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Postecoglou on players back from injury, facing Amorim and Europa changes

14/02/2025

Tottenham Training Ground, London, UK
Transcript
00:00Shall we start with some good injury news, Ang, because I don't think those words have been in the sentence, have they, for a while?
00:09The joy at having the likes of Vicario, Maddison and Destiny back and what that gives you on Sunday in terms of fresh bodies but fresh minds and people raring to go, I imagine.
00:22Yeah, definitely. It's been a good week, fair to say, in terms of the health and wellbeing of the group of young men I look after.
00:34I think the guys who have been playing have benefited a fair bit from having a couple of days off and just regenerating and I think that's been really important for us.
00:44Yeah, on the injury front, certainly good to have some significant players back for training purposes to start with because it just raised the level and quality of our training.
00:58But also, in terms of helping us from a playing perspective, Vicario, yes, trained really well, he's good to go. Maddison's good to go.
01:12And then we've had Destiny, Wilson, Brennan also training with the group and yeah, they're in a good place, space as well. So, like I said, it's been a good training week.
01:27In terms of Romero and van der Veen, obviously we've seen bits of van der Veen, haven't we? And you were a bit more hopeful that they might be back around now. Has there been a sort of setback or are you just having to be super, super cautious?
01:42No, it's not either. Like I said, with Mickie, 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 space.
01:57So, he's doing some different things, he's working with some different people, not as much about the injury as much about just the mechanics of him because we want him back and we want him back in a real good space and he's training, he feels really good.
02:12So, we're still confident it's going to be, his return is imminent, but we just want to make sure we get it right. With Romero, it's just been a kind of healing issue. The injury hadn't healed up as quickly as we thought it would, which again, we could have pushed him, risked it, but we've kind of just waited and given it a bit more time.
02:35So, we'll get some clear indication as to his healing and depending on that, again, his return could be imminent as well.
02:43I know we spoke a bit about United this morning, but when Ruben Amorim came in, he came in with a very clear way of, the way he wanted to play football and something you obviously aspired to do as well.
02:58How much respect do you have to give him, given the noise going on, given the problems that are clearly going on at that club, in terms of him keeping what he wants to do in that focus?
03:15Yeah, look, I've said before, I've got respect for all managers because I know how tough it is, but I'm sure if you asked Ruben that he would say, well, he's just doing what he was brought in to do. And there's no point, he's come in to, obviously they've scouted him, they've identified him, the way he plays, the way he goes about his business.
03:39You don't just make these appointments because, you know, you like the look of someone, you do actually a lot of work and you bring him in with a purpose. Now, if anyone believes that anything can change significantly in a short space of time, living in an alternate universe, it's not based in reality.
03:58I'm sure if, and I might advise anybody, but if Man United stuck with Ruben for the next two years, they'd see progress, absolutely, because that's how long it takes. And if somebody can show me somebody who's done it quicker, without significant investment, by all means, put it across my desk and I'll follow that blueprint. But we know there's a blueprint there.
04:22And, you know, I'm sure, irrespective of the noise, and like I said, I've only literally spoken to Ruben maybe for 30 seconds at a game, I'm sure he's there and he's going, you know what, I'm going to do what I was brought in to do. And that's what he should do.
04:40Ian, please.
04:46Hi, Ang, how are you?
04:47I'm good.
04:48So Romero and Van De Ven possibly back imminently. Can you be more specific?
04:54No, mate, because it's, I'm not a doctor. And also, as I keep saying, there's a barrier that you can't cross when you're talking about people and, you know, whether that's injuries or medically. As I said, I'm not, unless you want to call me a liar, what I'm saying is that both of them are training. There's evidence of that if you want that.
05:20Both of them are in a good place in terms of their recovery. Different reasons we've held both back. And once they're right, they'll be in.
05:28I most certainly was not calling you a liar. I'm just thinking because you've now got seemingly from the outside all or nothing on the Europa League this season. Are you saving them for that competition?
05:38No, and we're not all or nothing on anything. We still want to progress in the league. You know, we're not happy with the position we're in. There's still significant games. It's not like there's only a few games to go. There's still a lot of football to be played in the league. And we want to address our league position and finish the season strong.
05:54And alongside that, like you said, you're perfectly right that, you know, 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 what I want is, you know, both Mickie and Romero have had disrupted seasons in that, you know, they've got injured, come back, got injured again. I don't want the same scenario.
06:16You know, whilst it may look with Mickie like we had a false start with the Ellsworth thing, I just thought it gave us an indication of where he's at. And we could have pushed on, absolutely, we could have pushed on Romero. But my view is let's get them back and get them back right till the end of the season so that we give them a chance as well to kind of make a contribution to hopefully a strong finish for us.
06:41And finally, undoubtedly this has been probably one of your best weeks the whole season because you've had a chance to...
06:47Because we haven't had a game.
06:48You haven't had a game, yeah.
06:49And we haven't lost. It's been a decent week, yeah. Fair to say.
06:54I wasn't going to mention the losing.
06:55That's all right.
06:56But in all seriousness, do you feel like your old self again? Because there have been times in the last few weeks whereby...
07:03I've been grumpy.
07:04You've been a little bit grumpy, yeah.
07:06Fair enough, too.
07:07Fair enough.
07:08I've had to do this three times a week, sometimes on zero sleep. Cut me a little bit of slack.
07:15I mean, you know, I can't be bubbly and cheery all the time.
07:18No, look, fair to say, I appreciated the fact there wasn't a game this week.
07:25Yeah, for sure.
07:26I mean, I had dinner with my family last night.
07:28My boys said, it seems like you haven't had a game for a while, Dad.
07:31You know, it's only been four days.
07:32But that's the cycle we've all been in.
07:35And not just me, the other coaches.
07:37It's certainly, you know, when you're going at it all the time, you do get into this cycle where it does become a bit of a grind.
07:48But you know you have to do it.
07:49There's no alternative.
07:50I can't not do things that I'm responsible for.
07:54So having the opportunity of, like I said, even this, not having to front up, you know, two or three times and kind of answer the same kinds of questions allows you to sort of just take a breath.
08:06And yeah, hopefully I'm back to whatever I was before.
08:11Do you feel like a new man?
08:13I'm the same man.
08:14I feel like the same man I've always been.
08:18You know, I'm sure that grumpiness will emerge at the appropriate time if it needs.
08:27How important is it to have Vicario and maybe Madison's leadership back in there?
08:31Yeah, massive.
08:32Yeah, both of them.
08:34Particularly Vic, because with Vic it's not just he's an outstanding goalkeeper.
08:39Even training today, he's such a presence amongst the boys.
08:44He really gets everyone going and it's been tough without him because we've used three other goalkeepers and all of them have contributed.
08:57None of them have sort of let us down.
08:59It's just that Vic, like I said, he's experienced.
09:03Now he's got this strong personality.
09:05So great to have him back.
09:06And Matt is the same.
09:08Matt has got enormous self-belief and that sort of filters through the team as well.
09:14So I think the energy and experience they bring, you've already noticed, the training will certainly make a difference for us.
09:23Matt, isn't a doggy able to start if you need them or is it more a bench role?
09:27Matt is a possibility.
09:29Destiny, with the guys who have missed a little bit more, Matt has sort of been the shorter term one.
09:35We'll see whether they start or on the bench.
09:38Again, looking at our schedule, we've got another good week next week where no game.
09:42We can train and then we've got a mid-weeker.
09:44What I really want is to get to that space where we've got a mid-weeker where the likes of Destiny, Wilson, Brendan, Timo at a stretch all get some game time.
09:55So that if we need to rotate for Ipswich into City, these guys have played significant minutes.
10:02It was interesting earlier, you were saying about working with Mickie on the mechanics of his body.
10:06Is that because of the previous hamstring injuries before Spurs as well?
10:11Yes, it's just him understanding his body.
10:13Look, it's not my space but you look for the experts in those areas and there's been various people looking at different ways.
10:22He's an elite athlete but he's also at the extremities of speed.
10:30With all those kind of athletes, there are different methodologies on how to get to the space where they can perform at that optimum level without putting their body at risk.
10:39He's still a very young man in terms of footballing, both experience and his career.
10:48We want to get it right because what you want is Mickie to play 10 years at the best possible level.
10:54This gives us an opportunity hopefully to address as much as we can in-season to give him the best chance of getting back to the level he can get to.
11:06First chance to ask you about the Europa League squad changes you made.
11:14Can you just explain the three changes?
11:16Yes, it's pretty straightforward.
11:17Obviously with Rada going down, we're kind of short a central defender there.
11:23With Mickie and Romero still, we've got to see when they go back.
11:28I think it made sense for us to bring Kevin and Jed back into the squad.
11:32Obviously, we're keen to bring Matty in as well.
11:37That's why we signed him.
11:39We can only make the three changes.
11:42We're obviously still kind of limited because we don't have club trained.
11:47That's going to be an issue for us for the next couple of years.
11:49That kind of limits the opportunities for us to tinker any more.
11:54With the three changes, I thought they were the logical ones.
11:58From what you're saying, it sounded like Vicario's still the number one goalkeeper.
12:03Now he's back.
12:04I was just wondering how you see the relationships between him and Kinski and how well Kinski's done and how he can progress as well.
12:09He's still the number one.
12:12He got injured when we beat Man City and we were fifth on the table.
12:17He wasn't dropped, so he was injured.
12:20He's back now and certainly we're happy to have him back.
12:24I've been really happy with Tony.
12:27Even at Villa, obviously he made the mistake, but his reaction to that was outstanding.
12:32For a 21-year-old in that environment to bounce back from a mistake like that.
12:38We've thrown him in and given him some enormous tasks with very little preparation.
12:44I just think he's going to be an outstanding goalkeeper.
12:48Brandon as well has really grown through this period.
12:52I know Bertie's really happy now with the goalkeeping group.
12:56We've got a really strong goalkeeping group now that can push each other.
13:00Really, really pleased to get Tony into the club because we think he's going to be an outstanding goalkeeper.
13:07No better one to work alongside than Vic.
13:10I was at Aston Villa and obviously you got asked about your style of play after that game.
13:15I was also looking at the data and the intensity's been dialed down maybe for the last four games for obvious reasons.
13:21I was wondering with the week off, with players coming back, can you go back towards what you believe in?
13:28We never stop going towards what we believe in.
13:31It's just that we weren't able to do it, as I said, after the game.
13:35You're talking about players who are fatigued, tired, mentally, physically, facing enormous challenges at 60-hour intervals.
13:48There hasn't been a change of approach.
13:51What the week does give us, it does give us a chance to re-energise and hopefully allow us to better execute the kind of football we want to play.
14:02That style of football that you're known for, that's going to continue from now on, do you hope?
14:07Is that the kind of aim and plan?
14:09It's always been the aim, but it's never changed.
14:11It's never wavered from that.
14:16That's the kind of football we want to play, that's the kind of team we want to be.
14:22Like I said, the next two to three weeks allows us to both get some players back which will help with our training,
14:29help with our preparation, help with our ability to rotate,
14:32but also not having mid-week games gives us a good chance to recover between games to reach those levels.
14:39I just wanted to ask one about Sonny.
14:41As captain, can you give us a bit of an insight about the sort of things he does off the pitch, behind the scenes?
14:47I imagine his leadership has been quite important during a difficult period.
14:51I think with Sonny, the main thing is he sets the standard in terms of the way he trains, the way he prepares himself.
15:00He sets the example with everything he does in and around the club and outside the club.
15:09He tries to be a positive influence on everyone, keep everyone's mind focused in a positive way.
15:17It hasn't been easy because he has been feeling the same as the other players.
15:23Fatigue, 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.
15:34I think for him and some of the other guys who have stepped up as well in this period,
15:40the fact that the players have stuck together through that whole process.
15:45At no stage do they splinter off or look to absolve any responsibility of themselves as individuals.
15:53It's a testament to the fact that there's a good bonding there that's been laid down by Sonny and the other leaders.
16:05Hopefully now he gets a bit of help with guys like Vic and Mattis who are on our leadership group.
16:13Romero is the other one that can help him carry the load.
16:18Did you feel as captain, having been here for so many years, that he felt that sense of responsibility a bit more during this difficult period?
16:27I'm sure he did, but that's the nature of leadership.
16:32There's no point taking on a leadership role if you don't want that responsibility.
16:37That's an essential core part of leading people is that during tough times you have to carry the extra load.
16:46Otherwise, you're better off not being in that position.
16:50But it is, it's not easy and it requires a lot of discipline and internal fortitude to make sure that you're constantly putting aside your own personal feelings for the better of the group.
17:10You said you're seeing different people. Are you speaking to people from outside the club to get expert advice on it?
17:19We always are, but we've had a couple of people externally have a look at him and give him some more guidance and information.
17:31And to our staff as well about some things he can do differently which will help him, as I said, as much of it around making sure that his body is better equipped to handle the kind of athlete he is.
17:48How frustrating is it for him? I remember his interview after the Europa League game. He seemed so pleased to be back. I guess he's very frustrated.
17:57Yeah, he was frustrated, but I had a good chat to him. I guess he probably just wanted to keep going.
18:04He's still got a 10-year career in front of him and once he's well into his career and he's flying, this period will seem insignificant of an extra two or three weeks for the benefit, hopefully, of him coming back and playing to the levels.
18:22He's a big part of this football club, not just for the now but for the future as well. It's in our interest. You've always got to protect your assets and he's a major asset to this football club.
18:36His career is much more important than one or two weeks of just doing some extra work.
18:43At any point have you worried that either Mickie or Kuti might need surgery?
18:50No, neither of them have ever been discussed. I don't know why people think I'm hiding stuff and maybe I don't explain myself clearly.
19:02The injuries were the injuries. Kuti had a quad strain and Mickie had a hamstring. When Wilson did his hamstring, he had surgery. There was no issue then. He was out for three months.
19:11Mickie was never discussed. But when you re-injure something, there's invariably a more cautious approach.
19:21When it's somebody like Mickie, who's an extreme athlete, I think you need, in my experience, to take it a little bit further.
19:30Surgery has never ever entered any discussion with either player. Now, if we push them back early and they weren't ready, then that becomes a real issue.
19:42We try to avoid that, but it was never surgery. The injury was the injury. It was a hamstring. Kuti, it's a quad.
19:49With Mickie, there's no issue around the injury anymore. It's just more about mechanics. With Kuti, it was just healing slower than we thought it would.