Ange Postecoglou is hopeful his new‑look Tottenham team can soon ease the pain of Harry Kane’s departure. Speaking after the 2-2 draw at Brentford, the new manager conceded the loss of such a key figure would be keenly felt but he expressed faith in the players that remain.
“Football clubs move on pretty quickly,” said Postecoglou, having become the first Australian to manage in the Premier League. “I haven’t needed to address it. I haven’t needed to give them a warm fuzzy cuddle just to see how they are. We had a game to prepare for and they knew that. If it felt like we were distracted, or I was distracted, or anyone else, you would have seen evidence of it today. But we showed a real resilience. It’s going to be a challenging year.
“Harry Kane was a massive figure for this club for a long time and will continue to be whether he is in the building or not. We wanted to go out and give our supporters some hope and belief in the team.”
Postecoglou chose instead to focus on the players under his charge. He gave debuts in defence to Destiny Udogie and Micky van de Ven, plus the goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, but lost Cristian Romero to a concussion after a clash of heads with Bryan Mbeumo. “We lose our most influential defender when we’ve already got two guys making their debuts in the back four. You concede goals out of your control. The fact they showed the resilience they did was a good sign.
“I was really happy, we had three of the big five including the goalkeeper making their debuts in this league, Madders [James Maddison] made his debut for the club and I thought they all acquitted themselves well.”
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Romero was subbed off immediately after scoring Tottenham’s first goal. Postecoglou said: “The medical team were monitoring him as he progressed and then he scored with his head. Disappointed that we apparently filled out the wrong slip and it was not a concussion sub. In this day and age with what we know about head injuries, if we are going to worry about what form we fill out …”
Postecoglou was unclear about Romero’s return date. “I don’t know, mate, that is where people like me should shut up and listen to the doctors.”
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The Brentford manager, Thomas Frank, was disappointed his team could not snatch victory but praised his strikers Yoane Wissa and Mbeumo, both scorers in Ivan Toney’s absence. “They have a good habit of scoring when Ivan is not playing. I am pleased they continued that today.”