Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou goes through injuries and returning players ahead of Newcastle clash
03/01/2025
Tottenham Hotspurs Training Ground, London, UK
03/01/2025
Tottenham Hotspurs Training Ground, London, UK
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SportsTranscript
00:00Have a New Year everyone. Good to see everyone.
00:06Whole six days off, have you had a chance to give everybody a little bit of time, space, quiet time, reflection, recovery? What have you done?
00:17The main sort of driver in that was recovery more than anything else. We've obviously been on a fairly lengthy cycle of games every two to three days. Give the guys a couple of days off and then get back into it.
00:36Has it helped get anybody fit and available for the weekend?
00:40No, unfortunately no. So I guess Destiny obviously with his hamstring, looks around sort of six week mark for him missing. We obviously would lose Benton Core, suspended. None of the injured ones are kind of back yet.
01:01We've had a bit of an illness bug running through the squad as well, so a few are missing training. But that's all right, we'll be right.
01:10Will the illness sort of strike the numbers for tomorrow? Are you going to lose any more because of the illness tomorrow?
01:15Not sure yet, we'll see.
01:17And in terms of the comeback of when the others might be available, is it still the schedule you've talked? There's no setbacks?
01:24Yeah, at this stage Richie and Mikey, more of the two next sort of cabs off the rank, hopefully next week at some point. And then sort of Ben, Mickie, Vandervin and Romero, all kind of around the same time, sort of back end of January, they're all sort of slated to return.
01:45It is January, the window is now open, we are three days into it, no rivals so far, any imminent and how kind of much are you pushing, pushing to get some bodies through the door?
01:57It's not a matter of pushing, but I think the club's working hard to try and sort of get some help for the playing group and it's no secret we need to sort of bolster up our numbers a little bit.
02:11So the club's working hard on that and obviously January's not an easy month, we understand that, it's not an easy time to sort of bring people in particularly quickly and at the same time we still want to make sure we do what we think is the best thing for us rather than sort of just panic and sort of bring in people who aren't going to be a suitable fit.
02:34Nothing imminent?
02:36Not really sure, could be imminent, could not be imminent, not sure.
02:40And in terms of obviously playing Newcastle, bang in form, probably not who you want to play at the moment, but at home you have been so good up until maybe the last few weeks, how do you go about sort of re-engaging that home form, rebuilding that sort of fortress sense to what you're about?
03:03Because it's been difficult hasn't it, 12 goals I think in your last three Premier League games that you conceded, just sort of that mindset change?
03:11Yeah I think there's context to all that obviously and I think everyone knows what the context is, but it is what it is and Newcastle will be a good test, good side, we always have good games against them, I think they're always close, both teams in all the games we've had against them have had their moments and they're in good form at the moment, they're in a good period and it's a good chance for us but at the same time I know sort of, yeah.
03:41We obviously haven't had the results we want but I still think our football at home has still been of a good quality and we've certainly done enough in games to win them so we've just got to go out there with the same mindset tomorrow.
03:53And just finally, Thomas Tuchel has started obviously on the 1st of January and he's decided he's coming to watch you guys, can you use that at all with any of those particularly English players that want to make an early mark just to sort of get something extra out of them?
04:11Maybe Thomas just wants to see a good game mate, he's heard good things about us so you never know. So hopefully we put on a show, I don't think that really factors into players' motivations. I'm pretty sure even if Thomas wasn't there and the players played well that he would find out about it so I said hopefully he gets a nice seat and enjoys the spectacle.
04:36And from that nice seat, what I guess big developments would he expect to see in Dom Solanke's game that might push him on now to be really threatening Harry Kane in the National Team?
04:45Yeah, look I think Dom's been outstanding for us. He's scored goals but it's just his all-round game and his capacity to help the team in all aspects of our football. Defensively, link-up play, still being a presence in the box, really intelligent with his movement and really pretty much carrying that position on his back with no help, no rest.
05:15I think it says an enormous amount about his character and the kind of person he is so I can't speak highly enough of him. The load he's had to carry for us in the last sort of two months without a lot of help and from us being able to allow him to recover and yet he still every week puts in a massive performance. I think I've got no doubt, I'm sure Thomas has been following him but I've got no doubt he'll be impressed.
05:42You mentioned January already and you mentioned the difficulty with doing what's right for the club. How is the balance shifting between quick fixes to help you through this current situation and get you to the end of the season? Maybe loans compared to what the longer term picture might have been in terms of targeting signings?
05:57I think it's a combination of both but whether it's a loan or it's a permanent, I think it's still got to fit into what we're trying to create here from a footballing perspective and a cultural perspective. It's just about getting whatever's available quickly. I don't think that's the solution for us. As I said, we've been really disciplined about our work so far and will continue to be.
06:24One new face who has come through the door of course is Young Min Hyuk. What is the realistic timeline with him? I know he's just been around the place, getting used to England and whatever. What is your plan for him?
06:33No real plan at the moment. Just let him settle. He's obviously still very, very young, coming from the other side of the world where the level of competition is nowhere near what he's going to face here. We'll just give him time to adapt. Obviously, it helps that Sonny's here and helps him around when he's at the club and outside the club. We're just trying to get him settled really. Just give him a chance to settle in. No real plan. We'll just take it as it goes with him and see how he settles in.
07:03Hi, I'm Jim. I just wanted to talk a bit about the injuries a bit more and the context. I know a lot of them were muscle injuries and hamstring pretty prevalent as well, so I just wondered how much has it been the extra fixtures, the Europa League and Carabao Cup run that's impacted that and how much has it been the style of play mixed with those extra 33% of fixtures?
07:29I think it's probably a combination of all of them, but at the same time, there's also an individual thing involved there as well. I think it's a combination of all those things, the amount of fixtures, the way we play. I guess the challenging bit for us is quite a few of them have been re-injuries, which is something we're looking at.
07:56I guess I think it's a combination of all those things. I don't think it's unique to us. I think you're seeing that across the board with a lot of clubs. It's just that we've been hit more extreme and then you add Vicario when his is not a muscle injury, but it's a long-term and it exacerbates the situation we're in.
08:21When you talk about the things you're looking at to try and change it, I know you don't ever want to change your style of play because it's something you truly believe in and that's the philosophy of you and this club now, but would injuries be a factor that maybe would force you to change it? Would you look at that? Would you say maybe 10, 15%? Because we all know the running data here is top level as well.
08:41Yeah, yeah. Look, there's always the opportunity for change and the one constant with me is that I'm not going to in terms of my beliefs, but there's always a reason to change and there's always the opportunity to change for everybody.
09:01So, I guess it just comes down to how much you believe in what you're doing and how much you believe what you're doing will bring success and that's kind of where I sit with it.
09:13Do you think if you carried a bigger squad maybe it wouldn't have been as much of an issue from the beginning? Is that maybe some flaw in the way that it was set up?
09:22Look, some of it, but some of it's just circumstance. Some of it's just, and I know we always want a head on a stick and we want somebody to blame and there's always somebody at fault, but some of it's just life, mate. Football is like life.
09:33You know how sometimes in life you get one thing go wrong and then you get another thing go wrong and you're doing nothing different. You're just going, why is it always me at the moment? And you know what, it's all temporary. You get through it.
09:43And for us, some of it we understand is a consequence of the situation we're in in terms of, like you said, fixtures, the way we play, but some of it's just the way, you know, we lost Jed with a red card and he was supposed to start over Destiny.
10:01Destiny starts, doesn't get the rest. And it's like, it's just, that's just life. And sometimes no one's at blame. No one's at fault. You know, it's just, we're going through a bad drop, but it is temporary. We'll get through it. We'll analyse areas we can improve in and move forward from there.
10:19Hi Ange, Happy New Year. It's been over a month now since Vicaria fractured his ankle. Just wanted to know how he's getting on with his progress.
10:26Yeah, he's on schedule. You know, he's kind of like, it's obviously when it's a fracture, there's a kind of set schedule for him being in a boot, how much weight bearing you can do and then sort of getting clearances along the way. So he's still sort of on the same sort of timelines of, you know, kind of end of February, I think was the initial prognosis. Nothing's really changed in the short term.
10:47So is he still in a boot at the moment?
10:49Not really sure, mate. I think he might be out of it at the moment. I think he's having a couple of days away from the club.
10:54And then I just wanted to ask about Sergio Reguilón, there's only six months left on his contract. Is he a player that you're going to be needed to require, sorry, I phrased that wrong. Is he a player that's going to be needed to be played a lot more over the rest of the season with the current injury situation?
11:07Well, he played last week and it just depends on the situation. He's been available all year. But obviously at the moment we've got quite a lot of our defenders out and obviously we've lost Destiny now for a period of time. It's going to be a while. So yeah, Reguilón, I'm sure we'll get more opportunities.
11:29In an ideal world, I know that's not what you're living in right now.
11:33No-one lives in an ideal world. Even you, mate. I'm sure there's some cracks there somewhere.
11:39Definitely not me. Do you need it in an ideal world to be a busier transfer window than it was 12 months ago for you?
11:46No, I just want it to be a positive one. That's the main thing. It's not about being busy. Like I said, it's about being positive. Because the reality is, like I said, the situation we're in at the moment is temporary. We'll get players back and God willing, with a bit of luck, we'll keep them back and do the right things and we'll be strong from then on.
12:04So it's not just about – we just need it to be a positive window. Like I said, that's where we've got to be disciplined and make sure the ones we bring in, if they do come in, they're going to fit in with our playing style but also culturally and they're coming here for the right reasons. I still think that's important.
12:20Although there is a clear plan, like you're saying, and you're not rushing into just signing anyone, is there also the other side that maybe selling clubs or loaning clubs can see spurs coming and can sense a desperation even if it doesn't actually exist?
12:34Yeah, well, that's the tricky bit about January. As I said, it's whether it's spurs or anyone else. If anyone's looking to supplement in January, usually it's because of some sort of need. Most clubs don't plan for January reinforcements. So I think that's why January's always tricky, not just for us, for all clubs.
12:51But, as I said, I think you can still hopefully find some common ground there where you can get the right kind of player to come in and sort of help the playing group at the moment because they do need that support. But, as I said, the club's working as hard as they possibly can, mate, trust me. They're not over-used parties. They're out there working, trying to improve our situation and they'll continue to do so.
13:182024's obviously done. You're someone that constantly evolves and adapts, you've said, over your career. How do you look back on 2024? Are you just happy to see the end of it because of everything, the bad stuff that happened in it?
13:48We finished eighth the year before. People keep forgetting that. I didn't pick up a club that finished third and we finished fifth. So, even though the back end of last year was a struggle for us, it was still a real positive season on the back of what we had to do in terms of player turnover. We lost some significant players.
14:06I enjoyed 2024. It was a big challenge for us. Yes, it didn't finish well. But, again, I think that's the case for every year. All of us have challenges within it. Going into 2025 now, it's about trying to make this year better than the last, but that should be the aim every year.
14:30The players were running empty towards the end of that Wolves game. It was five games in 14 days. How much can this clear week, even though you've lost more players, make in terms of the energy levels going into this Newcastle game?
14:45I guess it helps, but it's not going to totally refuel the tank in terms of where we want to be because we're still dealing with a small number of players. I think it's different if we had a full squad because, again, we're going into a really busy period. January is massively busy for us and big games. It's not going to be long before that banks up again.
15:15I think it was good for the players just to have a couple of days, as much mentally as anything else, to clear their heads and get away from the club. Spend some time with their families. From that perspective, I think it's been definitely beneficial. They're a very, very resilient group. They're just not willing to lay down their fight and their tooth and nail to make sure we turn this around. It's a credit to them.
15:40I know ordinarily the next game is always the most important, but you've also got a big League Cup semi-final game next week. Does that have to come into your mind selection-wise for tomorrow?
15:50No, not really because it's not like I've got massive selection issues at the moment. It's kind of whoever's fit. We get out there and then we try and get out whoever's fit the next game. It's a big game for us tomorrow. From a league context, we need to start picking up points for sure and winning these games. All our focus is on that.
16:11Newcastle were 12th at the start of December and they're now fifth after five wins in a row. I think last year when you beat them, they lost six out of seven and they were 12th again and managed to finish strong. Are they a good example to the squad that if you can't get those players back, you can't get going?
16:41I think so. I think so, but it's a boring story. I'm a boring person. I don't think you're going to get much traction with that.