Tottenham fans will enjoy what Ange Postecoglou just said about Mathys Tel

Ange Postecoglou has explained his decision to take off Mathys Tel at the interval in the first leg of Tottenham’s Europa League round of 16 tie against AZ Alkmaar and has reflected on the forward’s difficult start to life at Spurs.

Spurs saw off competition from Premier League rivals to land Mathys Tel from Bayern Munich in January, and the Tottenham fans would have been hoping that the Frenchman was able to hit the ground running at the club.

However, that has not happened, with the 19-year-old yet to come to terms with the pace of the Premier League, having failed to impact games as a number nine.

Ange Postecoglou backs Mathys Tel to follow in Spurs teammate’s footsteps

Postecoglou decided to hook Tel at half-time at the AFAS Stadium on Thursday, with Wilson Odobert replacing his compatriot, and Heung-min Son being moved to the central striker role.

The Tottenham head coach insisted that his decision was not a reflection of Tel’s performance and admitted that he had asked a lot of the teenager since he arrived at the club.

Postecoglou pointed out that Lucas Bergvall similarly struggled to adapt to the demands in his first few months at the club before coming into his own, backing the forward to follow in the Swede’s footsteps.

The 59-year-old said about Tel (via Football.London): “The reason I took him off is I just thought we needed a spark, we needed something. It wasn’t about him because I could have taken of any one of a number of players. It’s just it felt like I needed something to change the course of events.

“Mathys came in a really tricky time for us in that it’s different if you haven’t been playing regularly and then jump in but he’s kind of been trying to build up his fitness. At the same time, we’ve been putting him out there pretty regularly because of our lack of options.

“He’s still a young man, it’s a different league and there are different demands. Certainly, at the moment, we are not in our best moment like last night when he is going to get loads of chances.

“Again, working with him since he came in, he’s got a really strong head on his shoulders and last night, as disappointed as he was to come off, it didn’t seem to affect him in terms of his mental aptitude to deal with it and get on with it and try and make an impact in the best way he can.

“It’s fair to say we’ve put a lot on a very young player and introduced him to our league. I remember Lucas [Bergvall] was a similar one at the beginning of the year.

“He struggled a little bit in certain games, especially in Europe. He struggled a couple of times but over time we’ve seen him flourish and I’m sure once we can get Dom back in and hopefully Richy not too far in the future, we can use him in the way we want to.”

Postecoglou makes an admission about Tel’s position

Tel is capable of playing across the front three, but Tottenham’s injury situation has meant that the newcomer has had to feature as a number nine so far.

Postecoglou has now confessed that his idea was always for the Bayern Munich loanee to play a wide role, remarking that he looks most comfortable on the left.

The Spurs boss added about the forward: “Initially my view was that he would probably play in a wide area for us. Once Solanke was back I’m keen to try him out there. The first game he played out wide on the left, you can see he’s really comfortable there or out wide on the right. I think he’ll get more opportunities there.”

Postecoglou will be sweating on Solanke’s fitness after the striker was forced off with a knock to his back on Thursday.

READ MORE: Ange Postecoglou provides ‘sore’ Dominic Solanke injury update ahead of Bournemouth

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