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:
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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.”
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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.”
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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.”
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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.
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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.”
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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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