Ange Postecoglou: Tottenham begins to look more like with him with the return of the injured stars | Football news

Ange Postecoglou says it is not surprising that Tottenham Hotspur is returning in the winning ways, and now their injured players are starting to return to fitness after progressing to the Europa League quarterfinals with the victory over the AZ Alkmaar.

Tottenham managed to start with Micky Van de Ven and Cristiano Romera in the heart of their defense for the first time from a 4-3 domestic defeat to the Chelsea in the Premier League back in December, for their key last time-16, the second-with-az with AZ.

The couple helped the hosts win the Eredivisie side 3-1 (3-2 to the aggregate) on the night to set quarterfinals with Eintracht Frankfurt, and Postecoglou quickly emphasized the importance of finally when some of his injured stars played again.

“It’s no coincidence that we’re returning some of our key players,” he said after the match. “Also guys get a decent recovery between games.

“I’m able to change the team pretty much. Don’t forget, Sonny [Heung-Min Son] and [James] Maddison didn’t start on weekends [in the 2-2 draw with Bournemouth]. We can do these things that allow us to properly prepare the team. “

With the last eight meetings with Frankfurt until April, Postecoglou now has a crucial time to build the level of fitness of those return players.

“We looked more like ourselves, but we still have levels because I still think guys like Romera, Micky, Wilson [Odobert]Home [Solanke] And all these guys still build their way to match fitness and harmonize the sharpness, “he added.

“That’s why they are here, they are quality players. Romero and Micky make us such a big difference and you saw Wilson, we barely had it this year, what a super talent.

“I suppose it is almost three and a half weeks with the quarterfinals, it is a great opportunity to speed up those guys for that game.”

Overall, the Australian was delighted that his players performed on the night when the pressure was really in the hosts, and the season on the line went out to both competitions in the home cup, while in the Premier League they lowered in 13th place.

“I am super pleased to have progressed, what was the main thing, we played pretty well, we really controlled the game, but sometimes we are our worst enemy,” he said.

“When we were in control, we let them back into the game and she got a little nervous about the end, but we thoroughly deserved to make progress.

“We controlled most of us, we played some good football, played in their half, they barely created the opportunity to go goal, and then we got our goals, but we gave a stupid goal after mixing and it became a little nervous.

“We had a good third, we had the opportunity to get the fourth and kill the game, but it’s a European connection, everyone is on the verge and in the end we wanted to make progress and we did that.

“We scored a great goal from the press and started the second half really good, he really needed to put a tie in the first 15-20 minutes, but super pleased with the boys.”

Maddison: We haven’t achieved anything yet

After scoring the second goal of Spurs at night, Maddison invited his teammates to upgrade to the result during the final months of the season.

“That’s what we intended to do at the beginning of two legs. There were a lot of conversations after last week’s appearance and we were honest with ourselves, we were not good enough,” he said TNT Sports.

“I knew what we were capable of here in front of our fans and we did our jobs.

“We have not achieved anything yet. We enter the quarterfinals and go and look forward to it.

“In recent months, when we talked about injuries and missing key players. We stood in the tunnel tonight and watched the team and this is a group of men. When you have a spine of players who have played experienced and for a long time at this level, this is a difference.

“Micky [Van de Ven] and hear [Romero]firmly the rear and that was a solid performance and we were deserved.

“Wilson Odobert will grab the titles right tonight, two goals, and he was a threat, and I thought he was absolutely fantastic. I’m going to give him a big mass on my back.”