Ange on Spurs knocking out Manchester City to get through to the next round of the Carabao Cup

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Tottenham Hotspurs manager Ange Postecoglou on Spurs knocking out Manchester City to get through to the next round of the Carabao Cup   30/10/2024  Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium, London, UK

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00:00Yeah, it was an important win, obviously, in the cup competition, you have to win to

00:05sort of continue in it, so that's the first thing.

00:09Look, you're playing against an unbelievable side and they're going to ask you all sorts

00:14of questions, and they did today, I thought, you know, we defended well because we didn't

00:19really give away too many clear-cut opportunities, but we did have to defend, but I thought that

00:25we did that well.

00:26And then, you know, in our attacking moments, we had some really, you know, top-quality

00:30moments, you know, we had some really good chances to finish the game off, which we didn't

00:34take, but, you know, great resilience by the boys to sort of hold out.

00:39Obviously, when you play City, they're going to ask you every question there is, and for

00:43the most part, I thought we handled it okay.

00:44Yeah, I mean, Pape first, I mean, he's done well for us in terms of goal output, you know,

01:06when he's played, he hasn't played every game, but when he has played, he's made an impact

01:10for us and, you know, it was a well-worked sort of attacking set-piece for us, but it

01:15was a hell of a strike, and, you know, against City, like I said, you need to have some quality

01:21in those moments to score against them, and both goals were outstanding moments for us.

01:26Great move for the first one, and as you said, great for Timo to finish, obviously he's been

01:30going through a tough time.

01:33You know, I think, you know, with attacking players, it kind of weighs on them when they

01:37don't score or don't sort of finish stuff off, so for him to score tonight, an important

01:42moment for us in the game, yeah, it was great, and hopefully that sort of helps him sort

01:48of kick on.

01:49Just on the injuries, I mean, an update on Mickie, Timo, and then was Romero an injury?

01:55Yeah, so, I mean, obviously Mickie, you know, fell something in his hamstring, I haven't

01:59got the sort of full sort of update on him, but he definitely fell something, so we'll

02:05see how he is.

02:07Kuti was a bit tight, and I kind of was contemplating changing him at half-time, you know, obviously

02:12losing Mickie as well, I didn't want to sort of lose another centre-half, and he said he

02:17felt okay, but, you know, just my gut was telling me it was, you know, no point taking

02:22the risk, you know, and we had Benny who could come on, and Timo was just, I think, you know,

02:27he hasn't played a lot, so I think it was more fatigue, hopefully, than anything else.

02:31What about the Sar attacks at half-time?

02:34Yeah, it had been booked, and, you know, I just thought the way the game was going, I

02:40didn't want to take a risk there, and I thought Biss would help us in our build-up, it's probably,

02:45you know, got a bit sticky for us, sort of the back end of the first half, playing out,

02:51and I thought having Biss and Rodri in there would give us sort of more of a foothold in

02:56trying to play out from the back, and I think it helped us in the second half, so it was

02:59tactical more than anything else.

03:01Is the City won this competition, I think, six of the last ten years, and now they're

03:05out a couple of other big sides have gone out tonight, do you feel like it's just kind

03:10of wide-open for the rest of the squad?

03:13So you're suggesting the sides left are easy?

03:16No, but, you know, there's an opportunity there.

03:18Well, there's always an opportunity if you keep winning, so, you know, but, as I say,

03:23there's still some decent teams in there, it's not, we're only at the quarter-final

03:27stage, but, you know, for us, what's important is we're in it, you know, and we've got to,

03:31you know, as long as we stay in it, then we're a chance.

03:34And, I know it's only one win, but for the playing group to go toe-to-toe with a really

03:39good C side, does that feel like a big step forward in the development of the group?

03:44I'm not going to go for big steps forward or big steps back, you know, I've got kind

03:49of, with the same team we were, you know, three days ago, you know, we're a side that's

03:55growing, we're developing, I've seen progress, I'll continue to see progress, but we're going

04:00to have stumbles along the way, and the same way we kind of, you know, don't lose our nerve

04:07after having a poor run on the weekend, tonight doesn't mean that we, you know, need to change

04:12our approach, it's, we've just got to keep working at what we've been doing and keep

04:17believing in sort of the process of what we're trying to build, and the key thing for tonight

04:22for us was obviously the victory, because, you know, in a cup competition, ultimately,

04:26that's the main thing, you know, you've got to win to keep going, and we got that,

04:32and the fact that it was against a formidable opponent, you know, is great for the whole group.

04:40Do you think there was a bit of maybe wounded pride in the players today, or that it could

04:44be the point after what happened with the cup?

04:46I hope not, I really hope not, that's what I'm talking about, you know, we can't wait

04:50for these things to, to kind of change our approach, you know, yes, we were disappointed,

04:55but on the weekend, because we didn't, you know, reach the levels anywhere near the levels

05:01we needed to, and shouldn't wait for those moments then to react, like I said, but, as

05:08I said, you know, yesterday, I think it was that this group is still learning a lot of

05:13these things, they need to have these experiences of difficult times, and, you know, how they

05:20cope with them, how they react to them is important, for sure, and you don't want difficult

05:25times to last too long, you know, and, you know, for us this year, we kind of bounce

05:29back whenever we've had a bit of a stumble, but the idea is not, you know, not to stumble

05:36too often, as well, so, you know, we should prepare ourselves for, you know, another big

05:41game on the weekend.

05:43Mike, final one, please.

05:45Jeremy, given the opposition, given the loss of van der Meyde after a quarter of an hour,

05:51is that your, given the...

05:53A lot of givens.

05:55It's a lot of givens.

05:57Yeah, lots of givens. Is that your best win as a manager?

06:01You know, my last win's always my, my best win. Like I said, I, I continue to see growth

06:10in this group of players and, and this team, and, you know, I want them to have these moments

06:17because I know how important it is to accelerate the growth of what we're doing, but, you know,

06:23for me, personally, nothing really changes. It's, it's about trying to continually, you

06:30know, push this group to be, to become the team we want to be. We're not there yet, fair

06:35to say, but as I said yesterday, I'm really, I'm really optimistic and bullish about this

06:41group of players. I just think that they've got a really high ceiling and we've just got

06:45to keep focusing on that.

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