by Ange Postecoglou believes there is still “so much growth” to come from his young Tottenham players, and spoke clearly of Pedro Porro, Pape Sarr and Micky van de Ven in particular.
On Saturday, Spurs take on Newcastle at St James’ Park, where Porro and Sarr were two of the standouts in their humiliating 6-1 defeat last season, which brought the curtain down on the curious interregnum of interim coach Cristian Stellini.
Under pressure to leave Antonio Conte’s set-up, Stellini switched to a back four on Tyneside, with Porro at right-back, with disastrous results.
The game helped to establish the impression that the Spaniard was a wing-back specialist who could not be trusted in a back four.
But Postecoglou, who has revealed he is not watching the game back, says he has no concerns about using Porro in his current role.
“No, no,” said the Spurs manager on Friday. “I really enjoyed working with Pedro from the beginning.
“He’s got great energy, he’s very good technically. He’s very keen to learn, he’s done a lot of work on the defensive side with Wellsy. [coach Matt Wells] and the defense unit as a group. I think he took advantage of that and grew into it.
“I think he’s got a lot more growth because he’s tackling the defensive side of his job, which is the area that people obviously had doubts about.
“When you play as a goalkeeper, you don’t have to defend especially in a one-on-one situation. But he’s been excellent this year dealing with some of the really good players in this league and he’s rarely been left short. .
“So I think there’s a lot more to it and I’m really happy that he’s embraced the way we play our football.”
Stellini replaced Sarr after 23 minutes of the game with Spurs trailing by five goals but he has been excellent under Postecoglou this season.
“Pape has a great energy about him,” the Australian said. “Every day he trains with a smile on his face but he works damn hard.
“I think he’s a really exciting footballer. He’s one of those midfielders that you need these days, he’s very dynamic, he covers the ground very well, defensively and offensively. He gets in in the box, he has scored a few goals for us this year.
“His technical ability is strong and he is also a good ball carrier. And he is still young. He is another one that I feel has much more growth in, in all aspects. I really like his general demenour .He feels like he’s blessed to have this opportunity and he’s going to do everything to make the most of it.
“It’s great to have him as part of the group. He’s very popular within the group because of his nature. But he’s a hell of a footballer. I have a lot of time for Pape and he’s another one where only enough. growth there from what I see.”
Sarr was fasting for Ramadan, which ended on Wednesday, and Postecoglou said: “It’s always a challenge for the players but it’s a faith they feel strongly about and we try to support them as best we can .
“He’s gone about his football with enthusiasm and gone through what he has to do. Now it’s over and I’m sure it will now allow him to get back to the levels he needs to reach.”
Postecoglou is excited about the potential of all his young players in the squad, including van de Ven who has been on display since joining Spurs in the summer.
“I’m not interested in limiting it [his potential],” said Postecoglou, when asked how good the Dutch center half could become.
“Four years ago, if someone had said to him, “One day, your goal should be to play in the Premier League.” Well he has done it at 22.
“With all these things, you shouldn’t put limits on them. It’s done great. The growth of it, that’s the exciting thing for me with this group – we have a real heart and there’s still so much growth.
“Usually, it’s their first season in the Premier League or they’re young, and they’ve adapted so well at a big club where there are prospects. It’s not like they’re going to fly under the radar doing two one or three years before they moved to a big club. They are in the spotlight immediately.
“Whatever that is Vic [Guglielmo Vicario] in the back or Micky or Brennan [Johnson] or Destiny [Udogie] or Pope. With Micky, the beauty of it is that he just wants more. It’s up to us to make sure we don’t stunt his growth by limiting how good he can be.”
Meanwhile, Postecoglou revealed that he had not watched last season’s Newcastle flight documentary or Tottenham’s own Amazon Prime series from the 2019-20 campaign.
“I think I saw Sunderland ‘Til I Die. It was good,” he said.
“[I haven’t watched any others] because I think it gets a bit manufactured. I would be very surprised if you get a serious look. Look, who am I to say, I’m no movie critic. Maybe people like them. But not for me. I love documentaries, but nah.”
Would Postecoglou be interested in becoming his own version one day?
“Nah,” he said. “If you don’t want to cure insomnia, my friend. Put it on late at night and dream to yourself.”
