On September 13 at 00:30 Beijing time (CEST), Tottenham Hotspur will face Everton in the 4th round of the Premier League. Following the lifting of the media embargo, the confidential section of Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou's pre-match press conference was released. This article is the first part of this content.

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You previously mentioned that players lacked confidence and freedom on the pitch compared to training. Could you elaborate on that?

No, no, no, but that's normal, isn't it? Because at the start of the season we weren't fully ready overall. We lost our first match 0-3, which was very difficult. Then we played Newcastle United, and although we weren't perfect, our performance was definitely good enough to win, but we lost 0-2. In my opinion—well, people talk about statistics only when you lose—but we created 9 chances against Newcastle United, while Newcastle United only had 3, and yet we lost the match. A 0-2 scoreline is really very hard to accept.

Then, I think in the match against Nottingham Forest we played well. It was a very typical, extremely physical battle in the Premier League. The opposition is a very good team; two years ago they reached the Europa League and fought for Champions League qualification. Their starting XI has played together for a long time. This season, Nottingham Forest only made significant changes in one position.

So I think, I hope that we can play better, with more confidence, more energy, and dare to take risks across all positions on the pitch. But taking risks across all positions on the pitch doesn't mean playing without seriousness. No, we need to be serious, but at the same time display strong fighting spirit—the best big clubs and best big players have fighting spirit. But I think—and I firmly believe—we will ultimately reach that level and achieve that goal. I want to accelerate this improvement process.

At the start of the season you said you had extremely high confidence in the quality and great potential of this squad, potentially fighting for the championship title or at least for top-four positions. After such a start, do you still believe this team can be at the top of the table, not just fighting for it?

Yes, I think I still deeply trust this group of players. What I said then doesn't quite match what you're claiming now, because my wording was different. I said before the match against Brentford that before setting specific targets, we must first become a real team. But if you're trying to provoke me with this question, then I want to say that I deeply love my players, I love this group of players. I think they possess extremely high quality.

But that's far from enough; we must show it, we must translate those qualities into real actions on the pitch. If we want to win matches, we must score goals. And to score goals, we must shoot on target and create tactical situations where we can score. Furthermore, we are also playing better and better in defense. In the match against Nottingham Forest we didn't face any significant threats. Why? Because I think everyone was more focused, their alertness was higher, and also because we put in more work during the week's training.

Hello Roberto, regarding Valon Berisha, I know this must be very frustrating and discouraging for you, right?

For me? No, no, no, no. I'm simply disappointed because I have one less available talent for my team to use in matches. Valon Berisha is a good guy, a very good person. I spoke with him many times, spent a lot of time trying to convince him to stay. But if you ask me, I know the truth. I know what happened over the last month, the last 45 days. Everything is clear, but I'm not upset. Why?

So it seems you're upset not with those who actually know the internal situation, but with the misinterpretation and exaggeration of it by outsiders. So is it fair and objective to describe Valon Berisha's current situation as somewhat "messy and chaotic"?

Well, I think I'll have to repeat myself. I know what the club did for him over the last 45 days, and I also know Valon Berisha's own behavior. It's very clear to me personally. I don't think it's appropriate for me to go into detail publicly right now, because that would be inappropriate. But I'm very sorry, because things could have gone differently, and even the outcome of this story could have been completely different.

If things had been different, I think it would have been better, right? Or rather, much better. With Valon Berisha in the squad, Valon Berisha happy to stay with the team and even happy to extend his contract, because he's still a very important player. He was very important for us last season, and we can't forget that. But at the same time we can't ignore everything that happened over the last 45 days.

Finally, one last question: when you first brought Brighton to the Premier League, many considered you a tactical innovator, a coach who could demonstrate tactical ideas never before seen on the pitch. I just want to know, since then, to what extent do you think the Premier League has adopted and continues to adopt your tactical ideas? And to what extent do you now need to innovate tactically all over again?

No, I think that over the last three or four years, compared to my time coaching Brighton, the intensity of the Premier League has definitely increased, physical challenges are more intense, and individual duels are more frequent. If you watched our match against Nottingham Forest, it was a very ugly game. There was hardly any clean football with passing; it was all about tackles, winning second balls, and even more so for them because we constantly tried to play with control and passing. Effective game time in that match was only 47 minutes, and the same was true against Brentford. The intensity of play is much higher than before.

And regarding possession, everything is roughly the same, because you rarely see many teams playing with such smooth and beautiful ball control, right? Because playing under such high intensity and high pressing is very difficult; it's not simple at all. The Premier League is completely different from Serie A, Ligue 1, or La Liga, both in terms of playing intensity and player profile diversity. There's a huge difference, but we definitely need to adapt. In any case, we can definitely play better than we did against Nottingham Forest.

Переведено ИИ.

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