Tottenham manager, Ange Postecoglou, has said that his players are full of belief that they can reach the UEFA Europa League final.
This is coming after the English club defeated Bodo/Glimt 3-1 in Thursday’s first leg clash, a scoreline that puts Spurs on the brink of another final in Europe.
Speaking recently at his post-match news conference, Ange revealed that the eventual scoreline did not reflect his team’s dominance throughout the match, but it definitely puts Tottenham in a good position ahead of the return leg in Norway.
According to him, his boys were simply outstanding on the night, and he loved how they played the kind of football that created lots of good goalscoring opportunities, while still being well-organised at the back.
Postecoglou revealed that Bodo’s late goal takes nothing from Spurs’ dominance throughout the clash, and if his players can repeat the same performance away from home, then it should be enough to get the club through to the final.
“It puts us in a good position. I thought the players were outstanding. Our performance was everything it needed to be: well-organised defensively, calm going forward, creating good opportunities for ourselves and maintaining pressure.
They scored the late goal which doesn’t reflect our dominance, but if we repeat that performance next week, it’ll be enough for us to get through,” he said.
Addressing injury concerns after both Maddison and Solanke left the field injured, Postecoglou disclosed that Maddison’s tweak in his knee is nothing major, and he expects Solanke to be fit to partake in the second leg.
“[Maddison] felt a tweak in his knee, but doesn’t sound like it’s anything serious and Dom felt something in his quad, but I don’t think it’s anything too significant. It was just wise to take him off at that point,” Ange said.
Postecoglou concluded by saying regardless of the state of the surface in Norway, Spurs must just try to be organised with and without the ball, and it will not matter that they are playing on artificial grass.
“Look, it’s artificial grass, but it’s still a game of football, I know the experience. We need to replicate what we did today. Irrespective of the surface, if we’re organised with and without the ball, it won’t matter what the surface is, it’ll make it difficult to stop us,” he added.
