Postecoglou previews Tottenham's trip to Newcastle and claims no last minute transfers
30/08/2024
Enfield Training Centre, London, UK
30/08/2024
Enfield Training Centre, London, UK
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00:00Hi guys, we will start with the broadcast section with no embargo, followed by an embargoed
00:17section for 10.30pm tonight. No live tweeting during the broadcast section please and phones
00:21on silent and use the microphone provided.
00:24Hi Andrew, just get the team news ahead of the game against Newcastle please.
00:29So, where are we at? The main ones I guess, Dom Solanke, close but I think we are on the
00:40side of caution, he won't play on the weekend with the international week, we have kind
00:44of made a decision to wait until after that. Benton Corr is all good, he has trained well,
00:55gone through all the protocols and most importantly he feels really good training wise and the
01:01other one this week was Richie, pulled up sore, I think there is an injury there, muscle
01:06injury, we are just getting more information but he will be out as well, I think that is it.
01:13Mixed bag then, obviously deadline day, done some really good business, Dom Solanke, Archie
01:19Gray, Wilson, a few others, Lucas from January, is that it now do you think in terms of incomings?
01:25Yes, I think so, I don't think something surprising jumps out at us in the last 11 hours or whatever
01:32it is but I think that is it for us.
01:36Just seen the Europa League draw, some cracking ties, Rangers I bet you can't wait for that
01:39one.
01:40No, exciting, good to be a part of it, some good games and I am sure I will get a warm
01:49reception at Ibrox, they will be looking forward to seeing me.
01:53In terms of that though, the squad, obviously there were some injuries last season with
01:59no Europe, if there are no incomings today though, are you happy cover wise, the odd
02:04injury here and there, are you overall happy with the strength of the squad?
02:08Yes, look if nothing else happens, a couple will probably be moving out, but if nothing
02:16else happens then I think it has been another positive window for us, as I said all along
02:21you want to go into every window and come out the other side of it in a stronger sense
02:27and I certainly feel that, I think the players we have brought in are already making a short
02:33term impact but for the longer term I think they are going to be really good contributors
02:39for us, certainly I think we have got a better well rounded squad to deal with Europe and
02:46the extra games and whatever injuries we have, so yes I think it has been a real positive
02:52window.
02:53If that is it, you always said you can't do everything in one window, this will be
02:58your third transfer window, looking back from the squad you inherited, a lot of big
03:03names have gone out as well, maybe not fitting your system, overall, happy overall?
03:10Yes, as I said I am very happy, I think we have done a hell of a lot of work in the last
03:1612 months through windows as you said, no doubt the squad has changed, I think the demographic
03:24of the squad has changed, the suitability to the kind of football I want to play, certainly
03:31we are much better equipped for that, there is growth in the team absolutely, so yes look
03:37I think we needed to do some fairly major work 12 months ago and I think in the 12 months
03:45since I think we have gone a long way to getting the team to where we want to but there is
03:51still more work to be done, I have said that before, it was never going to happen quickly,
03:55I don't think it should happen quickly, I think when it does happen quickly you are
03:59more fraught to getting it wrong, so I think we are in a good place.
04:03Firstly, happy belated birthday.
04:06Thank you, I am glad you remembered, I will totally dismiss it, it is too late mate, forget
04:10it, go on.
04:11It is too late, sorry Michael.
04:12It is someone else's birthday, it is Yves' birthday today and you said that last week
04:17he trained like a child who has been told off and of course he went on to score his
04:22first goal last weekend, I just wonder how has he trained this week and in terms of that
04:26goal, what do you want to see more from him in games, is it controlling the passage of
04:31play in midfield or is it goals and assists?
04:34Look I don't want to be too flippant about it because at the same time, we have said
04:40all along this is about trying to guide Biss so that he becomes the best version of himself
04:50both on and off the field and there is no doubting his qualities as a player, I think
04:56from the moment I have arrived, every time he has been fit I think he has played so that
05:01is how highly I rate him but at the same time we feel there are areas of his game that he
05:07can improve just around sort of, a word I use a lot, his discipline in terms of his
05:12positioning in terms of the way he plays the game but a lot of that is again, there is
05:17a correlation to off field as well and I think he has been really focused since the incident
05:26and he understands, I think him not playing that first game sort of really hurt him as
05:31it should, I think you can find players but when they don't play I think they feel it
05:37more and he doesn't want to be in that position again and he knows that not just for himself
05:43but for the whole group, we need him to be at his best so that he can contribute to the
05:50team and he will only do that if he continues to show the same focus and discipline he has.
05:55What have you made to the start to the season of James Madison because we have seen such
06:00a positive start similar to last season?
06:02Yeah, he has been good, Mattis, really good, I think I said last week when Mattis is physically
06:10in a good place, knock on wood and he really is, his training is excellent, it is consistent,
06:18we know he is such a creative force in this league, he has done it for many years so great
06:24to have him back up and running and yeah I think he has been excellent the first two
06:28games and I can see in him that he really wants to take his game up another level and
06:36hopefully he can.
06:38And in terms of Newcastle on Sunday, they have obviously got a really good recent record
06:42against Spurs, the game in Australia, I know it was a friendly but it was much closer so
06:46what can you take away from those games last season going into Sunday's match?
06:50Yeah, a bit of a contrast, I thought obviously here at home we did really well against them
06:54but fair to say up there we didn't, but it was a good learning curve for us that game
07:02because we started the game okay but then we conceded and we kind of lost probably for
07:09the first time all year our composure in a game and we allowed them to score quickly
07:14and you know what it is like up there, the crowd created a brilliant atmosphere for their
07:18team and we just didn't handle it at all well, it was a good sort of learning curve for a
07:23lot of our players who it was their first sort of exposure to a game like that, to an
07:27atmosphere like that so you know obviously we want to have learnt from that but it's
07:33still a tough game, I think any time you go up playing against Newcastle on their home
07:38ground it's a tough game, they've got some outstanding players in their team, they're
07:44well coached and it's going to be a great challenge for us.
07:47Ian.
07:48Hi Angela, can I reiterate happy 58th birthday for this week, as some people forgot.
07:54Yeah, well it's my 59th so you're being even kinder to me.
07:57Okay fine, there we go.
07:59The Europa League draw, apart from Rangers which obviously a lot of people will look
08:03at, there's some really excellent ties but also it gives you a block of eight games and
08:09last season because Spurs went in Europe and went out the League Cup early, I think bemoaning
08:14is a fair word to use, the lack of games actually your team had to get your team to play how
08:20you want and mix players around.
08:22Yeah no absolutely, I think I've said it on a number of occasions, I think people were
08:27kind of trying to sort of steer me towards the fact that less games means we're sort
08:34of fresher for the League which in some respects that works but it doesn't work when like
08:41us we had a lot of injuries and we were putting in players who hadn't had a lot of football
08:44because we just didn't have the volume of games whereas now it allows you now with the
08:49fixturing to get into a rhythm of knowing we've got two games a week pretty much right
08:52through to the end of January for the most part.
08:56Players within the whole squad will get utilised so if we do have injuries we're not throwing
09:00on somebody who hasn't played for six or seven weeks and like I said it allows you to get
09:06into a rhythm so yeah it means less training time but hopefully we've had a good training
09:11block leading up to this sort of international window that sets us up for the rest of the
09:16year so I'd much prefer having a program like we have now from now till sort of the end
09:23of January than sort of what we faced last year.
09:26Are you a fan of the new format as well?
09:28Oh it's interesting yeah I think yeah it'll be an interesting concept you know a couple
09:34of extra games, league format you know I think it's different dynamics sometimes you know
09:40in the group stages when it was you know maybe after three games the whole thing was done
09:45and dusted but I think it'll be alive a lot more now right until probably the eighth game
09:50because teams are fighting for positions so I think there'll probably be less dead rubbers
09:54in European football which I don't think is a bad thing so yeah I'm happy to see how it works.
10:00This day and age players staying at clubs for a long time is relatively unheralded,
10:05Ben Davies has been here ten years, Sonny has been here nine, played over 400 games
10:10in all competitions, what do those sort of players give to you as a manager in terms
10:16of when you're coming in and you're wanting to change as you have?
10:20Yeah like I said it's a bit of a rare occurrence particularly you know at big clubs where you
10:27know players stay for that sort of length of time but yeah credit to both those guys
10:32that you know they've stayed at this club and played under numerous you know top managers
10:39and they've all sort of rated them you know very highly to keep them at the club and look
10:45they're both great guys I think they understand what the football club's about, it's great
10:50when you've got you know 18 year olds walking into a dressing room and you know probably
10:56you know two of the first people who'll go and greet them are Sonny and Ben and I'm quite
11:01comfortable in them being their first points of contact because they're outstanding people
11:05apart from being fantastic footballers so yeah I think it's great and it's only right
11:12that you know they get heralded in terms of their not just longevity but the kind of
11:19service they've provided.
11:20Finally the important deadline day is tomorrow, are you ready to get your Oasis tickets?
11:25I hear you're a big Oasis fan.
11:27Yeah no I'll be queuing up mate overnight, great band, great music, yeah not on my radar
11:35at the moment thanks.
11:37Favourite song?
11:39Wonderwall.