Q: Can you overstate from a coaching point of view the importance of pre-season and kicking on again in terms of the standards that you set last season?
Ange Postecoglou: It has given us the chance to have a meticulously planned pre-season meaning that in every session and every game we can put certain conditions around it without having competitive fixtures as a backdrop so that gives you some certainty in what you do. It is how you use that time and how you prepare your players for what’s ahead.
To all intents and purposes, we have had a strong pre-season from the point of view that we got all the work that we needed to get done and the games have been competitive and our performances within those games have shown some good progress for us. That becomes irrelevant once the real stuff starts and that is where you get a clearer understanding of where you are at and what you’ve done and the work you’ve done in terms of preparing the team but also in terms of the players you have brought in and how they fit into the project.
Q: How is the squad looking?
Ange Postecoglou: Everyone is in pretty good nick. I think Carl Starfelt is the only definite non-starter. He did train with the team today and will train with the team tomorrow but that is his first two sessions. He has got a tick from the medical and sports science teams to fully integrate with the rest of the squad. It is just a matter of him getting training time. Yosuke Ideguchi picked up an unfortunate injury in training with a gash on his leg that required quite a few stitches so he’ll probably miss a few weeks.
Q: Looking at the players you have brought in and the squad depth are you happy with what you have got or are there other areas you have identified to strengthen before the window closes?
Ange Postecoglou: We are happy with the ones we have brought in and there were some areas where I thought we needed some strengthening, particularly from a squad perspective – Goalkeeper, left-back, centre-back, and midfield – were all definite areas where I just wanted to make us a little bit stronger and more robust so we had more options through there. It is great we have done that. Signing Jota and Cameron on permanent deals was an important part of what we were trying to build.
I am pleased with where we are at and there are still three or four weeks of the window left and we’ll still be active and agile to see whether we can still strengthen in areas. There will be some outgoings and there will be opportunities there potentially to bring others in. There is nothing set in stone with that. From my perspective, we have done the crucial bits that we needed to do and if there are some areas that we can still improve on in the next three or four weeks we will.
