Postecoglou praises Spurs’ young stars after Europa League win | OneFootball

Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou praised some of his young stars after watching his side beat Ferncvaros 2-1 in the Europa League.

Brennan Johnson scored again following Pape Sarr’s opener to make it two wins from two in the Europa League for Postecoglou’s team.

17-year-old Mikey Moore, 18-year-olds Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray, and 19-year-old Will Lankshear were among the players to start the game and Postecoglou praised their impact, highlighting Moore’s performance as a standout.

He said: “I thought he was outstanding. It’s brilliant for a 17-year-old to play 90 plus minutes in a European away tie.

“He just handled it superbly, I kind of knew he would and I think it’ll help his growth as a footballer once you get through a sort of experience like that. I think he’ll grow and evolve and I didn’t feel like I needed to take him off. He still looked strong at the end and was still contributing.

“I wouldn’t say I chucked them in. With all these things, you’ve got to be really careful with young players. I certainly am.

“The first thing is that they’re part of our first team squad, not because I want some young players, it’s because they’ve earned that spot and then it’s about how to help them develop and the moments we need to put them in there, the moments we need to hold off. And we can’t discount the fact that Archie is 18, Lucas is 18.

“I thought Archie was brilliant today, we asked him to play in two different positions and it’s incredible how he just adjusts and he’s able to bring his game to wherever he put him.

“Lucas worked hard and Will was unlucky with a couple of moments when we could have got a goal. These guys are there because they’ve earned their spot, but they’re an important part of our development because whilst we want to be a team that has an impact this year.

“It’s like I said before, it’s important we’re developing players along the way so that whatever sort of period of potential for success or opportunity for success exists, it’s elongated because of the young players you got through.

“I just think tonight all those boys will come to me and go ‘ok that was tough, it was different, but we got through it and we won’.”

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