Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has been speaking to the media before Thursday’s Europa League game against Qarabag (kick-off 20:00 BST).
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
On team news Postecoglou said they are “looking good” with no new injuries from the weekend. There are just the “obvious absences – Romero, Spence and Reguilon – who have trained today but are ineligible for different reasons.”
On Tottenham’s return to European football he said he’s “really pleased to be back – I spoke last year there was a gap in our calendar that didn’t help us at certain times of the year – not having that regular football and the challenge of playing different types of opposition and exposing the squad.”
On the football calendar: “I’ve spoken before that I think we’re getting to a dangerous level of what our expectations are around players. They don’t get a break between seasons anymore.” He said it needs to be addressed because, “it’s going to get to a point where we’re not going to have the best players out here playing and even worse probably breaking down for various reasons.”
On if he thinks players may take matters into their own hands – “They’re the ones most affected so you’d understand if as a collective thinking about ‘how much of this are we going to continually not have a say in?’ He added that the club’s have a responsibility to protect their players and that is why they need to use their whole squad.
He believes football always goes through a cycle in terms of playing styles, “a certain kind of tactical play ends up dominating for a period of time until someone comes along and comes up with something different and changes things.”
Following the claims of Arsenal using the ‘dark arts‘ against Manchester City, he was asked his opinion and said: “You make it seem like it’s good vs evil – it’s all part of the game. It’s always existed. I don’t believe in the dark arts – I don’t know how to do it – it’s just not in my make up, but I’ve seen it be a very effective tool.” He won’t be changing his own style and said “I am comfortable in my approach.”
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