Postecoglou looking for Spurs to save their season with Frankfurt Europa League win

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Postecoglou looking for Spurs to save their season with Frankfurt Europa League win  16/04/2025  uefa25 europa league  Eintracht Frankurt 1- 1 Tottenham quarter final second leg

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00:00Hi Ange. Straight up, is it fair to say that the hopes of salvaging the season come down

00:22to progressing tomorrow night? And secondly, what's your message been to the players and

00:27the build-up to the game? What have you kind of reiterated to them in meetings in the last

00:31few days? Yeah, I don't see it as salvaging a season. I see it as an opportunity to do

00:37something special. So it depends on your sort of outlook on, maybe your outlook on life,

00:42mate. I don't know. So, you know, I think you're at a point where, you know, you've got

00:48an opportunity to get to a semi-final of a major competition. Yeah, obviously you know

00:54the challenges before you. So I think that's the bit you're excited about. I don't think

00:57it's about, you know, trying to salvage anything. It's about, you know, these opportunities don't

01:04come around often. Even if you're having a very good season, sometimes they don't come

01:07around, so why not take it? And that's kind of been the message of the players as well.

01:11It's just irrespective of everything else that's happened this year. You know, we're a game away

01:17from the final four in a major competition. And, you know, you shouldn't sort of just

01:22take that for granted in terms of, you know, something that's a regular recurrence. It certainly

01:27hasn't been for this club. So try and take advantage of that.

01:34Hi there, Ange. Just to check, has everyone travelled? Do you expect him to travel? And

01:38is Sonny fully fit to play?

01:40No, Sonny didn't travel in the end. He's the only one that misses out. He's been battling

01:44with his foot sort of problem for a few weeks now. And, you know, he's managed through it,

01:49but he's just got too painful over the last few days. He tried to train yesterday and just

01:54wasn't right. So made a decision to leave him at home and allow him to sort of recuperate

02:00and see the best way for recovery for him. Everyone else is good. I guess the only notable

02:06addition is Kevin, who trained and is available as well. So really, it's only Sonny that misses

02:12out.

02:14And on that, I mean, Sonny's your captain. He's a massively influential part of the dressing

02:19room in what is probably the biggest game of the season. I mean, what a blow is that

02:22to not have him with you?

02:24Yeah, look, it's a blow, but it's consistent with everything else that's happened this year.

02:29So it's just another challenge for us to overcome. You know, unfortunate for him. He tried really

02:34hard. Like I said, the reason we left him out on the weekend was to try and give him time

02:38to recover because he's been sort of struggling with his foot thing for a couple of weeks now. So

02:43but, you know, in the end, he couldn't make it. And, you know, we've just got to sort of,

02:49as I said, we've had these challenges all year. It's just another one we just need to overcome.

02:54Same again, please.

02:54Ange, I mean, everyone's been talking this week ahead of this game, you know, everyone's

03:02been talking about your future and what happens with this particular game. I remember when

03:05Harry Kane left, after he left, you said that you knew all along what was going to happen

03:10with him. Do you know what's going to happen with you this season, whatever happens at this

03:14stage?

03:15Do I know?

03:16Yeah.

03:16No, I've got no idea. I know, I know, like I said, we've got a game tomorrow night that's,

03:24but it's not something I need to think about. I don't think. Well, yeah, I know. I mean,

03:30it's not something that's kind of, I've never thought about those kind of things in terms of

03:34what's important. What's important is, like I said, a game tomorrow night that's a massive

03:40opportunity for this group of players, for us as a team and for this football club to,

03:46you know, to get closer to achieving what everyone, you know, wants to achieve. So,

03:53I think anything else other than that, and particularly in terms of, you know, me, I don't

04:00really have much of a sort of thought process that thinks about life or my career or what

04:10I'm doing in that way. What I do know is, like I said, I've got an opportunity to get

04:16to the final four of a major tournament, and that's where my focus is.

04:20Jay.

04:22Hi, Ange. Dom Solanke's not scored in his last 11 games. I just wondered if you knew

04:27what the reasons were maybe behind that.

04:30No, Dom's working really hard for the team, and he's going to be important for us tomorrow

04:35night, and, yeah, we're looking forward to his contribution.

04:42Sammy.

04:45Ange, just a narrative, I guess, over future or position. Is it a personal burden for you

04:56away from the training field? Do you feel it?

05:01No, not at all, mate, because I don't define my career or me as a person, but what people

05:13think about me. I never have, never will. If you don't think I'm a good coach today, you

05:18won't think I'm a good coach tomorrow, even if we win, mate. One game ain't going to make

05:21a difference to that. I think I'm capable of doing a job now, you don't. That's where

05:25I sit with these things, and if people think that us winning tomorrow all of a sudden makes

05:30me a better manager than what I am today, or us losing tomorrow sometimes makes me a

05:33worse manager, I guess that's their burden, not mine, because I just don't think that way,

05:43and I don't think, I don't think most people think that way in terms of, well, I'd like

05:51to think they don't in terms of, you know, their own sort of self-esteem and who they are

05:55as people, so I couldn't care less, mate. Really couldn't care less. There's no burden

06:00on me, there's no anxiety on me. Like I said, what I'm sitting here doing is thinking that,

06:08you know, we've got a great opportunity tomorrow night to get to the final four of a major tournament.

06:12Mate, I'm not going to let that slip by without fighting tooth and nail for it, irrespective

06:18of what may come the day after.

06:24Hello, Ange. Can you talk a bit about how it feels to have everybody back? We seem to

06:28have waited ages for it, and I know you're missing Sonny, which is a shame, but is Deky

06:34ready to start, and what's it all mean?

06:37Oh, it's massively positive because you realise, you know, when you've got everyone together

06:44that, you know, we've got a really sort of exciting young squad that I think you can build

06:51on, and irrespective of how the game goes, we have the opportunity to make impacts with

06:58substitutions and just the general feeling around the place. Because, you know, the other

07:04thing it does is that, you know, like I said, apart from Sonny, obviously it's really disappointing.

07:10Everyone's up and about. All the players are excited. All the players are looking forward

07:14to it. You know, we've had a lot of players who this year have had to train on their own.

07:19And they've had to sort of deal with the mental grind of trying to get themselves back in amongst

07:24the group. And, you know, that sort of affects, you know, the general sort of feeling around

07:32the place. Because invariably, you know, there isn't this overwhelming feeling of everyone

07:39being in it together. Because players have got their own individual battles to overcome.

07:43We've had more kind of doing that than we have sort of as a core of a group to sort of solidify

07:50that those kind of things you need to in terms of team spirit and all those kind of things. So

07:54just having the whole group together, the dynamics in the dressing room, dynamics of training,

07:58you know, even the dynamics when you travel, you know, everyone's, you know,

08:01for the most part, their best buddy is with them, you know, they're not back at home.

08:06So, all those kind of things, you know, it's a good feeling. And, you know, you kind of miss

08:12it when we've had the season we've had.

08:15Thank you. Can I just add one?

08:17Yeah.

08:17Can I add one? And in terms of coming to somewhere that's notoriously difficult, a little bit

08:22hostile, tense at the end of a knockout competition, important to have, you've experienced players

08:28back, your most senior?

08:29Yeah, I think so. I think, you know, especially playing away in Europe, it's always a challenge.

08:36I think the experiences we've had this year have been good for that. We've visited some

08:42tough places in terms of atmospheres this year, in terms of, you know, whether that's Galatasaray

08:47away or Ibrox, you know, AZ. And a lot of sort of our younger players got exposed to that,

08:53which I think will be helpful. But there's no doubt that, you know, come tomorrow, the experience

08:59guys in the squad who've probably been through something similar are going to be hugely important

09:04for us. And, like I said, having them, you know, the key ones, apart from Sonny, all fit

09:12and available and feeling good in terms of physical conditioning, I think is going to be important.

09:19Final one here, please.

09:20Hi, Ange. Just to follow up on that, I was just wondering on Vicario and Romero, obviously

09:27had a bit of a difficult afternoon at Molyneux on Sunday. Have you need to put an arm around

09:32them? You mentioned about having your experienced players in an atmosphere like that. Yeah, how

09:38were they feeling mentally after a tough afternoon?

09:40Yeah. Yeah, it was a tough afternoon. And, you know, I think they were disappointed. But

09:46the thing about both of them is they don't shy away from that responsibility. They owned

09:50up to it. They knew they, you know, the mistakes were on them. But, you know, I think once we

09:58reviewed it and put it to bed, they were, you know, they trained the next day with the mentality

10:03that you expect them to as leaders and experienced players. And, you know, I guess if they were

10:11going to sort of make errors like that, it's better they made them on Sunday than they do

10:15tomorrow night. It's better to make them at all. But, you know, that's the human beings.

10:21These things happen. But both have got a really good mentality. They're both strong leaders.

10:26They're both strong individuals. Like I said, they weren't hiding away from the fact that,

10:29you know, they made those mistakes. They owned up to them, which is no surprise to me.

10:33And, you know, I think they'll go out tomorrow and all without not thinking about that, but

10:37again, thinking about the opportunity before us.

10:39Okay. Thank you.

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