Ange Postecoglou refused to dismiss the importance of improving Tottenham Hotspur's current league position, which he says "we're not happy with," as his side currently occupies 12th place in the Premier League.
Earlier today, The Lilywhites' route to a possible date in Bilbao for a UEFA Europa League Final was confirmed. Spurs will face AZ Alkmaar - who they beat 1-0 in the League Phase - over two legs in the Round of 16, should they win that then they will face either Ajax or Eintracht Frankfurt in the Quarter Final. If they can navigate their way through those two rounds, a Semi-Final clash will see them take on one of Lazio, Viktoria Plzen, Bodø/Glimt or Olympiacos.
With their schedule for the remainder of the 2024/25 campaign and Europa League opponents now set in stone, Postecoglou was asked whether there is still the possibility of doing something special this season, but he wanted to remain level on the fact the focus needs to be equally shared on improving the club's league position.
They have a great chance to do so in the coming days. Following consecutive league wins over Brentford and Manchester United, they travel to struggling Ipswich Town - who they lost to at home in November - before hosting an inconsistent Manchester City side on Wednesday.
"Yeah, I don't have to remind them. We've been talking about that all along. I know you say last two sort of cup performances haven't gone your way, but we did get to the semi-final. So, it wasn't like we bombed out of the cups and lost to Villa away in the FA Cup.
"But I get from an objectives perspective and sort of tangible what's left in the season. Yeah, Europe's always been at the forefront of our minds and we did really well, and we saw how important it was that we did finish in the top eight, even finishing in the top four, because it kind of helped us this last two weeks having two games off. So, again, we were rewarded for that.
"And it is, it's important, but not dismissive of the league either. There's still 12, 13 games to go and from our perspective, we're not happy with where we are in the league, obviously, and our form has been very inconsistent. But there's still an opportunity there to make an impact in the league as well.
"The good thing now is we know sort of the programme roughly. Irrespective of what happens, there's some natural breaks in there which will help us. I think particularly, as you said, with the injured guys coming back. So, yeah, good sort of opportunity for us."
Maddison recalled for England?
Spurs welcomed back vice-captain James Maddison last weekend during their 1-0 win over Man United, and the Englishman scored the winner in the first half, adding to his goal contribution tally which now stands at 10 goals and 6 assists in just 1,931 minutes so far in the campaign.
Tottenham's number 10 has been crucial to the side after having a relatively slow start to the campaign, and if they can keep him fit then there is no doubting he will be an aiding factor in improving the side's league position as the season comes towards its culmination.
Since officially taking over as England Manager on January 1st, Thomas Tuchel has been spotted at numerous games and will no doubt be keeping a close eye on the former Leicester City man ahead of naming his first Three Lions squad in around two weeks' time.
Maddison's club boss had his say on the matter of whether he should be recalled to a squad for the first time since England's pre-Euro warm-up matches in June.
"Ah look, I mean, that's Thomas' kind of decision.
"I think what's important for us is that we keep Madders as healthy as possible because we know when he's in good physical condition, he's really important for us. We saw that last week. He kind of has a real ability to make things happen in tight areas, score goals, assist goals, I think that's where our focus is and I think that is where Madders’ focus is.
"He just wants to stay healthy. He's obviously had a little bit of a disruption in recent times and, you know, if he plays well, things like international honours tend to just sort of flow on from there. "
Spence thriving
One player who's had a miraculous renaissance this season has been Djed Spence. This time last year he was out on loan at Serie A side Genoa, in what was his third loan spell in just over 18 months since he joined the North London side, having failed to get a look in under Antonio Conte and Ange Postecoglou during his first year at the club.
The Italian outfit had a €10m buy option on the defender and looking back now, it seems ludicrous that Spurs could have lost him for such a small fee which would have been less than they paid for him in the summer of 2022.
Having been unluckily omitted from the 25-man Europa League squad in September due to registration rules, he wasn't given a chance to prove his worth until December when Spurs travelled to Southampton, despite impressive cameos from the bench. The 5-0 win, where he registered an assist in under a minute, was his first start in the Premier League for the club since he joined 880 days ago, as it was at the time.
Since then, he hasn't looked back and has started every league and cup game he's been available for, barring the 3-0 win at Tamworth in the Emirates FA Cup in January. Ange Postecoglou was full of praise for the full-back, who has earned back-to-back Player of the Match awards and is now a fan favourite in N17.
"Yeah, I'm not sure about trust. I think with Djed, it was just we wanted to give Djed every opportunity and, you know, we knew that certainly there was a player there, but a lot of it had to be up to Djed himself.
"And he's just worked really awfully hard and stayed patient through that early period. You know, it could have been easy for him to get frustrated when he wasn't playing a lot. There was opportunities for him to play and he wasn't getting a run. I think looking at his attitude through that, I think there was real growth for him personally in that maybe in previous years, he might have sort of given up the fight and said, ‘you know, right, I don't fit in here, let's just move on,’ but he just kept going. That makes an impression on people around him, me, his team-mates and, he earned his shot at it and he's just grown since then."
