Tottenham Hotspur coach Ange Postecoglu reacts to their UEFA Europa League quarter-final first leg 1-1 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt
Courtesy of UEFA
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, UK
Courtesy of UEFA
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, UK
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SportsTranscript
00:00Gav. Gav. Michael, please.
00:19Good day, Michael.
00:21Hi, Ange. After such a great spell, second half, is it just overall just disappointment not to get the win in the end?
00:26Yeah, I guess, yeah, a little bit frustrated by the result, obviously, but, yeah, I thought the performance in general was really, really good by the boys.
00:40You know, we obviously conceded early, which wasn't ideal and, you know, it was a fair strike by the lad, but I thought our response to that was really good.
00:48We stayed in control. We scored a good equaliser and we made them work hard in the first half, so we kind of knew that second half, with our ability to break teams open, we'd put them under pressure.
00:59And it's exactly what happened and the boys did everything right. I can't ask any more of them.
01:03I mean, I think we've hit the crossbar three times and keep us pulled off some amazing saves and so often they've had a couple of good opportunities as well.
01:10So, on any other night, we'd have a comfortable victory.
01:13But, you know, I still think if we can perform like that over there and there's no reason why we can't, then we'll still give ourselves a good chance.
01:21Yeah, and is there another positive as well, that something you've not had pretty much all season, options off the bench, if it does potentially go all the way?
01:28Yeah, I think that's fair to say. I thought the guys coming on today made a difference, injected some energy.
01:33Like I said, you know, it could be tight next week, could go into extra time and, you know, we're going to need everyone ready to go.
01:40And the beauty of it is at the moment, we've got, you know, we've got a squad ready to go and I think that'll be important next week as well.
01:47Can I just check on Destiny? You looked like you were kind of signalling and see if he was all right.
01:50Yeah, he just got cramped. He was unbelievable today. I thought he was incredible, the amount of running he did.
01:55But his effectiveness is just incredible. But yeah, he was just cramping up and here we fight.
02:01How good has Lucas been? He sort of took the game by the scruff of the neck in that second half.
02:05How impressive is that for his age?
02:07Yeah, I think he was great, brother. The whole team was.
02:10I think, you know, our midfield, I thought Roger was outstanding.
02:14Both full-backs defensively and with the ball were really causing them problems.
02:18Because, you know, Kuti and Mickey handled their front sort of threats really well.
02:24But, you know, obviously the goal we conceded was kind of the only disappointing bit.
02:29And then, you know, the front three we were working with matters were really creative.
02:33You can't ask any more than what the lads did, particularly in that second half to create that many chances in the game of football.
02:39We don't get the win, but, you know, I can't ask any more of the players.
02:43Yeah, no, it was, you know, something we obviously work on, you know, just getting to those areas in, you know, in the box in terms of the half spaces.
03:00And Matt, as we know, is really creative in there.
03:02And obviously, you know, Dom was the one that received us.
03:05So there was a gap there at the near post.
03:08And we've always said that, you know, we kind of need the next person in line to attack that area.
03:12And Pedro happened to be that.
03:13And, yeah, outstanding finish.
03:15And if you look at it, you know, Brennan's where he's supposed to be.
03:18He's at the far post if the ball went through.
03:20And we had, I think, Lucas on the edge of the box.
03:22So it was a well-worked goal.
03:24And I think one we deserved, definitely.
03:27But we had some fantastic moves in the second half.
03:29It's just that we weren't able to capitalise on it.
03:31Yeah, I think, like I said, if we can repeat that next week, and there's no reason why we can't, then we give ourselves a good chance.
03:50Because, you know, I really felt like we sort of totally sort of overwhelmed them with our football, with our running, with our press.
03:59And it wasn't just the chances we created, but even the chances that we almost created, I mean, on any other night.
04:06But, look, it's just, it's going to be that sort of season.
04:09Nothing's going to come to us easy.
04:10We're going to have to go there and fight now for, you know, to get what I thought we deserved tonight.
04:14And that's what we'll try and do.
04:17Did you sort of wait till late to make the changes because that cohesion was so good?
04:22And was that almost to get the boys getting used to playing together again?
04:25Yeah, I thought we were well in control, well on top.
04:27We were creating chances.
04:29But, you know, I was in the back of my mind.
04:31I knew that, you know, especially on that left-hand side, the boys had worked really hard.
04:35And, you know, with guys like Matty and Jed and Papay coming on, I thought, you know, we could really go at them.
04:43And, you know, they almost pulled off an unbelievable move again, you know, with Matty playing it to Jed and Jed to Brennan.
04:49And almost carbon copy of the weekend.
04:51But we just weren't able to nail it.
04:53Hi, it's Boris from Antenna 5.
04:56So, in all fairness, you can say that you can be confident that you can finish the job in Frankfurt next week.
05:02And I've got a question about Richarlison.
05:05We saw him for a couple of minutes.
05:07Is he going to get more minutes in the games that are coming?
05:10Yeah, look, I think, you know, with Richie and a couple of others, I think it's good to get him out there.
05:17Obviously, we've got a game on the weekend.
05:18You know, people like Richie and others will get more game time there.
05:21And, you know, hopefully they'll get him in a position where, like I said, next week, you don't know, may go into extra time.
05:27And we may need, you know, some pretty big efforts from guys.
05:31And it was good to get Richie some minutes today.
05:34George, final.
05:34Were you sort of cursing the football gods at the end there?
05:37I think Mickey headed the ball onto his foot.
05:39And then that's why it's kind of gone over.
05:42Like I said, George, I'm resigned to the fact that the football gods have got their eyes elsewhere this year.
05:51They're obviously busy with other clubs and other managers.
05:54So, whatever we get, we're going to have to do it without them this year.
05:58Thanks, guys.