by Ange Postecoglou admits he is unlikely to sit down and watch the recent documentary about Tottenham Hotspur and explained why he has such high hopes for Pape Matar Sarr.
Documentaries about football clubs have been all the rage in recent years with Manchester City the current stars on Netflix, while Pep Guardiola’s men Newcastle, Arsenal and Spurs have been followed by documentary crews for the All or Nothing series on Amazon in previous seasons. Sunderland underwent an unprecedented style documentary which aired on Netflix.
Postecoglou was asked if, as an avid news watcher and football obsessive, he had been watching the fly-on-the-wall headlines based on the beautiful game.
“Nah. Look, I probably watched … I think I saw Sunderland ‘Til I Die. It was good,” he admitted.
The Australian was asked if he had watched the Spurs documentary on Amazon, which followed the club during the season when Mauricio Pochettino left and Jose Mourinho took over.
“Nah, because I think it gets a little manufactured. I’d be very surprised if you get a real look at it. Look, who am I to say, I’m not a movie critic. Maybe people like them , but not for me. I love documentaries, but nah,” said the Tottenham boss.
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Does that mean we won’t see Ange Postecoglou’s fly-on-the-wall documentary hitting our screens anytime soon?
“Nah, unless you need a cure for insomnia, my friend. Put it on late at night and dream yourself,” he replied.
This weekend two of those special teams will play each other as Tottenham travel to St James’ Park to face Newcastle. Just under a year ago, under Cristian Stellini, Spurs lost miserably 6-1, with Newcastle scoring three times in the first nine minutes and finding five inside 21 as the visitors collapsed. Under Postecoglou, Spurs got their revenge this season with a 4-1 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Sarr lasted just 23 minutes of that disastrous away game last year before being taken off, but the 21-year-old’s development under Postecoglou has been remarkable and it was clear during pre-season last summer that the Australia very happy with the. Senegal young international. Nine months on and that belief in midfield hasn’t faded.
“Pape has a lot of energy about him. He trains every day with a smile on his face but he works damn hard,” said the Spurs head coach. “I think he’s a really exciting footballer. He’s one of those midfielders you want these days, he’s very dynamic, he covers the ground very well, defensively and offensively.
“He gets into the box, he’s scored a couple of goals for us this year. His technical ability is strong and he’s a good ball carrier as well, and he’s still young. He’s another one that I feel has a lot more growth I love his general demeanor, he feels blessed to have this opportunity and will do everything to make the most of it.
“It’s great to be 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 when there’s only a lot grow there from what I see.
Sarr has recently been fasting for Ramadan and Postecoglou explained how that works within the Premier League environment with his fast and physical football.
“It’s always a challenge for the players but it’s a belief they feel strongly about and we try to support them as best we can,” he said. “He’s still gone about his football very hard and he’s 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.”
Another player who had a tough time in that win at Newcastle was Pedro Porro, who played at right back for the first time that day in four goals at Spurs, although he attacked one with Ivan Perisic on the other side, and it. did not work at all. When he arrived Postecoglou quickly decided that Porro could work in that position despite that performance and was asked if he ever doubted that he could play there.
“No, I haven’t. After working with him, obviously during the pre-season with him and Eme, and obviously all our full-backs. We play that role a little bit differently, so there’s some You always look for different qualities,” he said. “With the lads we have here, I thought it was the only area of the pitch where we had a lot of really good reinforcements.
“I really enjoyed working with Pedro from the beginning. He has great energy, he is very good technically. He is very eager to learn, he has done a lot of work on the defensive side with Wellsy ( Matt Wells) and the defensive unit as I think he took advantage of that and grew into it.
“I think there’s still a lot more growth because he’s tackling the defensive side of his job, which is the area where people have obviously had doubts about him. a one-on-one situation, but yes he has been excellent this year dealing with some great players in this league and has 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.”
When Postecoglou was told that Porro and Destiny Udogie on the left might not be as impactful as the inverted backs as they were earlier in the season because opposition teams had adapted to him, he wasn’t buying to that.
“I don’t think so. I said after the [last] game, we’ve been working Pedro and Destiny and I think they’re still going into great areas,” he said. “They probably haven’t got the output [of late]… but I’ve said consistently all year in terms of our front three, that a lot of our players still have a long way to go in terms of where we want to be.
“Pedro scored last week. Destiny was in the box when he scored. So I still think it’s an effective way for us to go through opposition teams with the qualities those two players have – different qualities in the way they they go into those attacks. It’s just things we’re always working on and again we’re seeing improvement.”
Postecoglou didn’t watch Spurs’ 6-1 win at St James’ Park, explaining: “My research was more on individual players. I might have looked at individual players in that game but I wouldn’t see the game as a reference point .because it is completely different.
“It’s a different set of circumstances, a different manager. I’m very reluctant to judge and try to figure out what someone else thinks because I’m not in their shoes on a daily basis. I’ve never used those kinds of things, and also , no matter what happened in the past, I was more than likely brought in to do something different.
“I watched all the players individually throughout the season to do my research on the players I was inheriting but I didn’t have much to gain from watching games and looking for some reference points to find out how that will work. what am I going to do.”
Spurs will be looking for skipper Son Heung-min to get them a positive result on Saturday and if he gets the assist then he will join an elite group of Premier League stars who have had three or more seasons in the competition with 10 or more goals. and 10 or more assists to their name in Wayne Rooney (5), Mohamed Salah (4), Frank Lampard (4), Eric Cantona (4) and Didier Drogba (3).
“He’s a superstar, my friend,” Postecoglou said. “I think he is first class. To make it as far as he has in the Premier League – and this year he has missed quite a few games with the Asian Cup, which has happened a few times in his journey here – traveling. to the other side of the world representing his national team, not missing a beat either, to produce those numbers, I’d put him up there.
“I think there’s still more to come from him. I don’t see him diminishing in terms of his ability or his physical ability and he can continue to push out those numbers. Look, I have no doubt that he will go down as one of the great players of the League when he is finished.”
Asked why Son isn’t always in the top bracket like those other players and whether it’s because he hasn’t won the Premier League like they have, Postecoglou said: “Maybe because of that and I think maybe if he plays for someone else. whatever he does for his national team is diminished by the fact that it’s not the Euros or the World Cup qualifiers that can measure it.
“If he had been playing for any other national team in Europe or South America – and I have no doubt he would have played for any national team he happened to be of that nationality – maybe it takes something away from him. There is no doubt that people submit international records. so well to classify them as players but still I think he also had an incredible national career, carrying his nation for a long time.
“But that’s fine. When he’s done and what he’s achieved and the way he’s gone about this he’ll get the recognition he deserves.”
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