I know it hasn’t been a long time, but it’s sure FELT like a while since we had a press conference that wasn’t dominated by bad injury news. Ange Postecoglou took to the big microphone ahead of Spurs’ penultimate home match tomorrow against Burnley and said that there are no fresh injury concerns ahead of kick-off. (That said that still leaves 24 hours for Richarlison to step on a rake or something, idk).
Ange’s press conference centered more on the actual match and how Spurs will try and snap a four match losing streak to a team that could get relegated with a loss tomorrow. Postecoglou, as is typical, didn’t get drawn into that too much, but acknowledged that the Clarets do have their Premier League survival to play for.
“I think again I’m pretty consistent in saying that you’ve got to block that stuff out. What’s really important that we prepare ourselves for another big challenge. You get to this time of the year and most games are games of consequence. We’re still playing for something so you don’t want to fall into that trap of expecting something different other than a really tough opponent.
“As you said Burnley need a result tomorrow and they’ve been really aggressive in approach trying to get there. If you look at the last few weeks, they’ve picked up results and they’ve been a lot more aggressive in the way they’ve been going about it. I think they feel ‘well we’re going to go for it if we’re going to have any chance of surviving’. So we’re expecting a tough game but I think that from where we’re at at the moment, it’s much more important how we go into the game with a focus on our football.”
Ironically, Burnley going full-tilt attack for survival might be the perfect panacea for what’s been ailing Spurs lately. Tottenham have struggled this season against teams that play a low block and counter with pace. That might still be the approach that Burnley takes tomorrow, but if they do try and play toe-to-toe with Spurs, they’ll inevitably leave space behind the back line, and that plays right into Tottenham’s hands. Feeling strangely good about this one, especially at home.
The other talking point after the Liverpool loss was the play of Oliver Skipp, who came in as a second half substitue for Emerson Royal at left back. Ange was asked about Skippy, who has barely sniffed the pitch since Spurs’ last injury crisis abated, and whether he could a) play at LB again before the end of the season and b) is in Ange’s future plans.
The answer to both is, surprisingly, yes!
“We have been working with Skippy the last few weeks. When we lost Destiny and Ben, left with Emerson who is not really a left-back, we were looking around at options and in training we have been using him in that space. I thought he did well when he came on. The way we play with full-backs, certainly with some of the positioning, he wouldn’t be too unfamiliar with the positions he would need to take up. He is an option for us and I think we need another option because we have three games this week and we only have Emerson as a back-up full-back at the club.
“Yeah, I don’t see any reason why [he wouldn’t be part of my plans]. He probably feels like he could have played more this year. With the way the season has gone for us in terms of our games programme, he has probably been one of the ones who has suffered because we haven’t been able to get the game time rotations we need through the year. But yeah, I see Skippy as part of our future.”
The vibes have been rather poor around the club, but this press conference was short and rather light hearted. Ange was also asked about his recent trip to Buckingham Palace, at the invitation of the Australian embassy to the UK. Ange said he enjoyed his day at the Palace, and joked at why he wasn’t allowed anywhere near King Charles.
“Yeah, but I didn’t get with 10 feet of the King and if I had of got closer I probably would have asked him about the Parthenon marbles and I would probably have got thrown out.”
LOL. Love that man.
Tottenham kick off vs. Burnley on Saturday at 10 a.m. ET / 3 p.m. BST.