Coventry vs Tottenham - Ange Postecoglou pre-match press conference

Tottenham Hotspur face Coventry City in the EFL Cup Third Round on Wednesday night, a match Ange Postecoglou will be eager to win as pressure mounts. Spurs have endured a difficult start to the season, securing just one victory, and disappointing losses to Newcastle and Arsenal have left fans frustrated.

Postecoglou, known for his second-season success at previous clubs, now sees the EFL Cup as a potential silver lining in a challenging campaign. The competition offers Spurs a real chance at silverware, especially after last season’s early exit at the hands of Fulham.

Coventry, under manager Mark Robins, should not be underestimated. The Sky Blues, who narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League in 2023 after a play-off final loss to Luton Town, have become a consistent force in the Championship. They also boast a history of impressive domestic cup runs, including a deep FA Cup run last season.

With the likes of Haji Wright, Ellis Simms, and Milan van Ewijk posing a threat, Spurs will need to be sharp and focused to avoid an upset. While Tottenham are clear favourites, Coventry’s determination could make this a tougher challenge than anticipated.

Coventry vs Tottenham - Ange Postecoglou pre-match press conference

You spoke on Sunday about the excellent record you have in your second season in terms of delivering trophies, therefore how significant do you see this game and this competition as the quickest route to winning something?

"Yeah, look, every game's an opportunity for us to get on that sort of road to success. Obviously, cup competitions, there's kind of a definite timeline there, where you know that we've got to win tomorrow to progress, so the focus is there."

When you look to deliver success at a club, how much do you, as a manager who's won things, rely on the players in your squad who have also delivered the likes of Cristian Romero, Rodrigo Bentancur, who know what it's like to win big trophies?

"Yeah, it helps, I guess, because that, you know, it's, I guess, that experience of winning, I think I've said before, there's always sort of common factors whenever you kind of look across any kind of successful endeavour, certainly around, you know, coherence and belief in each other and in something and making sure you're disciplined in, you know, the kind of, the way you behave and approach things. I think there's a consistency there. It doesn't matter who you're playing for, what, who you're representing. There's always those kind of common factors and guys who've experienced that before, you know, hopefully they can sort of relate that to the guys who haven't had that experience."

When you come to think about the team that you might select tomorrow, how difficult is the balance between results-wise not being great so far this season and you need to build a little bit of momentum, but you're in the middle of a run of seven games in 21 days and you can't, I'm assuming, flog the same guys for all of those seven matches?

"I think the main thing is we want to win tomorrow night. So you're kind of looking at, you know, which players are in the best position to do that. And so you do take into account there's a game a couple of days ago. So we're looking at guys who see how they've recovered from that. Got some guys who haven't played much who, you know, are ready to play and contribute. So it's always about trying to put a team out there you think is going to win and get the job done. And that's what we'll do tomorrow."

Full press conference: