Ange on the top four: “I want to finish as high as possible, but knowing we’ve got growth in us is much more important”

Ange Postecoglou is asked every week about the ‘battle for a place in the top four’ - but he’s explained to us how he’s looking at the bigger picture.

Speaking to Inside Spurs ahead of our Premier League clash against Nottingham Forest on Sunday (6pm UK), Ange was asked about his position on the top four. “It's pretty simple,” he told us. “I don’t think top four is the ambition. I get that top four means Champions League football, so there is a reward there, and that’s a significant reward and something you should strive for.

“My position on it is not so much, particularly this year, where we finish, it’s what kind of team we are, because if we finish fourth and we’re 25 points off the top, I’m not sure that’s the kind of trajectory we want to be on.

“It’s part of making sure that we’re all focussed on what the ultimate ambition is. If we finish fourth this year, what it does show is that we’re progressing and we’ve made improvements, but that’s not the end goal. That’s why, for me, it’s much more important how we play between now and the end of the year, and how we finish. Then, we assess things. If we finish fourth and I feel we’ve made some progress and we’re set up for next year, then I’ll be pleased with that.”

It was put to Ange how the fact we’ve such a young squad goes hand in hand with that ambition. “It’s a young squad, for a lot of them it’s their first year in the Premier League, so, like I said, they are the things that are much more important for me in terms of where we’re heading than just our finishing position. Of course I want to finish fourth, I want to finish as high as possible, but knowing we’ve got growth in us is much more important.”