Tottenham bss Ange Postecoglou reacts to questions on Spurs supporters wanting them to lose against Manchester City so that Arsenal cannot win the Premier League Title.
Tottenham Hotspurs Training Ground, London, UK
Tottenham Hotspurs Training Ground, London, UK
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00:00 Hi Ansh, how's Richarlison's calf?
00:03 Yeah, not good. He'll miss the next two games.
00:08 Nothing serious, but obviously enough to keep him out of the next two games.
00:13 Bissouma, unfortunately, picked up an injury on the weekend's game,
00:19 so he'll miss the last two games of the season as well.
00:23 Everyone else who played is OK.
00:26 A proportion of your fans won't want you to win this game.
00:30 How do you feel about that and the potential atmosphere it might create?
00:33 A proportion of our fans? What does that mean?
00:36 Difficult to say how many.
00:39 Really? What, 50%, 20%, 1%? Just give me a rough estimate in your mind.
00:46 I don't know.
00:47 You don't know? OK.
00:48 So let's answer a question we don't know the answer to.
00:51 Yeah, that's fine. People are allowed to feel the way they do.
00:56 But I think I've been, again, really consistent
00:58 and I think really strong in my beliefs that it's important for this football club
01:07 to get to where we want to, to A, not look for some silver bullet
01:14 that's going to get us to where we want to.
01:16 It's hard work, it's perseverance, it's resilience,
01:19 it's quality that will get us what we want.
01:21 Not to fall for any sort of false dawns or any short-term result reactions.
01:27 Stick to the course.
01:28 And thirdly, know what real success looks like.
01:31 Real success looks like trophies.
01:33 Anything else in between, bragging rights, whatever it is,
01:38 is absolutely meaningless to me, to anyone involved with me.
01:42 We've got a game tomorrow, we want to win.
01:44 How might the players handle that atmosphere, though?
01:47 Do you think it will have an impact?
01:49 What atmosphere? You haven't told me.
01:50 So you think the majority of our fans are going to want us to not win tomorrow night?
01:55 I don't see it that way.
01:57 I think the majority of our fans will create the atmosphere
02:00 they've always created at our home games.
02:02 And as I said, irrespective, we've got a game of football to win
02:05 and that's what we're going to try and do.
02:06 And how much confidence can you take from your recent home record
02:09 against Manchester City?
02:10 Pep Guardiola's side have never won at the Tottenham Hotspur.
02:13 Well, my recent home record is one loss against Manchester City, mate.
02:16 So I'm not going to take any confidence from that.
02:18 So what I'll take confidence from is, you know,
02:22 we've got an opportunity to measure ourselves against the best.
02:28 You know, tomorrow night, a team that's consistently striving for honours,
02:34 a team that we want to try and emulate one day.
02:36 And the best way to do that is to measure yourself against them
02:39 by being yourself.
02:40 And we'll go out there tomorrow night, play our football and see where it takes us.
02:45 Hi, Ange.
02:46 You just kind of touched on it, but how big a test is this for Spurs,
02:49 given the fact that your team just got back to winning ways on the weekend
02:53 following that run of losses?
02:54 Yeah, I don't think that does really matter.
02:57 Any time you're going to play against Man City,
02:59 particularly if you're going to play them towards the end of the year
03:02 when they're always, you know, it seems to be at their best,
03:05 it's a hell of a challenge whether you've gone into it winning nine in a row
03:09 or, like us, just one game.
03:12 It's always going to be a test, but that's the exciting bit.
03:15 You want the test, you want the opportunity to take them on,
03:20 and we get that at home tomorrow.
03:22 In terms of the Champions League race, if Villa beat Liverpool tonight,
03:27 they will secure it for next season.
03:28 Will you be watching the game?
03:30 Will you be keeping an eye on the result of that match?
03:32 Yeah, I'll be watching the game because it's a good game of football,
03:35 two good teams.
03:36 I never stress or worry about things I can't control.
03:39 What I do know is we've got two games to go, six points to play for,
03:43 and we want to try and see how many points of those we can get.
03:47 And finally, just going back to Vacharlis,
03:49 will he travel with the team to Australia next week?
03:52 Just depending on the medical treatment.
03:54 I mean, you know, the whole group will travel to Australia
03:58 unless there's medical treatment needed.
04:01 But he wouldn't be available for the game because it's just too close.
04:05 - Hi, Ian. How are you? - I'm good, mate.
04:07 If a proportion of the Spurs fans -
04:12 and in my straw poll of four, two want you to win, two don't.
04:16 So you reckon it's 50% of our fan base, according to your poll?
04:20 Fan base, I know, yeah.
04:21 If a proportion don't want you to win,
04:23 nearly every Arsenal fan I know does want you to win tomorrow night,
04:25 have you ever been in this position before?
04:28 You've known this position before?
04:29 What's that?
04:30 Whereby your deadliest rivals want you to win
04:33 because basically you'd hand them the title.
04:36 I don't know. I've never thought of sport in that way.
04:38 I'm sure, you know.
04:40 Like I said, there's a pretty simple notion to this.
04:46 There's a game of football tomorrow night.
04:50 What do you think is going to happen?
04:52 What do you think we are going to do as a team,
04:55 or any team on this planet?
04:57 Are we going to just try and win?
04:59 It's a simple, basic premise.
05:01 Now, how that makes people feel, I'm not really fussed.
05:05 I don't really care.
05:07 I'd hate to think that anyone thinks that we would go out there tomorrow night
05:10 with anything other than trying to measure ourselves against a top team
05:15 and maybe win a game of football that's consequential.
05:20 How are we ever going to become a team that wins things
05:22 if we don't win the big games, if we shy away from it?
05:26 So why would we shy away from a challenge tomorrow night that exists?
05:30 Look, I get it.
05:31 And look, your straw poll of Arsenal fans, if it's correct,
05:35 then we're going to walk out to 50% of boos and 50% of cheering tomorrow night.
05:40 But I think that's highly unlikely.
05:43 Moving along a bit.
05:45 Yes, let's do that.
05:46 Yes, let's do that.
05:47 The last couple of home games, your centre-halves have cropped up
05:49 in un-centre-half-like positions to score goals.
05:53 Can we expect to see more of that, not only tomorrow,
05:55 but moving forward with you?
05:58 Look, it's part of our evolution.
06:02 And I think the great thing for us, particularly through this tough spell,
06:07 is just seeing, as I said, for me it's great
06:09 because I just see how people react to it, players.
06:13 I think there's certain individuals that have just really
06:16 sort of gritted their teeth and wanted to change the course of events,
06:21 not accept it.
06:22 I think probably because of kind of the nature of where we are as a team
06:29 at the moment, it's been the defenders.
06:31 It wasn't just the centre-halves.
06:32 Pedro scored an unbelievable goal on the weekend.
06:35 But I've loved seeing that.
06:38 I've loved seeing the growth in guys like Micky and Romero
06:42 and others in there who you would never see unless you went through tough times.
06:47 I think that's important.
06:50 It's one of those things where you know that if you can tap into it
06:54 moving forward, because again we'll have other challenges,
06:56 is those kind of guys are showing the way to kind of change
07:01 that course of events.
07:03 For me that's really something to grasp onto.
07:08 And finally, you're up against Pep tomorrow.
07:10 You spoke about that in the season and the games you played
07:12 both at City and the FA Cup game.
07:15 Just talk to us about the achievement of winning a league title
07:18 year after year after year in the league.
07:20 You did it yourself, you could be on the verge of doing it for the first time ever
07:23 four times in this league.
07:24 Yeah, it is incredible.
07:29 Sometimes people think, well, once you win it once it should become easier.
07:34 But actually it becomes more difficult.
07:36 You've got a target on your back and every year you've got to sort of
07:39 consistently try and get guys to climb the mountain again
07:45 knowing they've already done it.
07:47 It's particularly in the Premier League when you know the demands of the competition
07:52 and obviously they're always fighting, City are always fighting on multiple fronts
07:57 in terms of competition.
07:59 So I think it's a testament not just to Pep but to the whole organisation
08:04 that's really sort of disciplined on a blueprint of how they want to achieve success
08:09 and they're bearing that fruit.
08:12 I just wanted to ask you from your perspective as a football fan as well,
08:17 how much of an issue it is when you have a team with this level of dominance?
08:21 We've never seen a team winning four in a row.
08:24 They do it in such a way, they can seem almost unbeatable.
08:28 When does that become an issue do you think as a fan of another team
08:31 that you start kind of feeling like it's hopeless?
08:34 Well, they haven't done it yet.
08:35 No, they haven't.
08:36 So that's an important point.
08:38 Sure, but if they do.
08:40 Yeah, but that's what I mean.
08:42 They haven't done it yet but if you think they have then it does become an issue
08:45 because all of us are just sort of putting down the red carpet for them.
08:48 I'm not going to do that.
08:50 I think other managers will do that.
08:51 I'm certainly not going to sit down and just watch them win again.
08:54 That doesn't sit comfortably with me.
08:56 But that's in the hands of each club to try and break that dominance
09:02 and try and create teams that will challenge their dominance as a supporter.
09:10 I've always felt as a supporter.
09:13 I don't know.
09:14 I have been a supporter of the game
09:17 and obviously I've supported clubs when I was younger.
09:22 I was just interested in my club.
09:23 I didn't care about anyone else.
09:25 I just wanted my club to win.
09:26 I just wanted my club to be successful.
09:28 I couldn't care less about other teams apart from Hadingham to the core of my being.
09:33 But apart from that, I just wanted my team to be successful.
09:37 Just thinking ahead again to that game and the kind of fan perspective,
09:42 and I think I would actually go further from the Spurs fans' eyespeed
09:44 to I'd say the majority, what they're saying anyway is that they do hope Spurs lose the game,
09:48 which I'm not saying I agree with.
09:50 I think it's--
09:51 But I just wondered, do you think--
09:53 Obviously Schadenfreude and laughing at your rivals has always been a big part of football.
09:58 Do you think it's becoming, in the social media age or whatever,
10:01 is it becoming an even bigger thing now than it was?
10:04 Look, if you go by social media, yeah, it's probably 99% of Spurs supporters who don't--
10:08 if that's your world, but please don't tell me that's your world, Charlie.
10:11 No.
10:12 There's such a big world out there, mate.
10:14 Oh my God, please.
10:16 We'll need to have a session, a counselling session, if that's your world.
10:22 I-- like I said, to me I don't understand it.
10:29 I understand rivalry.
10:31 I was part of one of the biggest ones in the last couple of years in the world with Celtic and Rangers,
10:36 and I understand rivalry, but I've never--
10:40 and I will never understand if somebody wants their own team to lose.
10:44 I just-- that doesn't-- that's not what sport's about.
10:47 That's not what I love about the game.
10:49 What I love more than anything else in the game is the competitive on the surf.
10:53 You know what?
10:54 Challenging yourself to beat someone and come out successful.
10:57 Anything outside of that, it's got nothing to do with sport as far as I'm concerned.
11:01 It's nothing to do with me.
11:03 If other people want-- treat it that way where they derive pleasure from others' misery,
11:08 that's not how I've lived my life.
11:10 That's not how I perceive my role.
11:13 My role is to bring success to this football club,
11:15 and whatever proportion, whether it's these two mates or your 99% of people you know,
11:21 I know 100% of Spurs supporters want us to win, be successful and win trophies.
11:26 That is without a shadow of a doubt,
11:28 and us winning tomorrow night will help us sort of bring joy to 100% of Spurs supporters.
11:36 And just on Miki, you obviously played really well in that left-back role,
11:40 and you talked about how the reason really he hasn't done that is the physicality of it.
11:44 Just thinking that ahead tomorrow, does that mean him from the start there is probably unrealistic
11:49 and such a big gain?
11:51 No, look, as I said, I think we've-- from my perspective, I'm always mindful,
11:57 and I think I've said it quite a number of times, and you can either take me on face value or not,
12:02 is that I make decisions on all the information I have,
12:05 and that information always isn't available to the general public for good reason.
12:11 But there's reasons why we do what we do.
12:14 Miki has had an unbelievable first year, just astounding the levels he's already played at.
12:23 But we want him here for a long time, and we want him to be the best possible player he can be.
12:28 And part of his year has also meant he's had a couple of injuries,
12:31 so we've got to be really careful about how we use him, where we use him,
12:34 and why we use him in those areas.
12:37 Not just him, like a lot of the players,
12:39 but really when you're talking about the physical output we need in different areas.
12:44 So from that perspective, it doesn't mean we wouldn't play him there tomorrow night
12:47 or we wouldn't play him there on the weekend or like we did use him,
12:51 but all these decisions are made with the full knowledge of the information we have at hand,
12:56 and I'll always do what's best, I think, for the club.
12:59 Ali?
13:00 Hi, Ange. We saw you on the pitch with your family in the lap of appreciation after the game.
13:04 It looked like a lovely moment, the whole stadium was singing your name.
13:06 Was there slight mixed feelings for you?
13:08 Because when you normally do those, you've got this history of having trophies
13:12 when you do these lap of appreciations.
13:14 Is that something that you appreciated the pride of the moment
13:17 but also drive you on to provide more next season?
13:22 No, look, you can look at these things two ways.
13:26 I think it is important you acknowledge the fans.
13:30 Obviously we've got a game tomorrow night, but obviously it's a late game,
13:33 so I thought the weekend was a good time to do that because they've been a big part of our year.
13:40 They've kind of stuck behind us from day one.
13:43 I think they've appreciated what we've tried to do,
13:46 and a lot of our home games this year have ended in pretty exciting victories
13:51 and I think the supporters have helped,
13:53 so it was a good chance to just say thanks to them for their support this year,
13:57 and I think that's important.
14:00 The families, I often say,
14:05 but they're the ones that are making the massive sacrifices through the year,
14:10 and it just gives them that little bit of acknowledgement that they more than deserve,
14:14 and I often say to the players, when it's all said and done,
14:17 the fans may move on to new heroes, you guys won't be talking about them,
14:24 people won't be calling them up as much as they used to,
14:28 but their families will be there right after their playing careers are finished,
14:32 so it's important you appreciate them while you're in your career, don't wait until after.
14:36 I thought, look, it's a nice moment, but I wasn't out there celebrating anything, that's for sure.
14:42 That'll come, that's the plan,
14:46 but at the same time you should take a moment to just be thankful.
14:50 For me, that's what's important in that moment, thankful for the club I'm at,
14:54 the supporters who are supporting me, and most importantly for my family who allow me to do what I want.
15:00 Just back on Richarlison quickly, it seemed like he was left out of the Brazil squad for the Copa America because of his injury.
15:05 Would he have been fit or not?
15:08 Now you've got the scan results, would he have been fit if selected to play at the Copa America?
15:12 No, no, he'd probably miss three, four weeks at least, I think, from what I understand,
15:16 from what the guys are telling me.
15:18 Just the last one quickly, Dane Scarlett came on, looked quite bright at the weekend,
15:22 what's the next step for him, what's his development, where does he go?
15:25 Yeah, look, he's like a lot of the young guys, it's just about making an impact when you get opportunities
15:30 and then trying to build a body of work that allows them then to progress their careers.
15:38 Dane's had probably a bit of a frustrating year for himself, his loan move didn't work out,
15:43 and obviously he's had limited opportunities in the first team,
15:46 but he's there, he's in the squad at the moment, he got some minutes the other day,
15:52 he had a couple of good moments, he's had a few opportunities in the last two games.
15:56 It's like any other young player, you've got to take the opportunities that are before you
15:59 and make an impact and sort of grow your career.
16:02 George?
16:03 Hi Ant, you mentioned Basuma's out tomorrow,
16:06 will that be a sort of straight swap with Hojbjerg as it has been or will you look at other options?
16:13 No, we've got some options in there, obviously Pierre and Rodgerie came on and did well the other night
16:19 to replace Biss I thought, and Skippy's always an option in there,
16:22 so we've got some options in the midfield.
16:24 Disappointing for Biss because, like I said, I thought his last two games,
16:27 last three games I think he was back to sort of his early season form and he felt that as well,
16:31 he's had a disrupted season.
16:33 But as I said, it's the way our season seems to have gone,
16:36 no-one's had a real clear run of games to really kind of build on.
16:42 So disappointing for him, he was desperate to play
16:44 and we would have done anything to play tomorrow night these last two games.
16:49 But again, I think with Biss this year, as much as it's been disruptive for him,
16:55 I just think it sets him up really well for next year because he'll know where our expectations are,
17:02 he'll know the levels he can reach playing our football
17:05 and I'm sure he'll start pre-season ready to make an impact.
17:09 You mentioned about some of the young players in terms of Dane,
17:12 I mean, Man City have obviously got a lot of money
17:14 but they've actually produced a lot of really important academy players.
17:18 Where do you sort of look at the Spurs academy?
17:20 I mean, you spoke about it a few months ago,
17:22 have you been impressed with what those guys have done over the last few months
17:25 and do you think some of them could push into trying to force their way into the first team next season?
17:31 Yeah, look, I think there's definitely this year that...
17:37 Yeah, the under-21s, the under-18s have shown some real promise
17:41 and some real growth, which is important.
17:44 But it's a big step between that and playing first team football
17:47 and I think you mentioned Manchester City, there are various ways to get to first team.
17:53 Guys like Foden and Palmer kind of didn't go out on loan,
17:58 stayed there and trained with the first team without many opportunities
18:01 and eventually broke through, others went out on loan.
18:04 So I think there's different ways.
18:05 But what I do know with young players is your best chance of having them come in
18:10 and sort of make an impact is to have a real stable senior environment
18:14 and that's what we're trying to build at the moment.
18:17 I don't think throwing youngsters in when things are chaotic or things are turbulent is the best time,
18:23 even though sometimes there's a tendency to do that
18:26 when you're desperate, just throw young players in.
18:29 I think for the world development, for the ones that you really believe
18:34 have got a potential to make it, can you bring them into an environment
18:38 where it's already established in terms of the way the team plays,
18:43 in terms of the culture of the place.
18:47 In terms of the first team, that's what we've been trying to build this year.