Scissors&Tape
Well-Known Member
- May 17, 2018
- 260
- 1,015
I agree, though I'm sure it would have been derided by the rabble as insufficiently "ambitious"
Manager Watch: Ange Postecoglou
- Thread starter Archibald&Crooks
- Start date
St José Dominguez
Well-Known Member
- Jul 15, 2014
- 3,592
- 11,648
Never had so much faith in a manager so quickly. The way he speaks is just so positive and inspiring. We should just get him out on the pitch before every game and he’d have the entire stadium rocking. It’s time to get behind him and the squad, there’ll be teething problems early doors but be patient and I think he’s going to get us competing again. The Postecoglu era fully begins today.
diamond lights
active member
- Aug 31, 2012
- 1,448
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He's not going to tell the world we're busting to spend £100m. No, the message is 'no big deal, we planned for and are ready for this...if an opportunity arrives then we'll take it.' All calm.He said we’ve been aware Kane is likely to leave so been preparing for that with our incomings already this window
Im probably to emotional
Bluto Blutarsky
Well-Known Member
- Mar 4, 2021
- 19,394
- 86,579
Everything Ange Said:
www.football.london
Ange Postecoglou has been speaking about the departure of Harry Kane and Tottenham's Premier League match at Brentford
Any guesses for the first question?
No idea, but good turn-out. We had to cancel it last week because no one was interested in what I had to say. It is obviously not about me (the first question).
What's the latest on Kane?
Yeah, look fair to say I don't have a blow by blow account of the whole thing but my understanding is it has progressed to the point where it looks like it will happen. That's all the information I have at the moment. From that perspective at least it gives us some clarity unless anything unforeseen happens and we move forward without Harry.
Does it need to happen quickly?
No, I don't have feelings either way in terms of needing anything. From my perspective it is just about understanding where we are at and where the status of it is. The information I have at the moment is the deal is imminent but like with all these things, until it happens you leave yourself some leeway but for the most part moving forward and certainly with training today and preparing for Brentford, we are doing it without Harry.
How should Harry Kane be remembered?
I guess it is best Harry speaks for himself in terms of the decision but look, there's no doubt he is one of the greats of this football club and that doesn't change. His record speaks for itself, his standing amongst our supporters stands for itself. I am only new in the building mate and I am certainly not a spokesperson for this football club in the sense of proclaiming people's status but it is fairly evident Harry Kane will always be one of the greats of this football club.
Oh I don't think there is a like-for-like replacement for Harry mate but yeah in terms of a striker again we've been planning for this, fair to say, for a while. It doesn't take too much investigative work to realise that this was going to happen so we've been sorting of planning for it to happen anyway so a lot of our business up to now is with that in mind. This doesn't change things dramatically from my perspective anyway in terms of what we're trying to build.
There is still movement in the squad, absolutely. We've still got a fairly big squad and we need to move out some players. I think some players will seek an opportunity elsewhere and there is still three or so weeks to go in the transfer window so I think there will still be movement but not because Harry has gone, that's always been in the plan.
Have you given Daniel Levy a shopping list?
I don't think it works that way. It is not my wife handing me a shopping list to go and get milk and bread for the kids. Our whole strategy has been around the fact Harry wasn't going to be around more than likely so it is not like we've had a pow wow this morning and jeez what do we do. We knew it was coming and we've been working towards that. From my perspective we're preparing for Brentford and there won't be anyone incomings between now and Sunday so that's where my focus is.
How has Micky van de Ven settled in? Can he play against Brentford?
It is good to get Micky in and he's settled in well. It is always easy for me to say but having been through it myself it, it is not as simple as him coming out and training, you have to settle yourself off the field as well and all these things take time. He's had a pre-season with Wolfsburg but he hasn't played 90 minutes yet so match-conditioning wise he is probably not at the level but he's definitely available for the weekend. He trained well today and we've got a session tomorrow so in terms of the team selection I'll make some decisions after that but he is available.
Any injuries?
No, we've obviously got some long-terms who won't be available but everyone else who played against Shakhtar and Barcelona, apart from a few minor knocks, they've all trained today. There's no-one who will miss out from the guys who've been involved.
Is the team ready for the start?
The league is not going to wait for us so we've got to be ready for it. Obviously it's a great test for us, Brentford away is tough for anybody in the league, they showed that last year, and I think you've seen growth from their team every year they've been in the Premier League. Again they've made some astute signings and it's going to be a great challenge. It's a great physical challenge, they work hard, they're well organised, difficult at set pieces. We've got to try to counter all that but play our football. We've been working hard on that in pre-season and this our first chance to lay some foundations.
Was there any part of you that thought Harry may stay?
If you're involved in the football business as long as I have [you know] clubs aren't talking to each other unless the player knows about it. We weren't negotiating with Wolfsburg for Micky van de Ven and then trying to figure out if he wants to come to us. All those kind of things are decided. I had a conversation with Harry the first day arrived and he was up front and honest, and I was the same. You kind of get an indication there that he kind of made up his mind that if the clubs agreed he would go, particularly if it was before the first game. That was my preference as well.
There's nothing along the way that's sort of made me feel there's anything other than this outcome. None of these things happen in isolation, everyone is pretty clued into to what's going on, so my perspective I hadn't received anything from Harry, the club or anyone else to suggest to me anything had changed about his stance.
Will James Maddison fill part of the hole left by Harry?
He was one of the first pieces of business we did. He was available and I was really excited to bring him into the group, knowing what we needed to build here. And again, knowing if Harry was going to leave that's a fair few goals walking out of the door and knowing you can't just replace that with one player. An area of the club that needing bolstering was midfield threat in terms of goals, and that's what Madders provides - goals and assists. If we've going to cover the fact that Harry's gone and all the goals are leaving with him, we're going to have to spread that out and Madders provides that. He's been brilliant since he's come in, he's been outstanding. Not just in the games but in training and the way he's embraced the club and developed in the football we want to play.
Can you unite the fanbase?
Look I think it probably belies the general impression of managers but we're all eternal optimists or else we wouldn't do this role, mate. There's enough people telling you you can't do things that if you don't go into any challenging believing you can be successful and bring success, there's no point in being in it. I was under no illusions about the enormity of the challenge but bullish that we could accomplish something here. In terms of the supporters, I've said all along they've got the right to feel the way they want to. If there's a negativity amongst them, it's up to us to turn it around. It's not up to them.
They'll always have this faith in their football club but in terms of us, the people who represent it, it's up to us to prove to them there's something to get behind there. Sunday is an opportunity for us to begin to do that and hopefully that positivity transfers to our next home game because the energy they provide the players will be enormous for us.
Have you decided on your captain yet?
Yeah I have mate [decided]. I’m not telling you. (Laughs)
We’ll go through that process tomorrow. Knowing that Harry wasn’t going to be here, it was something I had on my radar. I’m not a massive one for having an outstanding captain,. Leadership is very transferrable through the group. Your youngest player can show leadership skills. It’s about creating a culture and environment that’s driven by the players.
The people you have, have to drive that, and that’s been part of my brief here. I’ve observed the players and how they interact, and the environment they’ve set for themselves and which players seem to take the lead in that. I’ll go through the formalities of that probably tomorrow.
Is Sonny a strong candidate?
It’s not like a leadership poll. I’m not having votes or anything, but there are some players here who have already contributed outstandingly to this club. It’s not just about experience, or playing ability, it’s more about the person they are, and how they’re going to represent us as a club and the playing group.
I’m really comfortable with the group we have. We’ll get a strong leader out of it and hopefully some lieutenants alongside him.
Is Ivan Perisic in your plans for this season?
He’s been playing, and playing very well. I’ve followed his career for a long time, he’s an absolute professional, the way he looks after himself, and he’s had a really strong pre-season, in games and training. So he does have a future with me and the club.
Did you try to convince Harry?
I didn’t see the point [in trying to convince him to stay]. Whatever I was going to say was going to be irrelevant to what he felt. I could give this grand vision, but I’m sure he’s heard it all before. It’s how people feel and what they see and perceive in how the group works. My feeling was, we’ll get to know each other over the next month, and that’s the best way to navigate this early bit of our relationship as manager and player.
In my mind, after that initial conversation, it seemed like Harry had made up his mind that if the clubs could agree he was going to go. If not, he was happy to stay. It’s not like he was forcing it on me., He was very professional about it and I tried to treat him with the respect that someone of his standing deserved.
Are you frustrated that it's taken this long?
I’ve been around for long enough not to get frustrated by these things. I’ve been involved in negotiations, so I know it’s never a simple process. Us managers would love it to be. You’re talking about one of the greats of this club. There’s got to be some torment and turmoil on either side. So while it would have been great to have it clarified earlier, I didn’t feel like that was going to happen. It was always going to be borderline.
The one thing we’ve tried to stay strong on is we don’t want to go into the first game with stuff undecided, because then it gets even murkier. It’s happened, hopefully we’ll get confirmation over the next few hours and we can move forwards and so can Harry.
Do you have any reassurances that you'll have the money to spend?
I don’t need assurances. We’ve been working on that premise already. Nothing has changed from today, or yesterday. We’ve had a clear idea of what we wanted to do in terms of bringing in players. There still needs to be some movement out. Within that context, we’ll wait again to see how this unfolds. There are still areas we need to do business. But that’s not because of what happened today. That’s been planned from day one.
What does a successful season look like for you?
The same thing it looked like for me yesterday. Nothing changes. We'll try to build a team that hopefully plays football that excites our fans and brings success to this football club and the ultimate measure will be our fans.
They will tell me whether they're satisfied with what I've done. That will soon be relayed to the people here and to you guys and that will happen as a running measure of how we're going. I'm not putting any specific goals on it. What I want to achieve is a football team that excites our fans.
Harry wasn't able to bring Spurs fans trophies so what does your team in the post-Harry Kane era need to do to change that?
I think that's a little bit unfair on Harry as well. They've got close a couple of times but that's the reality of this business that until you lift the trophy, that kind of thing is always sort of branded against you.
That doesn't diminish his contribution and I think it's only fair that on a day like today that our supporters do have a sense of mourning and less because irrespective of the lack of success at the club he has been a hero to them and he will continue to be so. Again him going doesn't change my vision of what I'm trying to bring to this football club.
It's fairly obvious that a club of this stature has to find a way to win things. I think you can do that in many different ways. I have a very specific way of trying to bring success to a football club and that is playing the game a certain way and that is what I'm going to focus on and that's all I've ever done in my career is to get my teams to play in a certain way because I know it brings success and that's my challenge here as well.
Hopefully moving forward, not just the fans but the players and everyone involved at this football club will see that the road we've embarked on will give us the opportunity for success because it's all you can do. You can try to put yourself up here to try to be successful. Nothing is guaranteed but we want to be in a position where we can bring success to this football club.
Will the club and the fans give your project more time knowing that Harry isn't here now and he was such a big player for the club?
I don't know if you lot are going to be that forgiving to give me some more time. I think it's just the nature of football these days. The reality is that it does take time but none of us know how much we have.
I've worked on that premise my whole career. I've gone into every job thinking I'll be there for life but knowing I won't be. So when that end date is who knows, but that's not going to affect what I'm going to try to put in place, and I don't expect people cut me slack or give me time if I'm just bumbling along or making mistake after mistake.
Then it's evidence. That's always the best way forward if you want to move forward and build something sustainable that lasts a bit longer if along the way people can see progress rather than me just telling them it's going to come after three months, six months or 12 months.
If they can see it and feel it then that buys you the time because they can actually see what you're saying happening, rather than me saying 'can I have an extra six months because Harry's gone?'.
Why should they give me six months if I'm not doing my job. Hopefully they see that I'm doing that anyway and then they should give me another six months, another year, because they like what they see and we're closer to where we want to be.
What's your message to the fans as they process it all?
I'm not going to tell them how to feel. They need to go through that process themselves and I guess for me and the players what's really important now is that when they see their team play that fills them with hope and potential that we can build something they're going to be proud of.
So I'm just really reticent to tell people how they should feel. If they're not feeling great about things then that's their right. There's probably a reason for that and a good reason for that. What I want to do is hopefully give them something tangible on the field that excites them and if we do that then they'll find their own way to get to the point where we're all united and feeling good about the prospects of the football club.
Is Richarlison fit and as Brazil's number nine and relishing that tag, do you think he will relish this chance to step up into Harry's place?
Yeah, he's fit. There's no issues with him. He didn't feature against Shakhtar but to be honest he was never really going to. I was going to play two different XIs. He picked up a slight knock in training and he got through the Barca game really well.
Richy is a fantastic player and I said before he's got some really strong attributes that fit in well with the way my team is set up. He's a hard worker for the team and apart from doing the stuff he needs to in front of goal there are other aspects of his game.
He's represented his country at a World Cup which is not an insignificant thing and sometimes when things like this happen, opportunity exists and it's up to somebody to step through that door. That's Richy or anyone else. That's all you can ask for in football, just to have that opportunity.
I wouldn't be expecting one player, and it's not the way we'll be set up, to cover the absence of Harry. It's about the collective and how we can become a really strong offensive force with the players we have. We have some really fantastic attacking players and Richy is one of them.
How excited are you about your first Premier League game?
I'm looking forward to it. Every new challenge, the beginning is always exciting. That's the way I see them and when the real stuff starts, in the league, you know that you're up and running. I'm looking forward to it.
We'll have two or three who will be making their debut potentially and I'm sure they will be excited as well.
All us managers are deep down eternal optimists and I'm sure there are 20 Premier League managers who are looking forward to their first game and we'll assess our feelings after the first game and see how many of us are still bullish about it.
Every word Postecoglou said on his Kane chat, transfers and new Spurs captain
Here's every single word Ange Postecoglou said ahead of Tottenham Hotspur's first Premier League match of the season at Brentford
www.football.london
Every word Ange Postecoglou said on Harry Kane chat, transfers to come and new Tottenham captain
Here's every single word Ange Postecoglou said ahead of Tottenham Hotspur's first Premier League match of the season at Brentford
Alasdair GoldAnge Postecoglou has been speaking about the departure of Harry Kane and Tottenham's Premier League match at Brentford
Any guesses for the first question?
No idea, but good turn-out. We had to cancel it last week because no one was interested in what I had to say. It is obviously not about me (the first question).
What's the latest on Kane?
Yeah, look fair to say I don't have a blow by blow account of the whole thing but my understanding is it has progressed to the point where it looks like it will happen. That's all the information I have at the moment. From that perspective at least it gives us some clarity unless anything unforeseen happens and we move forward without Harry.
Does it need to happen quickly?
No, I don't have feelings either way in terms of needing anything. From my perspective it is just about understanding where we are at and where the status of it is. The information I have at the moment is the deal is imminent but like with all these things, until it happens you leave yourself some leeway but for the most part moving forward and certainly with training today and preparing for Brentford, we are doing it without Harry.
How should Harry Kane be remembered?
I guess it is best Harry speaks for himself in terms of the decision but look, there's no doubt he is one of the greats of this football club and that doesn't change. His record speaks for itself, his standing amongst our supporters stands for itself. I am only new in the building mate and I am certainly not a spokesperson for this football club in the sense of proclaiming people's status but it is fairly evident Harry Kane will always be one of the greats of this football club.
Oh I don't think there is a like-for-like replacement for Harry mate but yeah in terms of a striker again we've been planning for this, fair to say, for a while. It doesn't take too much investigative work to realise that this was going to happen so we've been sorting of planning for it to happen anyway so a lot of our business up to now is with that in mind. This doesn't change things dramatically from my perspective anyway in terms of what we're trying to build.
There is still movement in the squad, absolutely. We've still got a fairly big squad and we need to move out some players. I think some players will seek an opportunity elsewhere and there is still three or so weeks to go in the transfer window so I think there will still be movement but not because Harry has gone, that's always been in the plan.
Have you given Daniel Levy a shopping list?
I don't think it works that way. It is not my wife handing me a shopping list to go and get milk and bread for the kids. Our whole strategy has been around the fact Harry wasn't going to be around more than likely so it is not like we've had a pow wow this morning and jeez what do we do. We knew it was coming and we've been working towards that. From my perspective we're preparing for Brentford and there won't be anyone incomings between now and Sunday so that's where my focus is.
How has Micky van de Ven settled in? Can he play against Brentford?
It is good to get Micky in and he's settled in well. It is always easy for me to say but having been through it myself it, it is not as simple as him coming out and training, you have to settle yourself off the field as well and all these things take time. He's had a pre-season with Wolfsburg but he hasn't played 90 minutes yet so match-conditioning wise he is probably not at the level but he's definitely available for the weekend. He trained well today and we've got a session tomorrow so in terms of the team selection I'll make some decisions after that but he is available.
Any injuries?
No, we've obviously got some long-terms who won't be available but everyone else who played against Shakhtar and Barcelona, apart from a few minor knocks, they've all trained today. There's no-one who will miss out from the guys who've been involved.
Is the team ready for the start?
The league is not going to wait for us so we've got to be ready for it. Obviously it's a great test for us, Brentford away is tough for anybody in the league, they showed that last year, and I think you've seen growth from their team every year they've been in the Premier League. Again they've made some astute signings and it's going to be a great challenge. It's a great physical challenge, they work hard, they're well organised, difficult at set pieces. We've got to try to counter all that but play our football. We've been working hard on that in pre-season and this our first chance to lay some foundations.
Was there any part of you that thought Harry may stay?
If you're involved in the football business as long as I have [you know] clubs aren't talking to each other unless the player knows about it. We weren't negotiating with Wolfsburg for Micky van de Ven and then trying to figure out if he wants to come to us. All those kind of things are decided. I had a conversation with Harry the first day arrived and he was up front and honest, and I was the same. You kind of get an indication there that he kind of made up his mind that if the clubs agreed he would go, particularly if it was before the first game. That was my preference as well.
There's nothing along the way that's sort of made me feel there's anything other than this outcome. None of these things happen in isolation, everyone is pretty clued into to what's going on, so my perspective I hadn't received anything from Harry, the club or anyone else to suggest to me anything had changed about his stance.
Will James Maddison fill part of the hole left by Harry?
He was one of the first pieces of business we did. He was available and I was really excited to bring him into the group, knowing what we needed to build here. And again, knowing if Harry was going to leave that's a fair few goals walking out of the door and knowing you can't just replace that with one player. An area of the club that needing bolstering was midfield threat in terms of goals, and that's what Madders provides - goals and assists. If we've going to cover the fact that Harry's gone and all the goals are leaving with him, we're going to have to spread that out and Madders provides that. He's been brilliant since he's come in, he's been outstanding. Not just in the games but in training and the way he's embraced the club and developed in the football we want to play.
Can you unite the fanbase?
Look I think it probably belies the general impression of managers but we're all eternal optimists or else we wouldn't do this role, mate. There's enough people telling you you can't do things that if you don't go into any challenging believing you can be successful and bring success, there's no point in being in it. I was under no illusions about the enormity of the challenge but bullish that we could accomplish something here. In terms of the supporters, I've said all along they've got the right to feel the way they want to. If there's a negativity amongst them, it's up to us to turn it around. It's not up to them.
They'll always have this faith in their football club but in terms of us, the people who represent it, it's up to us to prove to them there's something to get behind there. Sunday is an opportunity for us to begin to do that and hopefully that positivity transfers to our next home game because the energy they provide the players will be enormous for us.
Have you decided on your captain yet?
Yeah I have mate [decided]. I’m not telling you. (Laughs)
We’ll go through that process tomorrow. Knowing that Harry wasn’t going to be here, it was something I had on my radar. I’m not a massive one for having an outstanding captain,. Leadership is very transferrable through the group. Your youngest player can show leadership skills. It’s about creating a culture and environment that’s driven by the players.
The people you have, have to drive that, and that’s been part of my brief here. I’ve observed the players and how they interact, and the environment they’ve set for themselves and which players seem to take the lead in that. I’ll go through the formalities of that probably tomorrow.
Is Sonny a strong candidate?
It’s not like a leadership poll. I’m not having votes or anything, but there are some players here who have already contributed outstandingly to this club. It’s not just about experience, or playing ability, it’s more about the person they are, and how they’re going to represent us as a club and the playing group.
I’m really comfortable with the group we have. We’ll get a strong leader out of it and hopefully some lieutenants alongside him.
Is Ivan Perisic in your plans for this season?
He’s been playing, and playing very well. I’ve followed his career for a long time, he’s an absolute professional, the way he looks after himself, and he’s had a really strong pre-season, in games and training. So he does have a future with me and the club.
Did you try to convince Harry?
I didn’t see the point [in trying to convince him to stay]. Whatever I was going to say was going to be irrelevant to what he felt. I could give this grand vision, but I’m sure he’s heard it all before. It’s how people feel and what they see and perceive in how the group works. My feeling was, we’ll get to know each other over the next month, and that’s the best way to navigate this early bit of our relationship as manager and player.
In my mind, after that initial conversation, it seemed like Harry had made up his mind that if the clubs could agree he was going to go. If not, he was happy to stay. It’s not like he was forcing it on me., He was very professional about it and I tried to treat him with the respect that someone of his standing deserved.
Are you frustrated that it's taken this long?
I’ve been around for long enough not to get frustrated by these things. I’ve been involved in negotiations, so I know it’s never a simple process. Us managers would love it to be. You’re talking about one of the greats of this club. There’s got to be some torment and turmoil on either side. So while it would have been great to have it clarified earlier, I didn’t feel like that was going to happen. It was always going to be borderline.
The one thing we’ve tried to stay strong on is we don’t want to go into the first game with stuff undecided, because then it gets even murkier. It’s happened, hopefully we’ll get confirmation over the next few hours and we can move forwards and so can Harry.
Do you have any reassurances that you'll have the money to spend?
I don’t need assurances. We’ve been working on that premise already. Nothing has changed from today, or yesterday. We’ve had a clear idea of what we wanted to do in terms of bringing in players. There still needs to be some movement out. Within that context, we’ll wait again to see how this unfolds. There are still areas we need to do business. But that’s not because of what happened today. That’s been planned from day one.
What does a successful season look like for you?
The same thing it looked like for me yesterday. Nothing changes. We'll try to build a team that hopefully plays football that excites our fans and brings success to this football club and the ultimate measure will be our fans.
They will tell me whether they're satisfied with what I've done. That will soon be relayed to the people here and to you guys and that will happen as a running measure of how we're going. I'm not putting any specific goals on it. What I want to achieve is a football team that excites our fans.
Harry wasn't able to bring Spurs fans trophies so what does your team in the post-Harry Kane era need to do to change that?
I think that's a little bit unfair on Harry as well. They've got close a couple of times but that's the reality of this business that until you lift the trophy, that kind of thing is always sort of branded against you.
That doesn't diminish his contribution and I think it's only fair that on a day like today that our supporters do have a sense of mourning and less because irrespective of the lack of success at the club he has been a hero to them and he will continue to be so. Again him going doesn't change my vision of what I'm trying to bring to this football club.
It's fairly obvious that a club of this stature has to find a way to win things. I think you can do that in many different ways. I have a very specific way of trying to bring success to a football club and that is playing the game a certain way and that is what I'm going to focus on and that's all I've ever done in my career is to get my teams to play in a certain way because I know it brings success and that's my challenge here as well.
Hopefully moving forward, not just the fans but the players and everyone involved at this football club will see that the road we've embarked on will give us the opportunity for success because it's all you can do. You can try to put yourself up here to try to be successful. Nothing is guaranteed but we want to be in a position where we can bring success to this football club.
Will the club and the fans give your project more time knowing that Harry isn't here now and he was such a big player for the club?
I don't know if you lot are going to be that forgiving to give me some more time. I think it's just the nature of football these days. The reality is that it does take time but none of us know how much we have.
I've worked on that premise my whole career. I've gone into every job thinking I'll be there for life but knowing I won't be. So when that end date is who knows, but that's not going to affect what I'm going to try to put in place, and I don't expect people cut me slack or give me time if I'm just bumbling along or making mistake after mistake.
Then it's evidence. That's always the best way forward if you want to move forward and build something sustainable that lasts a bit longer if along the way people can see progress rather than me just telling them it's going to come after three months, six months or 12 months.
If they can see it and feel it then that buys you the time because they can actually see what you're saying happening, rather than me saying 'can I have an extra six months because Harry's gone?'.
Why should they give me six months if I'm not doing my job. Hopefully they see that I'm doing that anyway and then they should give me another six months, another year, because they like what they see and we're closer to where we want to be.
What's your message to the fans as they process it all?
I'm not going to tell them how to feel. They need to go through that process themselves and I guess for me and the players what's really important now is that when they see their team play that fills them with hope and potential that we can build something they're going to be proud of.
So I'm just really reticent to tell people how they should feel. If they're not feeling great about things then that's their right. There's probably a reason for that and a good reason for that. What I want to do is hopefully give them something tangible on the field that excites them and if we do that then they'll find their own way to get to the point where we're all united and feeling good about the prospects of the football club.
Is Richarlison fit and as Brazil's number nine and relishing that tag, do you think he will relish this chance to step up into Harry's place?
Yeah, he's fit. There's no issues with him. He didn't feature against Shakhtar but to be honest he was never really going to. I was going to play two different XIs. He picked up a slight knock in training and he got through the Barca game really well.
Richy is a fantastic player and I said before he's got some really strong attributes that fit in well with the way my team is set up. He's a hard worker for the team and apart from doing the stuff he needs to in front of goal there are other aspects of his game.
He's represented his country at a World Cup which is not an insignificant thing and sometimes when things like this happen, opportunity exists and it's up to somebody to step through that door. That's Richy or anyone else. That's all you can ask for in football, just to have that opportunity.
I wouldn't be expecting one player, and it's not the way we'll be set up, to cover the absence of Harry. It's about the collective and how we can become a really strong offensive force with the players we have. We have some really fantastic attacking players and Richy is one of them.
How excited are you about your first Premier League game?
I'm looking forward to it. Every new challenge, the beginning is always exciting. That's the way I see them and when the real stuff starts, in the league, you know that you're up and running. I'm looking forward to it.
We'll have two or three who will be making their debut potentially and I'm sure they will be excited as well.
All us managers are deep down eternal optimists and I'm sure there are 20 Premier League managers who are looking forward to their first game and we'll assess our feelings after the first game and see how many of us are still bullish about it.
Yid-ol
Just-outside Edinburgh
- Jan 16, 2006
- 31,948
- 20,492
Not just with how he speaks and what he says, but what's he has done to the team during pre season also. He says he wants to create an entertaining team, and so far he has done that....without adding much to the team at that point.
SargeantMeatCurtains
Your least favourite poster
- Jan 5, 2013
- 11,765
- 61,768
“There are still areas we need to do business. But that’s not because of what happened today. That’s been planned from day one.”He said we’ve been aware Kane is likely to leave so been preparing for that with our incomings already this window
Im probably to emotional
Ghost Hardware
Well-Known Member
- Aug 31, 2012
- 20,793
- 78,542
PrettyColors
Rosie47 Fan
- Aug 13, 2011
- 3,866
- 10,074
I seriously don’t know what I’d be doing this Sunday if we still had Conte managing the club without Kane. I’ll always be a fan but I’m not sure if I could really get myself up for another season of depressing soul crushing shite.
Ange is a miracle worker just for the breath of fresh air and attitude he’s brought to the club alone. I am excited to watch us play irrespective of everything else. I’d watch us even if I wasn’t a Spurs fan. That’s how good he is.
Ange is a miracle worker just for the breath of fresh air and attitude he’s brought to the club alone. I am excited to watch us play irrespective of everything else. I’d watch us even if I wasn’t a Spurs fan. That’s how good he is.
St José Dominguez
Well-Known Member
- Jul 15, 2014
- 3,592
- 11,648
Obviously individual quality is important but it’s so exciting finally having a manager who first puts focus on the team and the tactical approach. After the last 4 years it’s a breath of fresh air.
Japhet
Well-Known Member
- Aug 30, 2010
- 19,626
- 58,912
You do know that Yves Bissouma is a massive Tom Jones and Shirley Bassey fan, right?
E17yid
Well-Known Member
- Jan 21, 2013
- 18,533
- 35,932
He’s VC.
Yep, you've picked out a very important quote, and he also mentioned about the long term planning this window on another occasion as well.
So forget all this shit about only opportunistic signings now coming in, it's there in black and white (or colour if you watch the video!) the manager and board have been aware of Kane leaving from the day Ange arrived and they've been planning their targets and doing their business accordingly.
Absolute class act Ange, breath of fresh air.
Japhet
Well-Known Member
- Aug 30, 2010
- 19,626
- 58,912
Disappointing from Kane that he didn't even want to give Ange a chance. Anyway, he can go and work for that utter prick Tuchel instead. He may be a top rate footballer but when it comes to judging managers he's an absolute fucking disaster.
PLTuck
Eternal Optimist
- Aug 22, 2006
- 17,123
- 36,729
Cambridge Spur
Well-Known Member
- May 13, 2015
- 626
- 2,137
I love this guy already! Please work out! 
Rout-Ledge
Well-Known Member
- Jul 29, 2005
- 10,056
- 23,016
I think it’s wrong to say Kane didn’t want to give Ange a chance. He was more than happy to give him a chance. He just wasn’t willing to extend his contract here. We weren’t willing to take the chance that he wouldn’t leave on a free next summer. What has happened is the most sensible compromise from both sides, given the circumstances.
funkycoldmedina
Well-Known Member
- Jun 20, 2004
- 2,673
- 8,744
He could be our new continuity chairman
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