postecoglou

Ange Postecoglou spoke to the media at Hotspur Way on Tuesday afternoon, ahead of our Carabao Cup semi-final, first leg against Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Wednesday evening (8pm UK).

Here's what he had to say..

Ange on if there was any good news on the team news front...

"It depends, net wise we are still down. We will get Bentancur back, but we lose Maddison and Pape Sarr by suspension, so couple of numbers down there.  In terms of the injuries, no-one is back. Mikey (Moore) could potentially be available to be on the bench. Everyone else from the weekend certainly feels better, Radu (Dragusin) has recovered, Archie (Gray) is better. They were the main ones. Deki (Kulusevski) was under the weather, but he's good. So, pretty much as it was on the weekend, plus Bentancur, minus the other two."

On Richarlison...

"He is training. The whole plan with him, with what has happened this year, was to give him two full solid weeks of training. His second week will be next week and if he gets through that he will be fine."

On Sonny's contract extension...

"Brilliant. He has already had an outstanding career at this football club. He has played a big role in the last 10 years, made an impact at the club, made an impact in the Premier League. Great to extend his stay, and the aim is to make sure he finishes his Tottenham career with some silverware."

On Antonin Kinsky, and if he's likely to play against Liverpool...

"We will see. He arrived on Sunday. He's had a couple of days of training, he's registered and eligible to play. We still have got to do a couple final things with him and then we will see."

On having 'tough decisions' to make on our goalkeepers...

"He is one that we had earmarked for the end of the season, to bring in during the summer. We’ve tracked him all season and he is definitely someone we are really excited about. Obviously, with our current goalkeeping situation, we explored the possibility of bringing him in this January. It wasn’t easy because he is doing very well for his club, his club is doing well, they are in Europe and top of their league. The club worked really hard to get the deal done in this window and it is a huge benefit to us and adds real quality to our goalkeepers."

On potentially bringing in a forward...

"Look, we are still trying to help the squad and help the players. We are still down significant numbers. Again, we will have roughly 10 first team players missing tomorrow. That’s not easing at the moment, we get one back, we lose a couple, so we're looking to try to see if we can help the playing group. The club is working hard in a number of areas."

On cup matches coming up being a good distraction...

"Our league results have been poor, there is no hiding from that. It is a separate competition tomorrow night. We have done well to get to the semi-final stage. We’ve beaten both Manchester clubs to do that. It hasn’t been an easy road to the semi-finals. We’ve got an opponent that has been the standout team in all competitions. So it is a great test for us, but it is a semi-final first leg and should be exciting. I am looking forward to it."

On how we approach the first leg and still being in the tie for the second leg at Anfield (6 February)...

"That’s the case, irrespective of how you play. There is a second leg to be played. That doesn’t change our approach tomorrow. We’re at home and in a two-legged affair, if you can get some kind of advantage in your home game, you are set up pretty well, so that’s what we will try to do."

On Antonin Kinsky being 'level-headed'...

"I think it's a big part. We've put big stock in that in the players that we've brought in. We're trying to build a team of people who are very ambitious and have a clear goal in their heads about how they want their career to go. We've seen that already with Lucas and Archie. It's much about their performance, but also the way they've embraced the whole challenge, it's certainly not like your normal 18-year-olds. They've shown a real maturity and also an ambition to make an impact. Talking to Toni and looking into his background, he's very much of a similar mould."

On Antonin's ability with the ball at his feet...

"We've identified goalkeepers who fit our system, that's a big part of how we play and it's certainly something that he does very comfortably, but his all-round goalkeeping ability... Johan and his scouts have done a lot of background work on him, they've been following him all year. The intent was to bring him in in the summer, but obviously that not only changed, we thought why not, with the way we are in terms of the goalkeepers, try and bring in him earlier? I wasn't confident that was going to happen, but the club worked really hard to make it happen, and it's great for him, it's great for us. It gives him an opportunity to come in a bit earlier and get bedded into the way we do things and it also adds real quality to our goalkeeping."

On the left-back situation with Destiny Udogie sidelined...

"It depends. We're in a tricky situation where we've got, obviously Ben Davies can play left-back as well, so you know we're in this tricky situation where potentially we could have three very, very good defenders coming back into the fold very, very quickly. Obviously, Destiny's going to be a bit longer, so it's a bit of a balancing act of how much we can get through. The beauty of bringing in somebody like Toni was that he was part of our plans anyway. I'm really reluctant just to bring in another body just for the sake of it. It's got to be somebody who either fits into what we're doing or he's going to help us straight away. They're the kind of criteria we're looking at."

On the chance for a reset...

"I kind of knew it would be a tough couple of months for us, but part of you is always optimistic that we won't have to deal with what we had to deal with for as long as we've had to deal with it. So, again, optimistically, I think we'll get through this and I think we'll get through it hopefully pretty quickly. We're getting into the tail end, which just gives you a chance to say, 'okay, what's the second half of the season going to look like for us?'. But, at the same time, I can't lose sight of the fact that what's important for us right now is that we deal with what's in front of us. We've got a big game tomorrow night, obviously then FA Cup, our league form's nowhere near good enough, so we've got to address that. We can't just wait for it to all happen, so the planning is going on in the background for sure, but my immediate task is to make sure we make an impact in what we can right now."

On Liverpool's 2-2 draw against United on Sunday...

"I thought it was a good game and I thought Manchester United really lifted their intensity levels and caused them problems, but at the same time, Liverpool, you can still see the quality they possess. They still created opportunities, they're always a threat. They're a top side, they're really settled. I think they've got just about everyone fit and healthy. They can rotate players, so they're in a good moment and it's going be a great challenge for us."

On the goalkeepers again, and Brandon Austin...

"Again, we've just got to assess it on how Toni settles in and like I said, Brandon did really well for us, which is great, and then I'll just make a decision. We've still got a couple of European games, where Toni's not gonna be involved, so we understand that Brandon - and Fraser's back training today - they're still very important to what we're doing."