Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglu on Newcastle and a review of their transfer window
Tottenham Training Centre, London, UK
Tottenham Training Centre, London, UK
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00:00Yeah, look, we've been really happy with Will. Unfortunately, he picked up a slight injury
00:22in that game against Bristol, but he should be right out the window. But that's why we're
00:29keeping him with us. Him and Mikey are the two young players we're going to keep with
00:33the first team. And the reason we keep them with the first team is because we feel like
00:35they're going to contribute and play. Whether that's Europa, whether that's Carabao Cup,
00:40whether it's League, they're part of the first team. And if Richie's out for any extended
00:46period of time, then we'll definitely be a part of it. But Will and Mikey have done really
00:52well in pre-season, and we'll feel they'll benefit from being around the first team.
00:56And just on those two youngsters, even if they're not playing in the Europa League,
01:00do you think the experience will be so important for them? The trips away to Kaiserslautern
01:04and the training they've come through for the youngsters, that sort of thing?
01:08Well, yeah, if they play and play well, mate, then what else? It's not going to be a pleasant
01:12experience. It's like anything else in life. All these things with young players, I think
01:17what I try and instil in them is it's about performance, it's about actions rather than
01:23just experiences. Whether Mikey and Will are involved in that, like I said, the reason
01:29they're coming with us at the moment is because we feel like them being around the first team
01:33environment, we've seen that during the pre-season they've thrived in that and that's what we'll
01:38continue to do. There's always January for us to reassess if they haven't played enough,
01:42whether we send them out on loan. Other players have gone out on loan because we feel like
01:45they need some first team exposure more regularly. But both with Will and Mikey, they're part
01:52of the first team. Like every other player, they get an opportunity to contribute and
01:56hopefully they will.
01:58Darren?
02:12Well, look, as I said, I think he started the season really well. He's had an impact
02:16in both games. Very close to getting on the score sheet in both games. I think his general
02:23play in both games has been really, really good. As long as he's training well and playing
02:29well, then I'm sure he'll be in the England reckoning. I guess that's a question for Lee
02:34and future camps. I know he desperately wants to get back into the England set-up. I think
02:43if he continues to play like he does, like he started the season and makes more and more
02:48of an impact like we know he can, then I've seen no reason why he won't be getting back
02:52in there at some point.
03:00I think everyone is, yeah.
03:03George?
03:14Yeah, you always do. Like I said, these things are all cycles. A lot of it is fluid because
03:21you just don't know. We weren't sure whether Lucas Bergvall would come straight into the
03:28first team or we'd have to send him out on loan because he's an 18-year-old player who's
03:31just played in the Swedish league. But we saw almost from the first couple of weeks
03:35of training, okay, this guy's going to be a first-team player. So how he develops, how
03:39Archie develops, how Wilson Notenberg develops, all these kind of things are factored into
03:46it. But we know there's still some areas when I look at squad management where we can improve.
03:56But again, it's got to be the right person, the right player, the right person. So Joan
04:02and his team now have already started the process of looking at guys who maybe fit that
04:08profile of what we're looking for. If they're available in January like Radu was last year
04:13or we picked up Lucas last year in January, then we'll move on it. But it's a constant
04:18process and it has to be that way. Like I said, I've never liked sort of knee-jerk or
04:23just sort of Hail Mary approaches to things. Sometimes it's necessary, I get that and it
04:30works. But I'm much more comfortable when things are done through a sort of process.
04:38You mentioned Wilson down in the building talking wee. Does that sort of show it? It
04:44doesn't matter what players did last season, it's about the year and how they're performing
04:48and trained and if they're going to get the chance to win.
04:51Yeah, I don't chuck players in. I select them on the basis of some predetermined criteria
04:59that makes me think they're going to do okay. But yeah, no, Wilson was great last week and
05:05I was rapt to get him. He was the one I was really keen on all summer and we had to be
05:13a bit patient with him because obviously the Dom Slanky deal went on a bit longer than
05:17we thought it would and we had to get that done first. But I thought he was great last
05:21week, his first game, 19 years old and he was exciting to watch and he'll just get more
05:28and more comfortable with us. I've said before, I don't mind players coming in early and us
05:34giving them exposure early because I think it gets it out of the way. I think you can
05:39sort of try and protect them but I think when you're at a big club, just get them out there,
05:43get them understanding the atmosphere and what the team's like and I thought he adapted
05:48really well.
05:52Have Lucas and Archie surprised you since you came in and have their comfort in pre-season
05:58and has that affected and changed your transfer planning?
06:02No, I don't surprise because I always keep an open mind and I like to think when we're
06:09signing players, I'm kind of signing them because I think they're going to be good players.
06:12But like I said, you just don't know sometimes at 18. Lucas, like I said, he played in Sweden
06:19and it's not like he was playing in the Serie A when we brought him across or Bundesliga
06:22when we brought him across and Archie's obviously played a full season in the Championship.
06:28Yeah, I've been really impressed with both guys. More in the way they've handled things
06:31and their maturity. We know they're 18 and kind of the way they've sort of fit in with
06:39the whole group and their ability to sort of take in information and train at a certain
06:44level because again, our training is fairly intense. Their capacity to do that from a
06:49physical perspective has been really good.
06:52It didn't really change anything materially in sort of what I wanted to accomplish this
07:00transfer window. We may have gone a bit stronger in a different area if both of those guys
07:08didn't work out but that wouldn't have been a major shift from what we've already done.
07:15But yeah, I think I said before, I think our kind of main focus this window was around
07:20sort of the front third to make sure we really bolstered that and I think we've got some
07:26good outcomes there and those two young guys kind of just further reinforce kind of the
07:32areas where we were okay in anyway.