Ange Postecoglou is a loquacious guy, which means his Tottenham Hotspur press conferences can be long and with a lot of good information. That was the case today as Big Ange faced the media ahead of Spurs’ home match against Wolves on Saturday. Postecoglou gave a customary team update, but also spent time talking about his playing philosophy, the reverse fixture in November, and even the new links to the soon-to-be-vacant Liverpool job.
But first, he outlined the injury situation, noting that Spurs will be without both of its first choice fullbacks tomorrow.
“We’ve had a couple of setbacks this week. Destiny [Udogie] obviously picked up a little bit of a knock last week. Not available for tomorrow, don’t think it is anything too serious. With no game next weekend, he should be back. Pedro [Porro] picked up a strain at training. Again, probably a couple of weeks for him. With the game break hopefully he doesn’t miss too many.
Probably the major one for us is Fraser Forster – got a knock in training, got a fracture in his foot. He’ll probably miss conservatively a couple of months. They are the main three. Coming back, nothing from last week. Everyone is available.”
Spurs actually have next weekend off after their scheduled match at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea was postponed for the EFL Cup final. That in theory should help minimize the length of Porro’s absence and make sure that any lingering issues with Udogie can be ameliorated with a little more rest and training.
The injury to Forster means that third string keeper Brandon Austin will move up the order to become Guglielmo Vicario’s primary backup. We know that Fraser is an excellent clubhouse leader and a good person to have around for experience, but he’s not an Ange-ball style keeper — he just doesn’t have the mobility. I’m much less certain about Austin, as we’ve yet to see much of him in action… and hopefully we won’t because that would mean Googly Elmo is hurt.
The absences of Udogie and Porro likely means that Emerson Royal and Ben Davies — henceforth referred to on this site as Bemerson Royvies — will slide in as their natural replacements. Postecoglou said that just because his first choice fullbacks are both out doesn’t mean Spurs will change how they approach the match. Both Emerson and Davies have played under Ange this season, mostly at left back due to injuries, and both have found success in their roles.
“It doesn’t change the way we play but I think I’ve said in the past a player brings their own sort of unique ability to each position. The structure won’t change and the way we set up won’t change but different players bring different attributes.
“Pedro and Destiny have been outstanding for us this year. Pedro has pretty much played every game apart from the first one where he didn’t start. Destiny every time he has been out there for us has been really important. They’re both improving but as I said they’re missing now and there will be an opportunity for a couple of other guys to come in and make sure we maintain the levels we’ve set so far.”
There’s also a small amount of good injury news — Ryan Sessegnon has returned to training, though for Sess the work has only begun.
“He’s back training, that’s the first thing. Now he’s got to put together a body of work together in training and then we’ll assess it from there. This is his first week with us. Like I said, with Sess it’s about getting a body of work together – to give him confidence and us confidence that his body will be good. So far this week he’s trained well, done everything that’s been asked of him, and I hope that continues.
“He’s no different from anyone else, I want them all to be out there, want them all to be available. He’s no different. Obviously he’s gone through a tough time. But there’s no point me putting any extra pressure on him.
“He knows his biggest hurdle is being out there for a prolonged time. He has had a false start when we put him out there a few weeks back because we had a few injuries. Like I said with Sess, it’s about him getting a body of work together. And then he’ll feel better and confident about taking an opportunity.”
But what about Radu Dragusin? Tottenham’s newest defensive signing has barely played since joining the team from Genoa, which has led to some asking why. Ange was clear that Radu has a learning curve, is still a very important piece of Tottenham’s puzzle, and that the playing time expectations after moving to a Premier League club were made very clear from the beginning.
“[Radu] has been great, he working hard. He was at Genoa and he was playing. If just playing was all he was interested in then he would have stayed at Genoa. If you want to move to big clubs then that’s part of the process. He knew that and that’s why I wanted him here because he knew the challenge of coming here and playing was not just going to be a given.
“It’s about working your way. He’s adapting. We play a lot differently to what he’s used to, we’ve used him in games and I think he’s done well when we’ve used him. Again, we didn’t buy him for six months, we brought him to this football club for a long time and we’ve already seen this year what losing our two central defenders what impact that had on our season.
“I don’t want that to happen in the future so Radu is here for that and the next three to four months before the end of the season it’s about him adapting and working hard. He’s been outstanding in training, great attitude, great amongst the players. The players can really see the qualities he has and he’s ready to play.”
Postecoglou also had some good words for Brennan Johnson’s recent play. Johnson has suffered some criticism recently, including on this website, on his overall play, but Postecoglou framed his comments around Brennan’s ability to get behind the opposition defensive line and into dangerous parts of the pitch.
“Yeah [he’s been] really good. Again, Chris Davies has done a lot of work with the front half guys with [Ryan Mason] and a lot of our work is around that, getting our wingers or our players into goalscoring positions. Again, it’s the way I’ve set my teams up for a very long time and he’s one that has understood that.
“It’s different from what he has done and it’s not easy. Trying to get that timing right and when you arrive, having a good technique and he has a great technique under pressure. He showed that last week and showed it the last couple of times. It becomes really difficult to stop when you get that synergy between our attacking players, so having a goal last week of winger to winger is good because they get rewarded for things we speak about and understand how important it is. And hopefully that keeps them looking for more growth.”
The last time Spurs played Wolves — in November at Molineux — Spurs went ahead early in the match thanks to a 3’ Brennan Johnson goal, then conceded two second half injury time goals and lost 2-1. Ange singled that match out as one of the few times he’s been very unhappy with a Spurs overall team performance. That dissatisfaction had more to do with his players’ mindset than it did conceding two late goals.
“Yeah look there hasn’t been many games this year, probably less than a handful, where I felt we ended up playing for a result. Now it was kind of nature at the time. We had a lot of injuries before that game and put out a line-up where guys hadn’t played for a long amount of time.
“We got ourselves in front and it is only natural, it is human nature for people to hold onto that because it is an accomplishment but those moments are also important for me to make sure the players understand that is now where we’re at or where we want to be. It is not just about chasing a result so we can feel good about that, it is about staying true to who we want to, especially through this time where we’re building something.
“Even if we had won that game 1-0, it wouldn’t have left me feeling any better about our approach. Again, it wasn’t me being critical of the players. It was more about guidance and it is easier because we didn’t get the reward, but even if we did get the reward I would have had the same message that, that’s not where we want to be heading as a team.
“For the most part it hasn’t happened and it’s probably been two or three games where I remember we’ve done that. That is the kind of stuff we want to steer away from.”
Finally, reporters asked Ange about the vacant Liverpool managerial position after Jurgen Klopp leaves the club at the end of the season. Ange’s name has already been mentioned in the potential managerial “chatter,” but Postecoglou refused to get drawn into any of the speculation that he might be poached away to Anfield.
“That’s the funny space when we talk about managers. When we’re not going well, then there’s questioning about whether we’re going to be here. When you’re potentially going OK there’s still question about whether you’re going to be here. The reality of it is: most of it is out of our hands. I’m never worried about that.
“I’ve got a history of 26 years of management where you can see pretty clearly what I do. I rely on that as my explanation as to where my thought processes are. Right now it’s about finishing the season strongly with Tottenham and making sure we’re trying to establish a really strong foundation for who we want to be in the years to come. That can only happen if I’m totally focused on what these last 14 games can bring for us.”
Spurs kick off against Wolves at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, February 17 at 10 a.m. ET / 3 p.m. GMT. The match is not televised, but will be streamed in the USA on Peacock.