Ahead of tomorrow’s FA Cup tie between Tottenham and Burnley, Ange Postecoglou hailed Son as a ‘generational talent’, as Tottenham’s top scorer departs to wear the armband for South Korea in the Asia Cup.
The Australian also discussed the burgeoning relationship between Brennan Johnson and Richarlison, which in the absence of the talismanic Son Heung-Min, will become a relationship Spurs will come to rely on more heavily over the course of the next five weeks when the Asian Cup is played.
Earlier this season, Tottenham ran riot out against Burnley, securing a 5-2 victory to at the time go top of the league. All three scorers on that day were Son, Romero and Maddison, three key players Tottenham are without for the upcoming clash. Therefore Tottenham will need others to step up, and principally their front three to continue to be a threat whatever the make up.
However, while Postecoglou was gutted to lose three of his most important players to the African Cup of Nations and Asian Cup, the manager was also keen to highlight how their talent outweighs the ‘small price’ of losing them once every four years.
Postecoglou was also keen to give praise to Vincent Komany, a manager who much like the Australian himself, has ‘stuck to his guns’ early on this campaign to install his side of football at the Clarets.
On Tottenham's attacking three
Both Brennan Johnson and Richarlison are enjoying some of their best spells under Ange Postecoglou. Johnson who has become accustomed to play either out on the left as an inverted winger or, more recently, playing out on the right where the wideman threatens with his pace and low driven crosses.
Meanwhile, Richarlison has enjoyed his best run of form in a Spurs shirt, scoring five goals in his last five games to finally become the reliant goalscorer Spurs fans were hoping he could be. When discussing the growing relationship between the pair, who combined for similar goals both against Everton and Bournemouth at the weekend.
The Spurs manager said: “It’s developing. I’ve said before I think it’s still our greatest area of growth on that front third. I think we’ve still got so much more to improve on but every week we’re sort of seeing seeds of that and the boys are developing a better understanding."
Postecoglou was, however, keen to point out the big gap left in the wake of Son’s absence, with the South Korean having been Tottenham’s most important goalscorer so far this term with 12 goals as well as five assists in the Premier League.
He said: “For Sonny, you know, you’d name a team of the year and he’d be in it. He’s been a hell of a player for us and it’ll be a big loss for us. Again we are going to have to really raise everyone levels to cover the absence of another significant contributor, the most significant contributor so far this season for us.”
On AFCON and the Asian Cup
With both the African Cup of Nations and the Asian Cup set to kick off in a week’s time, there was significant discussion regarding the absences of Yves Bissouma, Pape Sarr and Son who will all miss games for Spurs, potentially until the 11th of February, as they represent their respective nations.
While Spurs have given the green light for the release of their players, certain teams such as Manchester United have chosen to hold onto theirs for slightly longer, with the Red Devils keeping goalkeeper Andre Onana until after their game against Tottenham on the 14th of January.
Ased if this was unfair or not, Postecoglou said: “I don’t think it’s fair or unfair. Each club can sort of deal with it the way they want. There’s other reasons for these kind of things. What other clubs do don’t affect me or the way I view it. Ultimately we are bound by FIFA rules with these kind of things, we want our players to represent their countries. We hope their all successful, and more importantly that they all come back healthy. I’m not bothered at all what other clubs do.”
With Tottenham being one of the worst affect sides along with West Ham and Liverpool, who will lose Mohammed Salah and Wataro Endo, Postecoglou was quizzed on whether he would exclusively focus his transfer attentions on players that can be available all year round.
However, the Spurs manager rebuffed any potential approach to transfers of the sort, saying: “I’d hate for that to be the case because you’d miss out on some fantastic talent. We’ve got a generational talent from Asia that has been representing our club and if we lose him every four years for 4-5 weeks I think that’s a very small price to pay.
“I love international football, I don’t like the way the calendar is being crammed but the tournaments they are going to now are significant tournaments. They’re not just thrown together in the last couple years. The African and Asian Cup are very important for these nations. You’ve got to understand that this where these boys were brought up, this is where a lot of who they are today comes from. When they go and put their shirt on it’s not just another game of football for them. I am sure Sonny and Pape would have love to have been here with us.”
He added: “I will never rule out someone because they are going to represent their country. I think representing your country helps a player to develop professionally and personally.”
On similarities between Kompany and Postecoglou
As Tottenham and Burnley prepare to face each other off for the second time this season, there can certainly be similarities drawn between the way the two managers approach games. Both Postecoglou and Kompany have become renowned for playing attacking, free-flowing football and, more significantly, sticking to their playing philosophy when the tides turns against them.
Postecoglou, when asked, was keen to show his respect for Kompany and managers more generally for the ideals they shown when the results don’t always go their way.
He said: “I keep saying I respect every manager and the way they go about it because I know how tough of a job it is in the Premier League, where everything is amplified. We played Bournemouth at the weekend, I think there was similar criticism around Andoni’s work at the start of the year, he stuck to his guns in the way he wanted to play. It’s not easy but ultimately it’s the biggest measure of who you are and what you stand for. Invariably, if you change in that moment just because people want you to change not because you don’t feel its the right thing to do, then your on a slippery slope because those things never end.
“There’s always challenges. Even the managers on top still get criticism, as a manager you have to embrace and understand that. Like I said the test becomes when people call you to change, you shouldn’t do it if you just think it appeases or somehow will mean people will pay you some slack. It’s a slippery slope and you ultimately end up becoming someone you don’t want to be, and ultimately you fail.”
While Postecoglou has spent some significant time in Australia, Asia and Scotland plying his trade, the same cannot be said for Kompany. The former Manchester City defender and 37 year-old has only enjoyed two years in Belgium at Anderlecht before being thrown into the deep end at Burnley, where has succeeded in promotion back to the Premier League and is now in charge of their attempt at survival.
Asked on the difficult of learning your trade in the Premier League, Postecoglou said: “There’s more focus on you here but there’s also more resources. There’s other managers who’s first job is a real shift. But wherever you start the most important thing is that ultimately you try and figure out who you wanna be and how you want your teams to play. Every opportunity you have to do that you try to take. It’s obviously harder under the spotlight of the Premier League where every little thing gets scrutinised and sort of dissected, and there’s plenty of opinion and advice. But you realise nothing really matters if it is not who you are."
The Spurs boss added: “I’ve got great respect whether its someone like Vincent in his first year or Roy, who’s not escaping criticism either. That’s your existence it’s never going to go away, so as long as you know how to deal with it and you don’t allow it to change you, you can live with it.”
