‘Go out there and play’ – Ange reveals message he delivered to Spurs youngsters
Ange Postecoglou has revealed that he told the likes of Destiny Udogie, Micky van de Ven and Pape Matar Sarr that they will not be judged on their early season performances, and has instead told them to enjoy their football. While a lot has been said and written about the impressive start that James Maddison has made to his Tottenham career since his move from Leicester City and Yves Bissouma’s transformation under Postecoglou, one can argue that the story of Spurs’ season so far has been the performance of the youngsters in the side.
While Udogie and van de Ven appeared to have been playing in the Premier League for many years, Sarr displayed maturity beyond his years in the middle of the field.
Postecoglou acknowledged that he and his coaching staff might have started the season safer by relying on experience rather than pushing the younger players too far.
Ange Postecoglou has confidence in the young Spurs players
The Australian expressed his happiness at how people like Sarr and Udogie had accepted their responsibilities wholeheartedly.
“We started off the season with Destiny playing his first Premier League game,” the 58-year-old said to Football.London. Vicario had played in his debut Premier League game and Micky van de Ven had participated in two training sessions.
“All starting in a back four or back five, but in that context, you give guys the platform, opportunity, and hopefully belief that we’ll support them, and you get these outcomes, but it’s still difficult to do that,” said the player.
“I think with Destiny, Micky and Pape Sarr is probably in that situation, these 20-year-olds, 21-year-olds, and tell them look, ‘You’re not going to be judged on your performances in these early games, not by me, so just go out there and play.'”
“Because I was putting them out there, even though for them it’s not easy, just putting them out there in the Premier League, I believe they’ve accepted that. They’ve enjoyed that freedom and the conviction that nothing would happen outside of my control to convince me that they’re never going to be a player for this football club.
“It wasn’t just one I was putting in, it was three or four. We spoke about it as a coaching staff, for that first-team selection, it could have been easier to go safer. Absolutely, but we needed to change and we needed to challenge things. Guys like Destiny and Micky and these players who have not just gone in there and found their feet, they’ve gone in there and tried to smash it. That’s what I want. One of the core tenets of Postecoglou’s coaching philosophy seems to be to completely remove the fear of failure from the players’ minds so that they can express themselves.
The strategy is almost completely in opposition to Conte’s, who insisted on his players making as few mistakes as possible, which caused many of them to play within themselves.
