Ange Postecoglou admits he is unlikely to sit down to watch the recent Tottenham Hotspur documentary and has explained why he has such high hopes for Pope Matar Sarr.
Documentaries about football clubs have been very popular in recent years, with Manchester City being the current star on Netflix. Pep Guardiola's men, Newcastle, Arsenal and Spurs have all been followed by documentary crews for Amazon's All or Nothing series in recent seasons. Sunderland underwent a more warts-and-all style documentary streaming on Netflix.
Postecoglou was asked if, as an avid documentary viewer and football obsessive, he watched fly-on-the-wall films based on the beautiful game.
"No. Look, I probably watched... I think I watched Sunderland 'Til I Die. It was good," he admitted.
The Australian was asked if he had seen the Spurs documentary on Amazon, which followed the club during the season that saw Mauricio Pochettino depart and Jose Mourinho take over.
"No, because I just think it's a bit manufactured. I'd be very surprised if you get a real look. Look, who am I to say, I'm not a film critic. Maybe people like them, but not for me "I like documentaries, but no," said the Tottenham boss.
READ MORE: Tottenham face a homegrown transfer problem, as Premier League and Champions League rules have explained READ MORE: Ange Postecoglou hints at Tottenham's exciting future and why Werner swore when he saw Van de VenDoes this mean we won't see a flying documentary from Ange Postecoglou on our screens anytime soon?
"No, unless you want an insomnia cure, buddy. Put it on late at night and dream away," he replied.
This weekend two of these teams play each other as Tottenham travel to St James Park to take on Newcastle. Just under a year ago, Spurs under Cristian Stellini slumped to a dismal 6-1 defeat, with Newcastle scoring three times in the opening nine minutes and scoring five more in 21 minutes as the visitors collapsed. Under Postecoglou, Spurs took some revenge this season with a 4-1 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
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Sarr lasted just 23 minutes of last year's disastrous away match before being taken off, but the 21-year-old's development under Postecoglou was remarkable and during last summer's pre-season it was clear that the Australian was a real shine had received on the field. young Senegalese international. Nine months later, faith in the midfielder has still not dimmed.
"Pape has super energy. Every day he trains with a smile on his face, but he works damn hard," said the Spurs head coach. "I think he is a very exciting footballer. He is one of the midfielders you need today. He is very dynamic and he is very good in defence, both defensively and offensively."
"He gets into the penalty area, he's scored a few goals for us this year. His technical skills are strong and he's a good ball carrier too, and he's still young. He's also someone who I think has so much more growth is in." ". ", In all perspectives. I just really like his general behavior. He feels blessed to have this opportunity and he will do everything he can 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 great footballer. I have a lot of time for Pape and he's one of those people where there's just a lot of them. growing there, from what I see.
Sarr recently fasted for Ramadan and Postecoglou explained how that works within the Premier League environment with its fast and physical football.
"It's always a challenge for the players, but they are beliefs that they hold very strongly behind and we try to support them as best we can," he said. "He is still diligent about his football and has gone through what he has to go through. Now it is over and I am sure it will now allow him to get back to the level he needs to reach."
Another player who suffered in that defeat at Newcastle was Pedro Porro, who played as a right-back in a back four for Spurs that day for the first time, albeit an attacking one with Ivan Perisic on the other flank. didn't work at all. However, when he arrived, Postecoglou quickly decided that Porro could operate in that position despite that performance and was asked if he had any doubts at any point whether he could play there.
"No, I didn't. After working with him, obviously in pre-season with him and Eme, and obviously all our full-backs. We play that role a little bit differently, so there's always a different attribute you look for you are," he said. "With the guys we have here, I thought this was the only part of the field where we had really good reinforcements.
"I really enjoyed working with Pedro from the start. He has a lot of energy, he is technically very good. He is very eager to learn, he has done a lot of work on his defensive side with Wellsy (Matt Wells) and the defensive unity as a I think he benefited from that and grew in it.
"I still think there's a lot more growth in him because he's dealing with the defensive side of his job, and that's the area where people were obviously a bit skeptical. "When you play as a full-back you don't have to defend especially not in the field of football." a one-on-one situation, but he has been excellent at dealing with some really good wingers in this competition this year and has rarely come up short.
"So I think there is a lot more in him and I am very happy that he embraces the way we play football."
When it was put to Postecoglou that Porro and Destiny Udogie on the left might not have been as impactful as inverted full-backs as they were earlier in the season because the opponents had adapted to that, he didn't buy it.
'No, I do not think so.' I said after the [last] game, we've been working with Pedro and Destiny and I think they're still hitting some great areas," he said." "They probably haven't had the output [of late]...but I've said consistently all year that many of our players, in terms of our front third, still have a long way to go in terms of where we want to be.
"Pedro scored last week. Fate was in the penalty area when he scored. So I still think it's an effective way for us to beat opponents with the qualities that these two players have - different qualities in terms of the way they come on the attack." third. It's just things that we're continually working on with them and again we're seeing some improvement. "
Postecoglou did not watch Spurs' 6-1 defeat at St James Park, explaining: "My research into it was more about individual players. I might have looked at individual players in that match but I wouldn't have the match as a reference point seen." 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 is thinking because I'm not in their shoes every day. I've never used that kind of thing before, and and no matter what has happened in the past, I was most likely brought in to do something else.
"I looked at all the players individually throughout the season to do my research on the players I inherited, but there wasn't much for me to gain by watching games and trying to get some reference points on how the players are doing. influence what I'm going to do."
Spurs will look to captain Son Heung-min to steer them to a positive result on Saturday and if he picks up an assist he will join an elite group of Premier League stars who have scored in the competition for three seasons or more with ten 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, mate," Postecoglou said. "I think he's world class. To do this as long as he's done it in the Premier League - and this year he's missed quite a few games with the Asia Cup, which has happened a few times on his journey here - travel to the other side of the world representing his national team, and never missing a beat there either, to continue producing those numbers, I would put him right up there.
"I think there's 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 put up those numbers. Look, I have no doubt he'll go down in history as a of the Premier League's greats when he's ready."
Asked why Son is not always put in the world-class category like those other players and whether it is because he has not won the Premier League like them, Postecoglou said: "Maybe that's why and I think if he played for someone else Whatever he does for his national team is diminished because it is not the European Championship or World Cup qualifiers where they can measure themselves.
"If he were to play for another national team in Europe or South America - and I have no doubt he would play for whatever national team he was with that nationality - then maybe that takes something away from him. It's inevitable that people put international records into them. also to rank them as players, but I still think he also had an incredible national career and carried his country for a very long time.
"But that's OK. When it's all over, his performance and the way he went about it will give him the recognition he deserves."
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