For once, Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham Hotspur were the healthier of two Premier League combatants, and he won’t be surprised that it led to a 1-0 Spurs win.
Manchester United were down several key players including Amad Diallo and Manuel Ugarte while Spurs returned a few including star goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario and playmaker James Maddison.
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Both Maddison and Vicario joined Djed Spence and Pedro Porro in shining for Spurs, who have consecutive Premier League wins after a run of seven matches that produced just one point.
Spurs go from 15th to 12th, leaving their Sunday visitors in 15th in a match where one ailing giant was bound to take advantage of the other.
Ange Postecoglou reaction — How did Tottenham Hotspur manager react to win?
Result was important: “It was everything, I guess. We know our league position is not anywhere near where it should be. Today was a chance for us to start addressing that. We had a good week of training.”
How it felt to have Vicario and Maddison back: “Quality players. We’ve had it pretty tough the last 2.5 months not through lack of effort or trying for the lads. It’s great to get these lads back. We can play better definitely and I think we will once we get some boys up to speed.”
Main difference in performance: “I think our press was a lot better than it has been in recent weeks. That helped us get our grounding in the game, to play the game in their half. Our front-third movements were missing a little bit. Mathys [Tel] has just joined the club and [James] Maddison has been out a little bit. We improved, we needed to.”
Was form and confidence lacking? “I don’t think it’s confidence. They are all keen to get out there but there’s game rhythm that only comes from playing games. I thought [Guglielmo] Vicario and Maddison handled it very well.”
On outside criticism: “Everyone likes an impending car crash. We probably had a lot of people tuning in to will that on. We got help this week, our training was better. We put in a good shift and more importantly we got the result.”
James Maddison reaction — Needed to respond to ‘little bit of outside noise this week’
“Very determined [to be a difference]. Any player will tell you it’s tough being injured and we’ve obviously had a lot of injuries. In the scheme of thing, it was short compared to Vicario [but whether] you miss one game or 10, you are always champing to get back. I went into the game knowing I can be the difference here. It’s really nice to get on the score sheet and I’m really proud of the boys. It’s been an up-and-down season and we are not where we want to be on the table. And credit to the fans. Great atmosphere today, proper Premier League clash against a big team.”
What felt good today? “Just being alive. I’ve always been a goal-scoring midfielder. That’s what I want to bring to the club. Being alive in the box and trying to sniff out those free ones — they count the same as the 25-yarders.”
On dealing with criticism “There was a little bit of outside noise this week. I wanted to do a little bit of talking on the pitch today. ... The gaffer always talks about blocking out the outside world, being in a bubble but sometimes it’s difficult — It’s always in your face, social media and Whatsapp being sent to you. But it’s about responding in the right way and I did that today.”
