Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglu previews their Premier League clash with Liverpool and speaks on his respect for Arne Slot
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00:00Oh, yeah, great now, man, get down there, it's brilliant, January, sorry,
00:04yeah, January straight now, it's brilliant.
00:07Morning?
00:08Yeah, beautiful, man.
00:10OK, morning, guys, we will start with the broadcast section in No Embargo,
00:13followed by an Embargo section at 10.30pm tonight.
00:15No live tweets during the broadcast section,
00:17please use the microphone provided.
00:19Jeremy.
00:20Good morning, that was quite a night last night,
00:22and after your press conference, the draw came out,
00:25it's Liverpool in the semi-final, what do you think?
00:28Yeah, we're in it, which is the main thing,
00:31and yeah, exciting fixture, I think,
00:34I could be wrong, but the recent history of the Carabao Cup,
00:38I think it could be the last X number of years,
00:42it's either been won by a Manchester club or Liverpool,
00:45so we'll have to beat all of them to get through,
00:48so great draw for us.
00:50It was a spectacular match, and afterwards you were saying that,
00:53are you not entertained when you're asked about the performance
00:57you've been compared to Russell Crowe as Maximus in the Gladiator film?
01:01Top actor, Aussie, fellow Aussie.
01:08Yeah, look, I genuinely believe that,
01:11I think there's a big part of our game that is about,
01:16maybe entertainment's the wrong word,
01:19but you go to the game, a game of football,
01:23to kind of feel emotions that maybe in your day-to-day existence
01:31you don't get the opportunity to, both exhilarating and both anxious,
01:36and I think football's, that's what we love about it,
01:41I've said before, there's a lot of suffering in there
01:48when you're watching a football game,
01:51but if you come out on the right side, it's an exhilarating feeling.
01:56It was a crazy game, can you be that gung-ho on Sunday against Liverpool,
02:00they were so good?
02:04I'm not sure what you mean by gung-ho,
02:07we'll play our football because that's what's winning us games,
02:10and that's what we'll do against Liverpool,
02:13who are a fantastic side, going really well,
02:17Arnie's come in, it's not easy when you're taking over
02:22from somebody of the status of a Jurgen Klopp,
02:27but they're very settled as a team,
02:31we've got quality within the starting 11, within the squad,
02:35they've dealt with things, you saw them last week when we were manned down,
02:38they still have a real belief at the moment,
02:41so they're the standout team in the competition so far,
02:45but again, on our day when we play our football,
02:49we're a pretty good opposition.
02:52On the team news, Werner was unwell, will he be OK for Sunday?
02:56Hopefully, we'll see, obviously the boys are just coming in now,
03:00they're late nights, so with Timo, he was unwell yesterday,
03:05so we've got 48 hours or so before the game,
03:08so hopefully he'll recover, and the plan is Destiny should be OK.
03:15Just a question on Archie Gray, he's played now three games at centre-back,
03:20obviously when he came in, you were aware of his talent,
03:24and he's played at right back view, but putting him at centre-back,
03:28even you may be surprised at the level of performance he's managed to achieve,
03:32just being put into that position.
03:35I think he's, what I said last week, he's been outstanding,
03:41we have no choice, we've got no other centre-backs,
03:46you put an 18-year-old kid there, but I shouldn't say 18-year-old kid,
03:52because he's a man in every sense of the word,
03:56and he's handled it brilliantly, both from a footballing perspective,
04:01but also from, like I said, if you do it for one game,
04:05you can sort of get away with it, where you put a young player out of position in one game,
04:10but he's done it in multiple games now, and he gets some pretty decent opposition,
04:14and like I said, as an 18-year-old, he's handling it so well,
04:18and it's not like he's surrounded by experience.
04:22Obviously our goalkeeper's out, our two centre-backs are out,
04:26our left-back was out last night, so Himan Radu, I think,
04:31handling it awfully well, awfully well.
04:34I keep saying, you take out the goalkeeper, two centre-backs,
04:38and a left-back from any team, and I'm sure it'll have effect,
04:43and the fact that our guys...
04:45It's not just about the way they're performing,
04:47I said that they're still trying to play in the manner we want to play,
04:51we're not making allowances that we've got Archie at centre-back or Radu,
04:56or we've got Fraser in goal, we're still trying to play our football.
04:59It's a credit to them.
05:01About Fraser, you mentioned last night, after the game,
05:04you said no-one is more disappointed than him.
05:08Does he need picking up ahead of Sunday,
05:10or what does a manager say to a player in that situation?
05:14Again, there's no choice, there's a game Sunday,
05:17so we can't be sitting here worrying about...
05:21Fraser's a very experienced guy,
05:23like I said, he was disappointed last night with the way things panned out.
05:30He was outstanding for us before that and in the other games,
05:33so you can focus on those moments,
05:36you can lean back on the fact that, for the rest of it, he was outstanding.
05:42You've just got to keep going with these things.
05:44You can sort of wallow in both the negativity or the uncertainty or whatever,
05:52but you've just got to keep going.
05:54That's my attitude to most things in life.
05:57At some point, you just...
06:00I'm sure that people are having some pretty bad days out there,
06:04but they've got to put their shoes on,
06:05they've got to put their workout fit on and go to work.
06:09Go to work and just earn.
06:14Of course, we'll help Fraser like we help all the players,
06:16but we've got a big game Sunday and we need him,
06:18and I'm sure he'll be ready for it.
06:20Just lastly, 19 goals in Tottenham's last three matches,
06:23either side in domestic competition.
06:25No chance then of 0-0 on Sunday?
06:29I'd be very surprised, but you never know.
06:32Like I said, they're a fantastic team.
06:35They've got unbelievable attacking threats,
06:37so you're always going to be wary of that.
06:41We're pretty good at scoring ourselves, so we'll see.
06:47Hi, Ange. How are you doing?
06:48I'm good, Ben.
06:50Just like lots of other managers have come in
06:52and their theories have been taken on by other teams,
06:55do you think your theory, your Ange ball, might be taken on by other managers?
06:59It's a thrilling style of football,
07:01one which clearly fans love to watch, neutrals love to watch.
07:07Look, I don't know.
07:09Like I said after the game last night,
07:14I guess it's the team we want to be,
07:19and some of it is around, obviously,
07:22the premise that we want to be a sort of attacking team.
07:26There's no doubt about that in everything we do,
07:29both in the way we attack but also in the way we defend.
07:32We want to be an attacking team.
07:37Within that context, we still want to be successful,
07:39so it's not about discounting that important aspect to it.
07:48I've always tried to take sort of,
07:55for want of a better word, less travelled roads
07:58because I just think for me there's no real advantage in me
08:02trying to do what everyone else is doing or the majority are doing.
08:05I've got to do things a little bit differently,
08:07so I can be at the age of a young 59,
08:12be sitting in the Premier League after coming from Australia,
08:14and I think for us as a football club,
08:16if we're going to bridge that road to success,
08:18we've got to do things a little bit differently.
08:24It's not easy, but I still think it's the path we need to choose,
08:27and then sort of how others react to that.
08:31Again, we've got to be guided by our own principles
08:35and guided by our own signs of progress.
08:39Regarding Fraser Forster last night,
08:41I don't know whether you'd be a manager
08:43that would necessarily put an arm around him,
08:45but in future, would you maybe encourage your defenders
08:48not to play out so much from the back until Vicario comes back in
08:52because maybe that isn't his strength?
08:57No, because that would give us multitudes of other problems.
09:02We're where we are and we'll continue to progress
09:05because of the way we play.
09:06I don't think we need to protect anyone in our team.
09:09If you go out there and play,
09:11you're kind of putting your hand up to play our way.
09:15But we'll help players.
09:17Last night, what we try and do as coaches
09:23is give as many tools for our players
09:26to make good decisions out there.
09:27Ultimately, we can't control a game of football managers
09:30as much as we try to.
09:33I'm a big believer in giving players the tools
09:36to make the best decisions out there.
09:38I think Fraser could have made some better decisions out there.
09:41It wasn't because of us trying to play out from the back.
09:44We just made some poor decisions.
09:46I think other players made poor decisions
09:48that led up to the ball being back with Fraser before that.
09:51That's where you go, okay, how can we help?
09:53We help them by showing them
09:55that there are better decisions in the way we play
09:58without going away from our football
10:00that will mean we won't have the same outcome as last night.
10:04On a slightly lighter note,
10:05you've spoken before about how Dutch football
10:08used to influence you as a kid,
10:09but also how you were a fan of Liverpool.
10:13Just talk to us about your recollections of watching
10:16I guess the early 80s?
10:18Yeah, late 70s, early 80s.
10:20Actually, my first was probably around,
10:22I think it was the 74 FA Cup, it might have been, Liverpool.
10:28Yeah, I loved the whole...
10:31I think back then it was kind of pass and move,
10:34the Liverpool style.
10:35They used to play a lot of five-a-sides.
10:37The trainee used to read about it, digest it.
10:39And really what five-a-sides were
10:41was a modern sort of rondo.
10:44So ahead of their time, kept the ball on the deck,
10:48all the stuff I loved,
10:49mainly because my dad sort of loved the way they played.
10:53Yeah, I was born a bit from that.
10:58Fair to say they went away from that after a while.
11:02But yeah, no, a lot of my early recollections
11:05and enjoyment of football came from that style of game.
11:11Thank you, mate.
11:12Hi, is Mikey Moore in a position to return to this squad?
11:15No, no, no. He hasn't been involved.
11:17We'll need to get at least a couple of weeks' training into Mikey
11:20and get him back up to speed.
11:22But yeah, hopefully not too far away.
11:24How much did Jed Spence deserve that stunning ovation last night
11:27for the work he's put in in recent months?
11:29Yeah, brilliant. Fantastic, again.
11:31Like I said last week, he's had to bide his time.
11:35Probably deserved to play a little bit more,
11:37but kind of the situation we were in in the early part of the year,
11:40Archie was playing more as a sort of cover for left-back and right-back,
11:45obviously not registered for Europe, kind of limited his opportunities,
11:48but he kept working hard at training.
11:52I think it's brilliant that he's, like I said,
11:55it's not that he's come in and he's kind of filled a spot for us,
11:57he's actually making an impact.
11:59Again, he set up, played a great ball at the Dom for his goal,
12:03but defensively he did an enormous job for us.
12:05He's always, physically he's outstanding.
12:09Really pleased for him because it's not easy when you're training and training
12:13and you want to contribute and you don't get that opportunity.
12:18Yeah, great for him.
12:20He loved the day he signed for Tottenham.
12:23It's taken him a long time to kind of get out there
12:26and for him to sort of feel the love of the supporters last night,
12:30credit to him and well deserved.
12:32Has he improved the point in these last couple of games
12:34that he can't sustain the consistency for you?
12:37Yeah, I think so, to a certain extent.
12:39It's two games, you always put context into this.
12:42For him now, it's about pushing on and challenging the guys who are there.
12:46At some point we will have a squad
12:48and we'll have some selection issues, not at the moment.
12:52But it's great for us that we've got a player
12:55who's come in through a really difficult time for us
12:59and not just come in and sort of fill gaps,
13:02but actually made us a better team, I think.
13:05We saw Vicario on the pitch off the game.
13:08He's a bit away.
13:11He's a doubt for Sunday.
13:13I just wondered how he's doing in his recovery.
13:15Yeah, going well.
13:16Typical sort of Vic.
13:18He's pushing every boundary, mate.
13:22Again, obviously he's still a fair bit away,
13:24but whatever sort of timeline that is,
13:26he'll make sure he's back as quickly as possible.
13:28He's still very much around the group.
13:30We saw him last night, but even at training every day,
13:32he's still very much around the group.
13:34He's so invested in what we're doing
13:36and he's kind of helping the keepers,
13:38but also helping the whole group.
13:40Yeah, he's progressing well.
13:43Afterwards, you said in your interview correctly
13:46that the pundits were probably going mad
13:48about the way the game was.
13:50Do you think the way that we talk about football
13:52and entertainment has changed?
13:54Has it become more serious?
13:56Because if I think back to when I was growing up, Newcastle,
13:59everyone loved that team and it feels like now
14:02there's more criticism of that way of playing.
14:06I don't know if it's criticism,
14:08but I think people have dived into analytics and information
14:15and it's a bit like I was saying with VAR,
14:19where they think that technology should bring perfection
14:23and the beauty of our game is the flaws in our game.
14:27That's what creates moments and goals.
14:31I think people say Tottenham were great,
14:35but if they did this and if they did that,
14:38if we were great, that would be perfect,
14:40but that will never happen.
14:42I think sometimes you've just got to sit back
14:44and just say, okay, actually that's pretty impressive
14:49that in the last two games we've scored nine goals
14:54against Premier League opposition
14:56and I said with a fairly thin squad of players
15:02and you've got to say, okay, well,
15:04analysis aside, it's actually pretty good going
15:08and just enjoy it, enjoy it for what it is
15:10because again, I just think you can
15:16and too many do overanalyse things.
15:19Every goal has a mistake in it from an opposition player,
15:22every goal.
15:23You can dissect the living daylights out of it
15:26if that's what you're looking for,
15:29but that doesn't mean that that's a flaw in the system
15:32or a flaw in the game or a flaw in the model.
15:35I just think that that's a consequence
15:37of the beauty of our game.
15:39As much as house managers want to control every aspect of it,
15:43you can't because they're human beings.
15:46How aware are you of the wider discourse?
15:49As a manager, do you ignore all of it
15:52or do you think some of it's worth paying attention to?
15:54I don't ignore it, but I don't seek it.
15:57Like I said, I'm still a fan of the game,
16:00but if there's stuff that will come across my desk
16:02that I find interesting, then I'll read it.
16:07I like more reading stuff that's got a bit of substance
16:11and context to it.
16:13But yeah, things will come across the desk,
16:15but in terms of the general noise,
16:17yeah, no, I don't think there's any benefit in me
16:20jumping into that world because, as I said,
16:23a lot of it is just the fact that there are a lot more platforms
16:29out there for people to have an opinion,
16:31which is great, I guess, in terms of...
16:33But is that really beneficial or helpful to me
16:39or do I get any sort of...
16:41Because I think some of it is just to provoke reactions.
16:45And if people think it upsets me or gets me angry,
16:49it's not the way I'm wired.
16:52I've said before, I've backed away from social media
16:56in its current form because I don't like it.
16:58I don't like what it brings out.
17:02And, yeah, like I said, I've got the world's most solid phone.
17:05So it's a blissful existence I have.
17:14And, Jim, it's been about a month since Vicario's been in goal
17:17and since... Sorry, since Fraser's been in goal
17:19and Vicario's been injured.
17:21Can you tell me... He's probably only made two mistakes
17:23in that Man United match in the seven games he's played.
17:27How have you appraised him?
17:29And it felt like you left the door open a little bit
17:31to a transfer in January for a goalkeeper.
17:33Is he closing that door when he first got injured for Vicario?
17:38I think I left it open in that,
17:40if we've got another injury with a goalkeeper,
17:42then we definitely have to sign someone.
17:44But I didn't leave the door open in terms of...
17:47Like I said, I think Fraser's...
17:49He's done really well for us coming in.
17:51It's not easy.
17:53Any time a number two goalkeeper comes in,
17:57especially for an extended period of time,
17:59it's not the easiest position to come into.
18:02But I think he's handled it really well,
18:05as I expected him to.
18:08Like I said, he was disappointed with last night,
18:11but we've got to keep that in context of his overall performance.
18:14It's not like it's been four or five games
18:17of a series of mistakes.
18:20So we keep it in context of what happened last night.
18:25He still contributed to our victory.
18:28I thought in the first half of his feat he was outstanding.
18:31He helped us, platform us to get up the park,
18:34to beat their pressure.
18:36Pulled off a good save just before they scored the first goal from Xerx.
18:40He didn't have a lot to do, to be fair.
18:42I thought we handled it really well.
18:44But he made a couple of poor decisions on the night.
18:48We'll work with him, Virgil, work with him.
18:51Like I said, we've got no choice but to saddle up again on Sunday and go again.
18:55He's been excellent in the other six games,
18:57especially since he's not been match fit.
18:59How impressive is that?
19:01Are you comfortable with him continuing for another month,
19:04another two months in that sort of length of time?
19:07Like I said, at the moment that's the situation we're in.
19:11It's for us to look beyond.
19:17I'm going into every game not knowing if I've got 11 feet players.
19:21For me to look beyond Liverpool on Sunday.
19:24Like I said, we rolled up yesterday in Timo's, not well.
19:27Destiny had to pull out.
19:2910 first team players.
19:31Carabao Cup semi-final, we've got two players suspended from last night.
19:34Which is unbelievable to me that we got yellow cards and they didn't.
19:37But that's another story.
19:40We've got Papa in matters.
19:42We're two down from this point.
19:44If I lose anyone else between now and then, mate, I'll go nuts.
19:48I want to have a decent Christmas.
19:50I'll just focus on Sunday and make sure I've got 11 feet players.
19:54Just a nice Christmassy point.
19:56Arne Slott said your team's a joy to watch.
19:59He compared it to Spurs' mentality of Hoddle, Van der Vaart, Modric.
20:04He said he was such a fan that he could almost be your agent.
20:07So I just wondered if you could return the compliment to him.
20:10From my age, I'd be happy to hear that.
20:12No, look, I appreciate it.
20:15Kind words from somebody who is making his own impact in the game.
20:23Look, I think most fellow managers,
20:26whether they sort of agree with my approach
20:28or kind of understand where I'm coming from or what I'm trying to do.
20:32And, you know, I guess that respect is kind of mutual for me.
20:40I said last week, we've all got really difficult tasks.
20:44We've all got our own challenges.
20:46We all go about it in our own way.
20:48I admire the people who stick to their principles
20:51and have conviction about what they do,
20:53whether they're successful or not,
20:55because we're not all going to be successful as much as we'd like to.
21:00So, you know, I appreciate the sentiment.
21:05And like I said, I think, you know,
21:08most managers, whether they agree with my approach or not,
21:11will kind of understand what I'm doing.
21:17On a similar point, actually, I guess would you be more inclined
21:20to sort of listen to the opinion of someone like Arnie Slott
21:23rather than a certain former Liverpool defender
21:25who's kind of telling you you've got to change,
21:27even though you've got 10 players out and you've just won 4-3?
21:30Jamie Carragher, mate. You can name him.
21:33He'll enjoy that.
21:35People tell me he likes me, so that's a good thing.
21:37They tell me, I just hear what he said, but he likes you as a person.
21:40I go, oh, that's important to me.
21:43It's... Look, it's all valid. It's all valid.
21:47But I don't need validation from anybody to do what I do.
21:51You know, like I said, whether you agree with my approach or not,
21:55there's validity in both.
21:57And I don't have an issue with that.
21:59I love the fact that people are talking about our games
22:02and analysing our games.
22:04I mean, I think that's important as well for this football club.
22:07I'd rather that than us being anonymous and no-one talking about us
22:10or we just sort of, you know, grinding out in existence.
22:14I like the fact that...
22:16And as I've always said, you've got to be prepared for scrutiny,
22:19you've got to be prepared for criticism.
22:21It's how you react to that that's more important.
22:25I don't think one is any less credible than the other in many respects.
22:30What I'm saying is I don't need validity either way.
22:34It won't change what I believe,
22:36because what I believe is born from, you know,
22:41a lifetime of experiences and values
22:45that I won't let anyone sort of tamper with from the outside.
22:49So...
22:51And, you know, I've said before,
22:54like, whether it's Jamie or anyone else
22:57kind of, you know, scrutinising or criticising our approach,
23:02that's healthy, because to me,
23:05how you react to that is much more important than that itself.
23:09Because if you're going to jump at every time,
23:11then that kind of tells me, well, we don't really have a lot of belief
23:14in this building about what we're doing,
23:16if we're always going to worry about what he's saying
23:18or, you know, we need somebody to say a good thing
23:21or somebody, oh, he said a bad thing, you know.
23:23I think it's healthy if it's coming from the right sort of place.
23:27And I think, you know, with someone like Jamie,
23:30he's there to give his opinion.
23:32He's not going to stand there and say,
23:34well, actually, I've got nothing to say.
23:36He's going to give an opinion.
23:38Some of the other stuff I kind of...
23:43..that I don't understand,
23:45because I think it's just about, you know, getting some headlines and that.
23:49But, again, if you react to that,
23:51then it kind of says more about yourself than anything else.
23:53Any of you want to expand on it
23:55in terms of the things that you've liked just to get a headline?
23:59No, not really.
24:01But, I mean, it's...
24:03You know, it's...
24:05There's some stuff out there that I find,
24:07and at the appropriate time, I'll call it out,
24:09just offensive towards me.
24:11I just think, you know, I...
24:13I know, I'm up here, I've got a silly accent
24:15and, you know, I kind of...
24:17Seriously, people want me to,
24:19and fairly dismissive of me, but that's all right.
24:23I love my life and I'll keep doing what I'm doing, mate.
24:26OK, we'll end the broadcast section there and move on.