Tottenham Hotspur will look to make it three Europa League wins in a row when they host AZ on Thursday night.
Spurs got their European campaign under way with a 3-0 hammering of Qarabag on 26 September before running out 2-1 winners at Ferencvaros on 3 October.
Now, Tottenham will hope to take the momentum and confidence from their 4-1 hammering of West Ham into their game against the Eredivisie’s fifth-placed side.
Ange Postecoglou held his pre-match press conference on Wednesday afternoon, where he provided team news and spoke about a player who could come back to haunt Spurs.
The Spurs News looks at the key points from Postecoglou’s presser.
Tottenham team news v AZ
Postecoglou told football.london that Spurs captain Son Heung-min will miss out on the AZ game, but he “was never going to be involved anyway”.
Meanwhile, Richarlison is in contention and is “ready to go,” while Djed Spence took part in individual training.
There’s a chance Wilson Odobert could feature, but Postecoglou stressed that Spurs “have to be a bit more careful” with him as he has only returned to training this week.
The boss said of the “impressive” youngster: “Game time will be game-dependent with him.”
Tottenham’s bright start in Europe
Postecoglou urged caution in wake of Spurs’ bright start to their European campaign.
“We’ve started the competition well but there’s still a long way to go,” he said. “It is one step at a time for us. It is a good opportunity for us to continue our form.”
READ MORE: Jose Mourinho makes a bold claim about Tottenham’s Europa League hopes
Tottenham need to work on corners
Postecoglou admitted that corners “are something we have to improve on” as Tottenham did not use them effectively against West Ham when they had 12 in the first half alone.
“Fair to say at the weekend, especially first half, our set pieces were really poor,” he said.
“We we all disappointed with them, especially around the delivery. If you don’t get the delivery right, it’s not great.
“I think we had 12 corners in a half of football, it shows how dominant you are but we didn’t really use them to any effect, so it’s something we’ve got to improve on.”
Agent Van de Ven?
Postecoglou was asked whether he had asked Alkmaar-born Micky van de Ven for any information on AZ, but the manager said he is bound to know more about them and Dutch football than the player.
“I think I know more about Dutch football than Micky, who was in Germany,” said Postecoglou.
“I know AZ really well, I know Dutch football really well. Australia’s always had a strong connection with Dutch football so I’ve always followed it very closely.
“We played AZ when I was at Celtic in the Europa League a couple of years back. Always a good side, really good at identifying young talent.
“There’s also a Japanese connection there. When we played them last time, [Yukinari] Sugawara was there, now he’s in the Premier League. They’ve got [Seiya] Maikuma there now.
“So I’ve always followed Dutch football and AZ, so we know the information we need.”
The return of Troy Parrott
Tottenham are expected to be up against former academy graduate Troy Parrott, who Spurs sold to AZ this summer. He has 11 goals from just six outings this term.
“It is good to see Troy doing well,” said Postecoglou. “I think he had a great loan spell in the Dutch League last year. He is looking like he started his AZ career in positive fashion too so it is great.
“In terms of getting a chance, sometimes in football it is just about timing.
“We have a striker here mate who was at Chelsea and Liverpool early in his career and he has done alright since. There is a pathway forward for everybody.”
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