The Tottenham Hotspur boss is speaking to the media ahead of the Premier League match against Manchester United on Saturday evening.
Ange Postecoglou is holding his press conference on Friday ahead of Tottenham Hotspur’s Premier League match against Manchester United.
The Australian is set for his first Premier League home game as the Spurs head coach in what is set to be a packed out Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Erik ten Hag’s men come to town on Saturday evening. The north London outfit will be looking to put on a show in front of their fans and add to the point they picked up at Brentford in their opening game of the season.
Postecoglou will also provide an update on Cristian Romero, who was taken off just 11 minutes into the match at the Gtech Community Stadium after scoring the opening goal, as he suffered a reaction to a clash of heads earlier in the game and then again after heading in that goal.
The Spurs boss will explain whether the Argentine did suffer concussion or not and subsequently whether he will be involved in the match against United.
Postecoglou could also deliver some transfer updates, having previously said that Tottenham need to get players out of the door before they can sign anyone else.
Our Spurs correspondent Alasdair Gold is among those putting the questions to Postecoglou at the club’s training ground. Scroll down for his latest updates from the press conference at Hotspur Way.
Postecoglou on his plans for Dane Scarlett
We’ll see. He’s been really good. I’ve been really impressed with him since we’ve come in. He had a bit of an injury which set him back a little bit in pre-season but we’re keeping him with us at the moment.
I’ll probably make the decision on Dane in the next couple of weeks. It’s always a fine balancing act of whether they stay with us in the training environment, depending on the type of game time we think they’ll get, as opposed to going out and getting some meaningful game time at his age.
We’ll make that decision but I’m really happy with the way he’s developed and the way he’s training and we’ll make that decision over the next week or so.
Postecoglou on Micky van de Ven’s Dutch call-up and ceiling
We signed him because we believe he has got some great atttributes and great profile but I wouldn’t go as far as saying one game justified all those things. Micky knows he is here to challenge himself, to improve and hopefully develop into the defender he wants to be and we hope he can be in the toughest of environments. He only had one year in Bundesliga and was before that with Volendam, not one of the big Dutch clubs, so he made some enormous leaps but he will be the first to say one game is not what he is here for. He will challenge himself against the best forwards in the world but is a willing learner. He came with that mindset and our role is to give him that environment to turn that potential into what he can be.
I’m not really across it. With the outgoings I have very little control over it. My focus has to be on what’s in front of us and who’s training. I’m assuming that as we get closer to the end of the window everything will accelerate.
The Spurs boss on the fans singing his name
It means a lot but I’m not comfortable with it. You love what it means. For the most part it’s blind faith. I haven’t earned it yet. Hopefully when the day comes that we deliver something it will mean even more. I’m not dismissive of it and I’m very appreciative of it but it reminds me of the responsibility that I have to repay that faith.
Postecoglou on the Trust’s protest against ticket prices
I think my role within that is as you said to make sure the stuff I am in control of, they respond to it in a positive way because ultimately it is their football club. To be fair it’s not an unusual space for me. I know people talk about the treble I won at Celtic but the beginnings at Celtic were very similar, there was a lot going on and off the pitch at the time and it’s only natural when football clubs have a disappointing period that there is going to be that environment with people unhappy, but my role within that is to hopefully get people to focus on what we’re all here for and that is the football club, the players, the team and having success.
There is no doubt that we will get there quick if we’re united on and off the field absolutely, but I have never and never will tell people how they should feel, how they should behave or the context of how to express their emotions. I think that is their right and they have earnt their right to do that. My role within that is to try produce a team that gets us united to what’s most important.
Postecoglou on transfers and needing to cut the squad first
That’s the reality of it. We can’t just keep aquiring players. That affects training and it affects the players. Our focus right now is to try to trim the squad down and see where that takes us. There’s still a couple of weeks left of the window and I’m sure we’ll see movement.
