Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglu on the challenge of facing Manchester City in the Premier League
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00:00 I've just heard that Benson Brookes is such a heart-breaking story, he's a very popular guy. Has it impacted the whole squad?
00:10 Yeah, I think it does. It's not just that he's a popular guy, it's just that they know what he's gone through, they live it and breathe it.
00:18 They see a guy like Ryan Session on a daily basis. It's a constant reminder to all the players that it's sometimes a fickle world they live in,
00:33 where you can do everything right and still fate will point its finger at you and make things difficult.
00:40 It's why every time they're out there training I expect them to be training even on a cold day.
00:44 This was a smile on their face because there's an alternative to it and they've got guys living and breathing that.
00:50 They're a pretty close group, they certainly have become close in recent times. You can see it even on the day at the game,
01:00 they really felt for what he went through and are quite emotional about it.
01:06 I think his demeanour helps because he's such a positive guy that they know he's going to be back.
01:13 What's the feeling at the club about the tackle?
01:19 Nothing really changed. I said half the game I think it was a great tackle but you let the referees and the officials deal with that.
01:26 From our perspective it was dealt with on the day.
01:30 Will you watch the games?
01:46 I think there's a reason I'm sitting here. The reason is that the end game is not to beat City.
01:56 If that's the end game then that's been done. There's a reason I'm sitting here.
02:03 It's not because I'm dismissive of that because it's a hell of an achievement to knock them off.
02:10 It's not why I'm here, it's not the end game. I'm not trying to set up a team to beat Manchester City.
02:15 I'm trying to set up a team to be successful.
02:20 If that was enough, I wouldn't be sitting here. There'd be somebody else sitting here.
02:27 I take that as a kind of pointer to me.
02:32 I understand why people would think that way and it's a legitimate question.
02:38 Why wouldn't you do it if you know it's going to be successful?
02:43 I don't think I was appointed, well I'd be surprised if I was appointed and people would expect me to go down that route knowing who I am and what I stand for as a manager.
02:54 Are you conscious that that kind of successful record in City, from outside the Spurs public, that's where you do, where there's scrutiny in terms of where you think they are?
03:03 Yeah, absolutely. And that's not a bad thing. It's a good thing.
03:07 We need to be scrutinised, I need to be scrutinised, I need to be questioned.
03:11 That's what tests my resolve. I ain't going to change, but bring it on.
03:18 It doesn't just test me, it tests the players, it tests the club.
03:22 How resolved are we about doing this?
03:26 You look at all the top teams, they've all been through this process, through the tough times.
03:33 They've all got questioned, they've all got scrutinised, they've all had criticism come their way.
03:40 How did they handle it? The ones that are through the other side.
03:44 How did other ones who handled it differently, where are they now?
03:48 I think there's always indicators there, but it's maybe not as exciting to not buckle at this time.
04:01 It might seem a bit boring to say, well no, why didn't they change?
04:06 But it's not because I'm, like I said, I have a real strong belief in what I do and where we're heading.
04:14 I'm just not going to waver from it.
04:17 Hi John. You joined CFG as a coach, it's your second job outside of Australia.
04:24 How important was that and what was it like working for this global organisation?
04:32 It was good. It wasn't your typical CFG club because they didn't have total control of it.
04:42 There wasn't the same sort of interaction and influence as there is at other clubs.
04:47 But it did expose me to some brilliant people in there and the way they work.
04:52 I was fortunate. I'll be forever indebted to Brian Marwood.
04:56 He was the first one who noticed me out in Oz.
05:02 We started a relationship back then in terms of him following my career.
05:06 He was the one that pointed me towards Yokohama when I left Australia.
05:10 It was because they had a club in Australia at the time and he'd make frequent visits.
05:16 He's been a real source of support for me all the way along.
05:20 Within that I got to visit City and watch them train and meet Pep.
05:27 I think Mikkel was there at the time and the way they worked.
05:36 For somebody like me it gave me some belief in myself that other people could see.
05:44 On this side of the world anyway, what I was doing had some merit.
05:49 It was great to be able to interact.
05:52 My main interaction was with people behind the scenes there around recruiting and their methodology.
05:59 It was great to have that access of information which is not afforded to everybody.
06:06 I said I'll forever be indebted, particularly to Brian Marwood for the journey I've been on.
06:13 Do they have FFP there? Did they back you in the transfer market?
06:20 It was different.
06:23 They've only got a 20% share of the club so it's not like they make all decisions there.
06:32 When it came to our foreign recruitment I could log into their database.
06:37 They literally had every football in the world tracked.
06:41 It's fair to say I wasn't competing with the same players as them.
06:44 Our budget was a bit different.
06:46 Just being able to access the information they had at the time and say this is what I need.
06:51 Talking to the people behind the scenes there were brilliant.
06:54 It allowed me to make decisions around, particularly foreign players, which ones we bring in.
07:00 Just the way they worked within that context.
07:03 Like I said, not many people are exposed.
07:07 The world's changed now and most football clubs do their recruiting in a similar way.
07:12 For me back then it was great exposure.
07:15 You've said before how you quite enjoy the stages of being at the club.
07:20 How much are you enjoying it right now?
07:25 I think I enjoy it after I've come out the other side.
07:29 No, I love it, mate. I love it.
07:32 Like I said, I don't think anyone goes into management or anything you do in life thinking it's going to be smooth.
07:41 There's going to be some rough moments and you've got to be prepared for that.
07:44 You've got to enjoy that.
07:46 The alternative is I'm not in a job.
07:48 I'm sitting on my couch and I have no pressure on me.
07:51 No one questioning anything.
07:53 Being in a role, I'm at a fantastic football club.
07:56 I'm in the best league in the world, getting challenged every week.
08:00 Why wouldn't I be enjoying every minute of it?
08:04 In these times, the reason I think I really relish them is because my belief gets tested on a daily basis,
08:15 whether internally or externally.
08:17 Invariably, even internally, people will always ask you these questions.
08:20 Can you do this?
08:22 Are you able to still continue to play this way?
08:26 Is it working? Is it not working?
08:28 I've got to get on with my things.
08:30 When I lay my head at night, I just believe in it.
08:34 I get up the next day thinking I feel strongly about that.
08:40 It may all end up in a heap, I don't know, because there's no guarantees.
08:46 My gut tells me it won't.
08:48 So I do enjoy it.
08:51 You said a couple of weeks ago, after Chelsea won, that you were using the best player ever in the Premier League.
09:01 Obviously, we all think Harry Kane is fantastic, but sadly, you think he's the greatest player ever to play in the Premier League.
09:08 By definition, is he even better than Tony Hart?
09:12 I don't think I said he was the best.
09:14 I think he's the best ever here.
09:17 But he'd be quite close, I reckon, Harry, in terms of Premier League greats.
09:23 I think there's a similarity there, around their ability to finish and their focus on scoring goals.
09:31 As we know, scoring goals is the hardest thing to do in our game.
09:37 Finding players who do that on a regular basis is literally finding gold in our game.
09:45 Why it's so difficult is not so much a technical thing, even a tactical thing.
09:49 It's really a mindset thing.
09:51 Because you know as a striker you're going to miss some chances.
09:54 Even the best strikers in the world will miss chances.
09:58 More often than not, it affects 95% of players who play in that position, whether they like to admit it or not.
10:07 That elite 5% just don't.
10:10 They've got a real laser-eye focus.
10:12 You can see that in Erling. Harry's certainly got it.
10:15 That's why they're so rare to come along.
10:18 I think it's just the real...
10:19 I experienced that even working with H here, just for a little bit.
10:23 You watch him at training.
10:25 He could put the ball exactly where he wanted to, time after time after time.
10:31 It's a rare sort of commodity.
10:34 You see it with Erling as well, and I'm sure as he gets more experienced.
10:41 Because you've got to understand that every game that starts, whether you're Harry Kane or Erling Hahn,
10:47 the opposition are going to try and stop you.
10:49 You're not hiding in the shadows. It's pretty obvious.
10:52 And yet they have the strong enough mindset to overcome that.
10:55 It's not an easy thing to do.
10:57 Kieran and then finish with Tom please.
10:59 [inaudible]
11:22 I remember it well because...
11:26 And again, you've got to put some context there. We were in pre-season.
11:29 We were kind of mid-season, so we were in good physical condition.
11:33 It was one of those moments, a bit like what we're bringing to the question today,
11:36 where you can play that game and sort of...
11:38 OK, it was a year we won that and we were going really well.
11:41 It was important. It was kind of mid-season for us.
11:45 And we could have gone into that game saying, OK, let's see if we can beat Manchester City.
11:50 Let's just see if we can beat...
11:52 How can we go about trying to beat Manchester City?
11:55 Or we can go in and just say, let's go play our football against Manchester City
11:58 and see where that takes us.
12:00 And that's what we did.
12:01 I just said to the boys, let's go.
12:03 Keep the ball, press them, be aggressive.
12:05 Just do what we do on a weekly basis and see.
12:07 And you know what? If we get smack six nil, we get smack six nil,
12:10 but we've measured ourselves.
12:12 We came out of that game, the players anyway, with real belief that...
12:16 Even against the very best.
12:17 And like I said, they were in pre-season, so we understood that.
12:20 But they felt really good about themselves, even though we lost 3-1 on the day.
12:24 I think it was 3-1, yeah.
12:26 The players felt really good about themselves.
12:30 They enjoyed it. They enjoyed that challenge.
12:33 They got punished because Raheem was an unbelievable player.
12:36 They'd never faced anyone like him before.
12:38 But we actually played out a few times against real good press.
12:42 We pressured them. We made them make mistakes.
12:45 And we got belief out of it.
12:47 And that's, I think, the only way you can.
12:49 Really, you know, for us as a group at that time,
12:55 it was kind of the perfect exercise to say that,
12:58 you know, let's continue down this path.
13:00 This is the team we want to be.
13:02 And yeah, look, in the aftermath, yes, some nice things were said.
13:08 But then the next day people moved on, the circus left town,
13:11 and I was left in Yokohama.
13:13 Just a quick one on Kjell Mynstone.
13:16 The stats say he's actually made more sprints than any player this season.
13:21 He's also been called off starting.
13:23 Is it just about fine-tuning how those men look?
13:27 Is that a straight go to the bus?
13:29 I mean, and that's sort of part of your job to train people.
13:32 Is it a good start?
13:33 Yeah, a little bit.
13:34 Some of it is still us, I think, understanding.
13:37 I think there's a couple of times, even last week,
13:40 where just that Milly said,
13:42 "We could have played the ball a little bit earlier,"
13:44 and his timing was perfect.
13:46 So, you know, part of it is just understanding
13:49 because obviously Sonny's a different kind of striker
13:51 than sort of how he was who's been here for a very long time.
13:54 So the players are kind of used to having a focal point is a bit different.
13:57 So I think it's a combination of both.
13:59 That's Sonny's sort of timing.
14:01 But like I said, if we pass the millisecond early,
14:04 his timing's actually perfect because how are you going to catch a team
14:07 unless it's kind of perfect at both ends?
14:09 So it's a bit of both.
14:11 But, you know, what isn't undeniable is that,
14:15 even from offside positions, he's still finishing things.
14:17 He's still scoring goals, and that's still the hardest part of the game.
14:21 I mean, I think it was the first one he's broken through.
14:24 He's beaten Martinus so well in a one-on-one,
14:26 which wasn't an easy finish.
14:27 So you know the quality is there.
14:29 It's just about, like I said, a little bit of his runs,
14:31 but also us maybe seeing things just that little bit earlier.
14:35 Tom, finish us off, please.
14:37 You took four down and four to his.
14:39 The players are in relief in the net.
14:41 Is this the kind of timing that's presumably pretty easy
14:44 when you're winning by a lot?
14:46 Yeah, yeah.
14:47 When you lose three in a row, does that become much harder to make?
14:50 Not much harder, but that's what I'm talking about.
14:53 So, you know, I said before, you get through noise externally and internally,
14:56 I'm sure that the players are sitting there going,
14:58 "Well, is this going to really work?
15:00 Is it going to work in Span City?"
15:02 And again, they're justifiable questions that they need to ask.
15:06 And my role within this process is to kind of show them
15:12 that this is still the way forward for us as a group.
15:15 If we're ever going to sort of bridge that gap to being a successful side,
15:19 then we have to sort of believe in the kind of football we want to play.
15:24 And look, I think even though the last three results haven't been great,
15:30 I don't think the players have felt like they've struggled out there.
15:34 I think they still felt like there were parts of the game
15:38 where we were really dominant, so they can see that when we're on it
15:42 and we're doing things right, that even at this stage,
15:46 even with so many absences, we're still a very good football team.
15:50 So I don't feel like it's at a point where it's kind of,
15:56 "I'm losing people, on the verge of losing anyone."
16:01 The challenge comes if it stays that way, if we're not getting a turn.
16:06 Like I said, when you look at the first third of the season,
16:11 there are a couple of areas where we can be better.
16:15 If we were better, we probably wouldn't have had the adverse results
16:21 we've had in the last three games.
16:23 You said that all the top clubs have very clear identities
16:26 and they're doing very well, but we have seen some of the best coaches
16:29 adapt to different teams at different points.
16:32 Do you think this is because you're still up early in your tenure
16:35 and it's more important, or is that going to be the case all the way through?
16:39 No, but what I'm saying is that the plan is that you have a coach.
16:44 It doesn't mean the coach does the same thing every week.
16:47 There are plenty of coaches who coach very differently to me,
16:50 but they're at that club for four or five years and they have success.
16:53 So that's what I'm talking about when I say a plan.
16:56 It's not just playing one way or having a clear identity.
16:59 Having a plan means getting the right people involved in your football club
17:06 that you believe will take you where you want to go,
17:08 and then you invest in them, you invest in the club,
17:10 you invest in the playing squad, and you stick to that plan.
17:13 But it doesn't mean that that's just exactly the same as anyone else.
17:18 They're all very different.
17:20 City are different to Arsenal, Arsenal are different to Liverpool,
17:22 Liverpool are different to both of them.
17:25 As far as I can see, they've got the same managers
17:28 and they've gone through tough times.
17:30 But they obviously saw something in them to say, "Well, let's..."
17:34 And you have to show something.
17:35 It's not just about blindly appointing someone and saying,
17:38 "You've got five years."
17:39 Those managers all showed they had a plan and that people would be on
17:44 and go, "You know what? Let's back these people."
17:46 Okay. Thanks, guys.
17:47 Thank you.
17:49 Thank you.
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